Routing methods, systems, and computer program products
Patent No. US10587505 (titled "Routing methods, systems, and computer program products") on Apr 24, 2018. The application was issued on Mar 10, 2020.
What is this patent about?
’505 is related to the field of network routing and data transmission, specifically addressing the limitations of traditional global addressing schemes in large-scale networks. It provides a framework for navigating complex topologies by utilizing path-based and scope-specific identifiers within a label switching forwarding paradigm, such as MPLS, to reduce latency and manage the exhaustion of global address spaces.
The underlying idea behind ’505 is the transition from rigid, global destination addresses to a flexible, hierarchical system of scope-specific identifiers that describe the path to be taken. By embedding a sequence of identifiers—ranging from broad regional node IDs to specific local interface IDs—directly into the packet header, the invention allows each node to make forwarding decisions based on its own local context and the specific segment of the path it is responsible for.
The claims of ’505 focus on a current node’s ability to identify and utilize different types of identifiers from a packet header to transmit data along a network path. These identifiers include region-scoped node identifiers for routing within a specific area, scope-specific node identifiers for reaching nodes in external regions, and node-scoped network interface identifiers for direct transmission via a specific physical or logical interface.
In practice, the system operates by having a node detect path information in a packet header and select the appropriate identifier based on a pre-defined policy or schema. If a regional identifier is chosen, the node uses its internal routing table to select a path segment, which may involve multiple hops, to reach a target node within that same region. Conversely, if a scope-specific identifier is used, the node identifies a target in a different region and forwards the data through a segment that bridges the two areas, effectively treating the external node as a reachable endpoint within its own region-specific identifier space.
This approach differs from prior solutions by moving away from the strict distinction between names, addresses, and routes. Instead of relying solely on a global lookup to find a destination, the invention uses path-based protocol addresses that essentially contain the 'map' to the destination. This allows for more efficient routing in segmented networks, as nodes only need to understand the identifiers relevant to their immediate scope or region, rather than maintaining exhaustive knowledge of the entire global network topology.
How does this patent fit in bigger picture?
Technical Landscape
In the early 2010s when ’505 was filed, network routing was typically implemented using global addressing schemes where a clear distinction was maintained between a node's identity and the path used to reach it. At a time when systems commonly relied on centralized or hierarchical address allocation to manage growing global networks, the exhaustion of traditional 32-bit address spaces made the efficient scaling of routing tables and the reduction of network latency non-trivial. During this era, hardware and software constraints often required routers to perform complex lookups to map static addresses to dynamic routes, as protocol architectures generally treated names, addresses, and routes as discrete functional entities rather than integrated components of a path-based forwarding mechanism.
Prosecution Position
The disclosed invention represents a technical advancement through the integration of path-based information directly into protocol headers to facilitate more flexible and efficient routing. By utilizing a plurality of identifiers—including region-scoped, scope-specific, and node-scoped interface identifiers—within a packet header, the architecture enables a node to select and execute forwarding decisions based on localized or regional network contexts. This structural shift allows for the selection of multi-hop path segments based on specific metrics or policies, effectively overcoming the constraints of traditional global addressing. The technical effect achieved is a more granular control over data transmission paths, enabling the network to resolve routing at different levels of scope and reducing the reliance on global mapping tables for every hop in a network path.
Claims
US Patent 10,587,505 contains 60 claims, with claims 1, 11, 16, 26, 31, 41, 46, and 56 serving as the independent claims. The independent claims focus on systems and methods for network data transmission using label switching, specifically identifying and utilizing various types of scoped identifiers—such as region-scoped, scope-specific, or node-scoped interface identifiers—to route data through specific network path segments or regions based on defined policies. The dependent claims serve to further refine these routing mechanisms by specifying various identifier configurations, detailing the selection of path segments based on routing metrics or tables, and defining the operational environments, such as Multiprotocol Label Switching networks, in which these identifiers are applied.
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US10587505
- Application Number
- US15961828A
- Filing Date
- Apr 24, 2018
- Publication Date
- Mar 10, 2020
- External Links
- Slate, USPTO , Google Patents