Cisco Technology, Inc.

Aruba Networks, Inc.

Nortel Networks Corporation

Richard A Howes

William Monte LeBlanc

James A Jordan

Chris O'Rourke

Louis F Menditto

Mark Albert

Pranav Kumar Tiwari

Edward A Kersey

Tzu-Ming Tsang

Brantley W Coile

Edward Curt Kersey

Bruce F Wong

Jacob Mark McGuire

Peter A Tenereillo

Andrew L Foss

William M Leblanc

Shaheed Bacchus

Peter Tenereillo

Thomas A Bohannon

Bill Leblanc

James A Jordon

A non-transitory computer readable medium includes instructions which, when executed by one or more processors cause performance of operations, including: receiving feedback information related to a receipt of packets by a receiving device, the packets being transmitted by a source device, modifying the feedback information to obtain modified information related to the receipt of the packets by the receiving device, and transmitting, to the source device, the modified information related to the receipt of the packets by the receiving device.

Modifying feedback information to control a source device

According to one embodiment, a system is described that comprises a network device adapted to receive a media stream including a plurality of network packets. The network device of the system processes the media stream, targeted for a client device communicatively coupled to the network device, by performing a number of operations. A first operation comprises partitioning the plurality of network packets into a plurality of subsets, each subset in the plurality of subsets corresponding to a media frame in a plurality of frames. Next, a priority level is determined for each media frame in the plurality of media frames, where the priority level for each media frame is assigned to each of the one or more network packets in the frame. Thereafter, network packets are transmitted or dropped based at least on the priority level associated with each network packet in the plurality of network packets.

Method and system for prioritizing network packets

A method includes: while streaming video frames on a network toward a client device, detecting a loss of connectivity between the network and the client device; responsive to detecting the loss of the connectivity between the network and the client device, ceasing the streaming of the video frames toward the client device; subsequent to detecting the loss of connectivity, determining that the connectivity between the network and the client device has been re-established; responsive to determining that the connectivity between the network and the client device has been re-established, resuming the streaming of the video frames on the network toward the client device by transmitting an Instantaneous Decoder Refresh (IDR) frame on the network toward the client device without sending one or more frames corresponding to images chronologically prior to an image corresponding to the IDR frame.

Method and system for synchronization of data streams

According to one embodiment, a non-transitory computer readable medium is described that comprises instructions which, when executed by one or more hardware processors, cause dynamic determination of one or more transmission parameters for transmitting a particular network packet of a plurality of network packets. The transmission parameters are determined based on (a) a classification associated with the particular network packet and (b) one or more current conditions. Subsequent to this determination, the particular network packet is transmitted using the one or more transmission parameters.

Dynamic determination of transmission parameters based on packet priority and network conditions

Disclosed is a system and method for distributing connections among a plurality of servers at an Internet site. All connections are made to a single IP address and a local director selects the server from among the plurality of servers which is to receive the connection. Thus, the DNS server is not relied upon to distribute connections, and the connection distribution scheme is not avoided when DNS is bypassed. In one embodiment, a session distribution scheme is implemented such that connections are distributed to the server in the group of servers which has the fewest connections of the group. In other embodiments, other session distribution schemes which route connections based on the predicted response times of the servers or according to a round robin scheme are used.

System for distributing load over multiple servers at an internet site

A system and method are disclosed for providing a network service. A first criteria specifying a first set of flows from a first service manager is received at a forwarding agent. The first criteria specifies an expiration time interval. The first criteria is stored on the forwarding agent. A second criteria is received that specifies a second set of flows from a second service manager at the forwarding agent. The second set of flows includes flows that are in the first set of flows and the second criteria is designated as a lower priority criteria. The second criteria is stored on the forwarding agent. The first criteria is deleted from the forwarding agent upon the expiration of the expiration time interval. A packet is received that belongs to a flow that is included in the first set and the second set. It is determined that the packet matches the second set ant the packet is forwarded to the second service manager.

