Selective Packet Forwarding to Reduce Network Flooding

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Solution Overview

Problem

Network bandwidth resources are wasted due to the flooding of packets in a network without a purpose, as existing network devices send packets to all neighboring devices, regardless of their need.

Innovation Solution

Network devices use match object and match condition information to determine specific devices for packet forwarding, preventing unnecessary flooding by sending packets only to devices that meet the specified criteria.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a network device floods packets to all neighboring devices, then packet delivery coverage is improved, but network bandwidth consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvepacket delivery coverageVSAvoidnetwork bandwidth consumption
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and utilizes match object information and match condition information from packets to identify and forward packets only to specific target devices that match the criteria, rather than flooding to all devices. This selective extraction of relevant information enables precise packet routing.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements local quality by making each network device evaluate packets locally using match object and match condition information to determine whether to forward or discard, rather than uniformly flooding to all neighbors. This creates differentiated packet handling based on local device characteristics and packet content.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

2Loss of energy

If match object information and match condition information are used to selectively forward packets, then network bandwidth efficiency is improved, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvenetwork bandwidth efficiencyVSAvoidpacket processing complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of energyVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies partial action by performing matching operations only on specific packet fields (match object and match condition information) rather than analyzing entire packets, and only forwarding to devices that partially match the criteria. This selective partial processing reduces overall complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent uses match object information as a template or copy of desired packet characteristics, comparing incoming packets against this template to determine forwarding decisions. This copying approach simplifies the matching process by using predefined criteria.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #26Copying

Data Source

PatentEP3343848B1Packet processing method and network device
Publication Date: 2026.01.28 HUAWEI TECH CO LTD
  • EP3343848B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3343848B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3343848B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

The present invention provides a packet processing method and system, and a network device. The method includes: receiving, by a first network device, a packet, where the packet includes match object information and match condition information; determining, by the first network device, a to-be-matched second network device according to the match object information, where the second network device includes one or more network devices; matching, by the first network device, device information of the second network device with the match condition information; and performing, by the first network device, forwarding processing or discarding processing on the packet according to a match result of matching the device information of the second network device with the match condition information. By using the method provided in the present invention, excessive occupation of network bandwidth can be reduced, and network resources can be saved.