Intermediate Tunnel Nodes for Slice-Based Internet Traffic Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing Internet communication technologies face challenges in efficiently managing network congestion, traffic load balancing, and unpredictable network behavior, leading to issues such as packet loss, duplication, and out-of-order delivery, which affect the performance of applications like the World Wide Web, email, and streaming media.
Innovation Solution
The use of intermediate nodes that can function as both end-user and intermediate devices, partitioning data into slices and routing them through multiple tunnel devices for reconstruction, allowing for improved traffic management and reduced network congestion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data is transmitted directly through the Internet without intermediate nodes, then transmission speed is maintained, but packet loss and network congestion occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces intermediate nodes (tunnel devices) that act as mediators between source and destination. These nodes receive data slices, maintain state information, and coordinate retransmission efforts. The intermediary nodes absorb network instability, allowing end devices to communicate more reliably without directly exposing them to network congestion and packet loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides data into multiple slices and distributes them through different intermediate nodes. This segmentation allows the system to tolerate individual node failures or congestion, as alternative paths and nodes can deliver remaining slices. The segmentation also enables parallel processing and reduces the load on any single node.
2Reliability
If intermediate nodes are introduced to improve reliability, then packet loss is reduced, but network latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent establishes tunnel connections and pre-configures intermediate nodes before actual data transmission begins. State information and routing paths are prepared in advance, allowing data slices to be quickly forwarded through pre-established channels during actual transmission, reducing the time penalty of having intermediate nodes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates redundant copies of data slices and routes them through multiple intermediate nodes simultaneously. This copying approach allows the system to receive acknowledgments from multiple paths in parallel, reducing the overall time waiting for confirmation of successful delivery while maintaining reliability.
3Productivity
If multiple tunnel devices are used for data transmission, then network congestion is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs intermediate tunnel nodes with multi-functional capabilities. Each node can simultaneously perform slicing, state maintenance, retransmission coordination, and routing for multiple different data streams. This universality reduces the number of specialized devices needed and simplifies the overall network architecture while maintaining high throughput through parallel processing.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for fetching a content from a web server to a client device is disclosed, using tunnel devices serving as intermediate devices. The client device accesses an acceleration server to receive a list of available tunnel devices. The requested content is partitioned into slices, and the client device sends a request for the slices to the available tunnel devices. The tunnel devices in turn fetch the slices from the data server, and send the slices to the client device, where the content is reconstructed from the received slices. A client device may also serve as a tunnel device, serving as an intermediate device to other client devices. Similarly, a tunnel device may also serve as a client device for fetching content from a data server. The selection of tunnel devices to be used by a client device may be in the acceleration server, in the client device, or in both. The partition into slices may be overlapping or non-overlapping, and the same slice (or the whole content) may be fetched via multiple tunnel devices.