Multimedia Flow Drop Notification for Congestion Relief
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional congestion control methods for multimedia data flows in IP networks fail to preserve data integrity during congestion, as they degrade all flows and lack efficient notification mechanisms, especially in today's multi-stream media-rich environment.
Innovation Solution
A congestion control mechanism that selectively drops a subset of multimedia data flows to alleviate congestion, using a flow drop method within a congestion control unit, which monitors and prioritizes flows, dropping lower priority flows first, and notifies sources and destinations of dropped flows to enable corrective action.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional congestion control methods (RED, WRED) are applied to multimedia data flows, then congestion control is achieved, but data integrity is degraded and all flows are severely impacted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments multimedia data flows into different priority levels (high priority and low priority flows). During congestion, only low priority flows are dropped while high priority flows continue uninterrupted. This segmentation allows selective congestion control that preserves data integrity for critical flows while still managing network load.
2Productivity
If all degraded multimedia data flows are allowed to pass through the network during congestion, then network throughput is maintained, but corrupted information is received and congestion notification is prevented
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and separates low priority flows from high priority flows. During congestion, only the low priority flows are dropped (taken out of the network), while high priority flows continue to pass through. This extraction ensures that corrupted information is minimized and congestion notification can accurately reflect the actual impact on different flow types.
3Loss of information
If source quench messages are sent to notify congestion conditions, then source awareness is improved, but the mechanism does not account for multi-stream media-rich environments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by treating different data flows differently based on their priority and characteristics. Instead of uniform congestion control, the system applies selective dropping rules specific to low priority flows while preserving high priority flows. This localized approach adapts the congestion control mechanism to the multi-stream media-rich environment by considering the specific qualities of each flow type.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system for correcting a congestion condition within a network, the method including notifying the sender and receiver of a multimedia data flow or flows that the multimedia data flows have been dropped due to the presence of the congestion condition. The method including the steps of determining at least one multimedia data flow that will be dropped to relieve the congestion condition; constructing notification messages for the source and destination of the dropped flows; and sending the notification message to the source and destination of the dropped multimedia data flows.