Method and System for Controlling Data Communication within a Network

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This invention describes a method and system for optimizing data communication within large networks, such as the Internet. It works by continuously monitoring the network and building an up-to-date representation of its structure and performance. When a client requests a connection between a source and multiple possible destinations, the system ranks the destination options based on current network conditions (e.g., speed, reliability, costs) and returns an ordered list so that the most optimal path is chosen. This enables network providers to reduce congestion, avoid faulty links, and optimize traffic flow.

Use CasesContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

• Internet Service Providers (ISPs) optimizing backbone and transit traffic.
• Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) improving user download speeds and server selection.
• Enterprise networks managing efficient internal or external data routing.
• Peer-to-peer network applications choosing optimal peer connections.
• Dynamic DNS resolution with intelligent source-destination matching for web traffic.
• Streaming platforms optimizing user-to-server connections based on real-time network states.

BenefitsContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

• Reduces network congestion and traffic on overloaded or inefficient links.
• Improves end-user experience by selecting faster and more reliable connections.
• Enables cost reductions by considering transit and peering expenses in routing decisions.
• Enhances robustness by dynamically bypassing faulty or down links.
• Allows centralized, provider-driven optimization rather than user-initiated trial/error approaches.
• Supports flexible and customizable ranking criteria based on provider, client, or application priorities.
• Facilitates smarter network management and automated traffic engineering.
• Decreases average hop-count and increases average download speeds across the network.

Technical Classifications (CPCs)

Inventors & Applicants

Patent Abstract

For traffic engineering in a network, such as reducing the congestion in heavy loaded links, bypass links that are down or reduce transit costs, the invention proposes a method for controlling data communication, wherein a central network element (100) associated with a network provider generates and updates a representation (130) of the network by retrieving network information (110) and/or by monitoring data communication within the network, from a client network element (180) a request is transmitted to the central network element (100), identifying a source network element and at least two destination network elements, for each destination network element a ranking value is determined by the central network element (100) based on the representation (130) of the network, an ordered list is generated based on the respective ranking values and is transmitted to the client network element (180), and based on the ordered list at least one of the destination network elements is selected for data communication with the source network element. The invention further proposes a system and a network element for performing the inventive method.