Intermediate Network Device for Customer Bandwidth Profiling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Centralized broadband network gateway (BNG) deployments face challenges in accurately monitoring and profiling customer bandwidth utilization, leading to difficulties in enforcing service profiles, resulting in potential over or under-provisioning of bandwidth, which affects cost efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Innovation Solution
Implementing network devices intermediately positioned between customer networks and centralized BNGs to profile customer bandwidth and enforce service profiles by determining service profiles based on authentication messages and associating them with hierarchical VLAN arrangements, allowing for accurate policing and shaping of traffic.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If centralized BNG deployment is used to reduce costs, then cost efficiency is improved, but bandwidth profiling accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediate network device positioned between the customer network and the centralized BNG. This intermediary device performs the bandwidth profiling and service profile enforcement functions that would otherwise be difficult to implement accurately in a centralized deployment. The intermediate device acts as a mediator that enables precise measurement and control of customer bandwidth while allowing the BNG to remain centralized for cost efficiency.
2Measurement precision
If decentralized BNG deployment is used to improve bandwidth profiling accuracy, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and administration difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the bandwidth profiling and service profile enforcement functions from the BNG and places them in an intermediate network device. This separation allows the BNG to remain centralized and simple to administer, while the intermediate device handles the complex measurement and control functions. The intermediate device is positioned in the network where it can perform accurate profiling without adding administrative complexity to the core BNG infrastructure.
3Quantity of substance
If centralized BNG deployment is used to reduce the number of devices, then device quantity is reduced, but multicast traffic efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements bandwidth profiling and service profile application at the intermediate device before traffic reaches the centralized BNG. This preliminary action allows multicast traffic to be efficiently handled at the intermediate level, where it can be replicated and distributed to multiple customers without requiring the centralized BNG to perform complex multicast operations. The intermediate device prepares the traffic in advance, improving overall bandwidth utilization efficiency while maintaining centralized deployment benefits.
Data Source
AI summary
In general, techniques are described for performing customer bandwidth profiling in computer networks. A network device intermediately positioned in a service provider network between a customer network and a centralized network device that provides a hierarchical arrangement of virtual local area networks (VLANs) located in the service provider network may perform the techniques. The network device determines a service profile based on authentication messages and associates the service profile with the hierarchical arrangement of VLANs used for delivering the traffic to and from the customer network and the service provider network. The service profile defines constraints on delivery of the traffic associated with the one or more services. The network device then applies the service profile to the traffic received via the associated hierarchical arrangement of VLANs to enforce the constraints on the delivery of the traffic received via the associated hierarchical arrangement of VLANs.