Router Queue Monitoring for Proactive Traffic Rerouting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing network congestion management techniques are reactive, leading to packet drops and reduced performance, especially for streaming video and audio, as they wait for link failures before rerouting traffic, resulting in decreased quality of service and customer experience.
Innovation Solution
A router with primary and alternate output interfaces and a route controller that monitors queue status to proactively activate alternate routes before link failures occur, using a routing table to assign data packets to either the primary or alternate output interfaces based on queue thresholds, thereby alleviating congestion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If reactive queue management is used to handle congestion, then network nodes can store packets in queues until transmission is available, but packets are eventually dropped when queues overflow, reducing network performance and quality of service
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by monitoring queue depth in advance and proactively switching to alternate routes before the queue overflows and drops packets. The router continuously monitors the depth of output queues and preemptively activates backup routing paths when threshold levels are approached, preventing packet loss before it occurs rather than reacting after overflow happens.
2Reliability
If reactive rerouting is used after link failure detection, then nodes can restore traffic flow through alternate links, but packet drops occur during the failure period, reducing customer experience
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-establishing alternate routing paths and monitoring queue conditions in advance. When congestion is detected through queue depth monitoring, the system proactively switches traffic to alternate routes before link failures occur, eliminating traffic interruption time and preventing packet losses during failure periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms by continuously monitoring queue depth and using this information to dynamically adjust routing decisions. The router receives feedback from queue status monitoring and responds by switching to alternate routes when thresholds are exceeded, creating a closed-loop system that prevents packet drops and maintains continuous traffic flow.
3Reliability
If queue monitoring thresholds are set low for proactive switching, then packet drops are prevented, but unnecessary route switching increases network complexity and processing overhead
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by using adjustable queue depth thresholds that can be configured based on network conditions and packet types. The system monitors actual queue depth values and compares them against these parameters to determine when route switching is necessary, balancing proactive packet loss prevention with avoiding unnecessary control complexity through reasonable threshold setting.
Data Source
AI summary
A router in a switching network has input interfaces communicatively coupled to other routers and first and second output interfaces communicatively coupled to other routers in the switching network. First and second output interface queues, respectively associated with the first and second output interfaces, store data packets awaiting transmission respectively on the first and second output interfaces. A routing table maps first and second destination addresses to the first output interface as a primary interface and maps the first destination address to the second output interface as an alternate interface. A route controller assigns, using the routing table, data packets having one of the first or second destination address to the primary output interface for transmission, the primary output interface being the first output interface. The controller monitors the first output interface queue and determines whether to activate an alternate route for transmitting data packets having the first destination address over the switching network.