Traffic Steering in Distributed Cloud via Control Entity

The patent extracts the traffic steering function from DNS-based solutions and implements it through direct network routing control. The network operator can directly influence the selection of service instances without relying on DNS queries and responses, thereby eliminating caching issues and ensuring reliable traffic redirection even when network topology changes occur.

The patent makes the network operator's routing control mechanism universal by enabling it to handle both existing service instances and newly created service instances uniformly. The control mechanism can influence traffic for any service instance regardless of its creation time or location, eliminating the need for separate DNS server deployments at each location while maintaining local routing capability.

The patent introduces dynamic control over service instance selection while maintaining routing simplicity. The network operator can dynamically influence which service instance is selected based on current network conditions and topology changes, allowing the system to adapt to changes without breaking long-lived sessions. This dynamic control is achieved through direct routing influence mechanisms that preserve session state information.

The patent uses the network operator's existing routing control mechanism as an intermediary to achieve accurate traffic steering without requiring specialized load balancing devices. The control mechanism can influence traffic selection based on service instance locations and network topology, providing accurate steering while utilizing already-deployed network infrastructure rather than requiring additional costly load balancers.