Backup service managers for providing reliable network services in a distributed environment

A method of communicating data between a client and a server includes initiating a participating application for transmitting packets between a client and a server. The participating application participates in a transport protocol. The method also includes initiating a non-participating application for transmitting packets between the client and the server. The non-participating application does not participate in the transport protocol. Additionally, the method includes determining whether to transmit a packet from the client to the server using the participating application or the non-participating application.

Method and apparatus for reducing overhead on a proxied connection

A system and method are disclosed for providing a fault tolerant network service. A packet is received that corresponds to a flow from a forwarding agent at a primary service manager and instructions are determined at the primary service manager for handling packets corresponding to the flow. The instructions are sent to the forwarding agent and the instructions are stored at the primary service manager. A replication packet is sent to a backup service manager. The replication packet includes the instructions for handling packets corresponding to the flow.

Stateful failover of service managers

A system and method are described for selecting a server to handle a connection. The method includes receiving at a service manager a connection request intercepted by a network device having a forwarding agent that is operative to receive instructions from a service manager, the connection request having been forwarded from the forwarding agent on the network device to the service manager. A preferred server is selected at the service manager from among a group of available servers. The preferred server is the server that is to service the connection request. Instructions are sent from the service manager to the forwarding agent. The instructions include the preferred server that is to service the connection request so that the connection request may be forwarded from the network device to the preferred server.

Load balancing using distributed forwarding agents with application based feedback for different virtual machines

A system and method are disclosed for transparently proxying a connection to a protected machine. The method includes monitoring a communication packet on a network at a proxy machine. The communication packet has a communication packet source address, source port number, destination address, and destination port number. The proxy determines whether to intercept the communication packet based on whether the communication packet destination address and the communication packet destination port number correspond to a protected destination address and a protected destination port number stored in a proxy list. The proxy machine then determines whether to proxy a proxied connection associated with the communication packet based on the communication packet source address and the communication packet source port number. A protected connection is terminated from the proxy machine to a protected machine. The protected machine corresponds to the communication packet destination address and the communication packet destination port number.

Method and apparatus for transparently proxying a connection

A method and a system are described for directing a client to the most optimal, most available Web site or to the most optimal content in a distributed content environment, using an Internet Site Selector, which is an Internet appliance that optimizes the performance of domains hosted on mirrored, geographically distributed Web sites. The system includes various components including the Internet Site Selectors which co-locate with each Web site. The method comprises a number of steps including sending client requests to a primary or main site, redirecting by an Internet Site Selector coupled to the primary or main site the modified client requests to all other participating Internet Site Selectors. Several modes and deployments of the Internet Site Selectors, including geographic site selection, multiple Internet Site Selectors at each Web site, Internet Site Selector grouping, Internet Site Selectors in content routing are described.

Method and apparatus for discovering client proximity network sites

A method and system for providing a connection between a client and a server with load balancing between servers are disclosed. A computer-implemented method of the present invention generally includes binding a primary virtual server to a set of URLs, each URL having an associated real server and receiving a request from a client for connection to the primary virtual server. One of the real servers are selected for connection with the client and a redirect message is sent to the client specifying the URL associated with the selected real server. The method further includes receiving a new connection request from the client for connection with the selected real server.

Server load balancing method and system

A method of providing a network service is disclosed. The method includes implementing a forwarding agent on a router. The forwarding agent is operative to receive instructions from a service manager. Packets are forwarded from the forwarding agent to the service manager, and the forwarding agent receives instructions from the service manager detailing how to handle the forwarded packets.

Integrating service managers into a routing infrastructure using forwarding agents

A system and method are described for providing instructions for forwarding packets. The method includes broadcasting a general instruction specifying a plurality of flows to a plurality of forwarding agents and receiving at a service manager a first message responsive to the general instruction indicating that a packet for a specific flow has been received by a specific forwarding agent. A specific instruction is generated at the service manager for handling the specific flow and the specific instruction for handling the specific flow is sent to the specific forwarding agent.

Growing community of inventors

Franklin, TN, United States of America

Richard A Howes