In-Line Ad Engine Service Card for Dynamic Packet Inspection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current network devices lack efficient mechanisms for in-line packet inspection and modification at high speeds, particularly for market research and advertising purposes, often requiring standalone ad engines that can bottleneck network traffic.
Innovation Solution
A high-end general-purpose packet processing network device with dynamic lossless packet filters and an integrated in-line ad engine that can identify and redirect traffic of interest for inspection and modification, allowing for dynamic filter creation and management without affecting non-relevant traffic, and includes a packet inspection engine for data mining and modification.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If an integrated in-line ad engine is embedded within the network device, then packet inspection and modification capabilities are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the ad engine functionality with the existing network device architecture by integrating the ad engine as a service card that can be inserted into the network device chassis. This combining approach allows packet inspection and modification capabilities to be added without requiring a completely separate standalone system, thus improving adaptability while controlling the increase in device complexity through modular integration.
Solution Approach 2:
The network device is designed to perform multiple functions: traditional routing/switching operations plus packet inspection, modification, and ad insertion. The service card architecture enables the same physical device to serve both conventional network forwarding and specialized ad engineering purposes, making the device universal and reducing the need for separate dedicated systems.
2Productivity
If dynamic filters are applied to identify traffic of interest, then packet inspection efficiency is improved, but network latency increases for inspected packets
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments network traffic into two distinct paths: a fast path for packets that do not match the dynamic filters (which are processed quickly without inspection) and a slow path for packets that do match the filters (which undergo inspection and modification). This segmentation allows the system to maintain high inspection efficiency for relevant traffic while minimizing latency impact by avoiding inspection overhead for the majority of traffic.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of inspecting all packets exhaustively, the system applies partial action by using dynamic filters to selectively identify only the subset of traffic that is of interest. This partial inspection approach improves overall inspection efficiency by focusing resources only on relevant packets while maintaining low latency for the bulk of traffic that doesn't require inspection.
3Adaptability or versatility
If standalone ad engines are used, then packet inspection capabilities are improved, but network traffic bottleneck increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the ad engine functionality directly into the network device architecture, eliminating the need for separate standalone ad engines that would create traffic bottlenecks. The service card integrates seamlessly with the network device's forwarding plane, allowing packet inspection and modification to occur inline without creating a separate processing bottleneck that would slow down network traffic.
Solution Approach 2:
The service card acts as an intermediary component within the network device that handles packet inspection and modification functions. This intermediary architecture allows the ad engine to process packets efficiently without creating a bottleneck, as it is integrated into the existing network traffic flow rather than operating as a separate standalone system that would constrain network speed.
Data Source
AI summary
A network router includes interfaces to receive packets, a routing engine that executes a routing protocol to maintain routing information specifying routes through a network, a packet forwarding engine forward the packets to the interfaces in accordance with the routing information, one or more advertising engine service cards comprising a packet inspection engine and an advertising engine control unit, and a set of dynamic filters that identify packets for inspection by the packet inspection engine based on characteristics of the packet. The filters direct any matching ones of the packets from the packet forwarding engine to the packet inspection engine within the advertising engine service card, and the packet inspection engine analyzes the packets to extract information from the packets based on configured advertising engine policies. The advertising engine control unit outputs commands to dynamically add and delete filters from the set of dynamic filters.