Host Locator Set Optimization for Mobility Management
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current IP-based networking schemes face challenges in maintaining continuous communication sessions when nodes, such as user equipment, move locations due to the inability of IP addresses to change with location changes, leading to excessive network resource consumption and synchronization overhead.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an Identifier Enabled Network (IEN) with a distributed mapping system that stores a finite set of locators associated with a host, allowing hosts to communicate using a set of locators that are likely to be associated based on patterns and frequency, reducing the need for frequent updates and queries.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If IP address is used for location addressing, then host identification and location addressing are achieved, but mobility management becomes difficult and connection sessions are lost when nodes move
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the IP address into two separate components: an Endpoint Identifier (EID) that remains constant and identifies the host, and a Locator (LID) that changes with location. This segmentation allows the host identity to be decoupled from its location, enabling mobility while maintaining continuous connections. The EID-LID separation is implemented through the LISP protocol architecture, where mapping systems translate between EIDs and LIDs independently.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a mapping system as an intermediary between the identifier and locator functions. This mapping system stores the correspondence between EIDs and LIDs, allowing hosts to maintain their EID while their LID changes with location. The mapping system acts as a mediator that translates packets from EID to LID format, enabling seamless mobility without disrupting ongoing connections.
2Measurement precision
If frequent locator updates are performed in distributed mapping systems, then current location information is maintained, but network resource consumption and synchronization overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by having hosts proactively register their locators with the mapping system before mobility events occur, and by implementing prediction algorithms that anticipate future location changes. The system pre-establishes locator mappings and uses historical mobility patterns to predict upcoming location changes, reducing the need for reactive updates and minimizing network overhead.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements periodic action through scheduled locator updates and prediction interval mechanisms. Instead of continuous real-time updates, the system performs locator registrations and predictions at optimized intervals based on mobility patterns and network conditions. This periodic approach maintains location accuracy while significantly reducing the frequency of network communications and resource consumption.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple locators are stored for a host, then mobility and location flexibility are improved, but database complexity and mapping overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamics by making the locator set for each host dynamic and adaptive rather than static. The mapping system maintains a set of valid locators for each EID that can change in size and composition based on the host's mobility patterns, network conditions, and prediction algorithms. This dynamic approach allows the system to optimize between storing minimal vs. multiple locators based on real-time requirements, balancing flexibility with database complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method implemented by a sending host implemented as a network element (NE) comprises receiving, by a receiver of the sending host, a set of locators from a distributed mapping system, each of the locators in the set of locators being an address associated with the receiving host, storing, in a memory of the sending host, the set of locators in an entry of a local identifier (ID)-to-locator database in association with an ID of the receiving host, transmitting, by a transmitter of the sending host, a plurality of packets to a plurality of endpoint routers (xTRs), each of the xTRs associated with each of the locators in the set of locators, and receiving, by the receiver of the sending host, a response from one of the xTRs in response to sending the plurality of packets to the plurality of xTRs, a locator associated with the one of the xTRs being an address of a current location of the receiving host.