In one embodiment, a load balancing method may comprise: assigning a plurality of packets of a flow to a plurality of segments according to a segmentation criterion, each segment including one or more packets of said plurality of packets, and at least one of the plurality of segments including more than one packet of the plurality of packets; tagging each packet of the plurality of packets with a segment sequence identifier to indicate to which segment the packet is assigned; and arranging the plurality of packets for transmission via an interconnect so that all packets belonging to a same segment will be transmitted via a same path.

The method comprising, in a network based on a chain of individual Service Functions, SFs, that are composed to implement Network Services, NSs: assigning, at an ingress node of a network architecture, to at least one data packet received by said ingress node from the network, a unique cryptographic tag; processing said assigned unique cryptographic tag using a cryptographic function specific to each Service Function, SF; and verifying, at a given point of the network architecture, said processed unique cryptographic tag by applying a cryptographic verification function composed by the inverse functions of the cryptographic functions associated to the SFs traversed by the at least one data packet.

A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided for sub-service flow based mapping in a cellular communication system. A sub-service flow User-plane interface between an Enforcement Point and a network control system (NCS) is defined. Relation and coordination of the sub-service flow User-plane interface associated with sub-service flow management actions on a Control-plane interface is defined. In-band packet marking is created to dynamically assist the identification of sub-service flow identities and receive corresponding quality of service (QoS)/quality of experience (QoE) treatments.

A packet forwarding network may include switches that forward network traffic between end hosts and network tap devices that forward copied network traffic to an analysis network formed from client switches that are controlled by a controller. Network analysis devices and network service devices may be coupled to the client switches at interfaces of the analysis network. The controller may receive one or more network policies from a network administrator. A network policy may identify ingress interfaces, egress interfaces, matching rules, packet manipulation services to be performed. The controller may control the client switches to generate network paths that forward network packets that match the matching rules from the ingress interfaces to the egress interfaces through service devices that perform the services of the list. The controller may generate network paths for network policies based on network topology information and/or current network conditions maintained at the controller.

A switch receiving Ethernet packets is disclosed, including TCP packets and/or non-TCP packets. The Ethernet packets are forwarded to at least two ports by forwarding each TCP Present application relates to a switch receiving Ethernet packets, including TCP packets and/or non-TCP packets, and forwarding the Ethernet packets to at least two ports by forwarding each of the TCP packets to any one of the at least two ports and forwarding each stream of non-TCP packets to one corresponding port of the at least two ports.

A tagging mechanism supporting different QoS categories for IP/Port services in a cellular radio network is proposed. Tags are used to differentiate different types of services and corresponding QoS requirements. At the sender side, the sender of the IP packets is able to distinguish different types of services by tagging one or multiple bits for finer QoS control. For downlink IP traffic, the tagging function can be done at the base station. For uplink IP traffic, the tagging function can be done at the UE. At the receiver side, the receiver delivers the IP packets using out-of-sequence delivery for delay sensitive packets. With tagging and out-of-sequence delivery, the delay sensitive packets can reduce CN latency and transmission latency.

There is provided a packet transfer device including a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory and the processor configured to detect a first packet of a predetermined size, detect a second packet whose data in a predetermined area matches a specific pattern, the second packet being included in a group of the first packet, and count a number of the second packet.

The present disclosure is directed to adaptive networking policy with user defined fields and includes one or more processors and one or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media coupled to the one or more processors and comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause one or more components to perform operations including generating a user defined attribute (UDA) value corresponding to a set of attributes; receiving, at a network device, a packet having one or more packet conditions; determining that the one or more packet conditions of the packet match the set of attributes of the UDA value; assigning a UDA tag to the packet, wherein the UDA tag corresponds to the UDA value and is configured for chaining with one or more other UDA tags; and taking an action on the packet based on the UDA tag.

The proposed technology relates to methods and radio network nodes for Explicit Congestion Notification, ECN, marking of user traffic in wireless communication networks. For example, a method performed by a sending radio network node (10) comprises the step of monitoring (S10) a congestion metric on a data radio bearer, and the step of transmitting (S20) control information indicating traffic congestion on the same data radio bearer, based on the monitored congestion metric, to a receiving radio network node (20).Further, a method performed by a receiving radio network node (20) comprises the step of receiving (S100) control information indicating traffic congestion on a data radio bearer, based on a congestion metric, from a sending radio network node (10), and the step of marking (S200) next ECN-capable user packet of the user traffic on the same data radio bearer with ECN marking, based on the received control information.

Packet-switching operations in a network device are managed based on the detection of excessive-rate traffic flows. A network device receives a data unit, determines the traffic flow to which the data unit belongs, and updates flow tracking information for that flow. The network device utilizes the tracking information to determine when a rate at which the network device is receiving data belonging to the flow exceeds an excessive-rate threshold and is thus an excessive-rate flow. The network device may enable one or more excessive-rate policies on an excessive-rate traffic flow. Such a policy may include any number of features that affect how the device handles data units belonging to the flow, such as excessive-rate notification, differentiated discard, differentiated congestion notification, and reprioritization. Memory and other resource optimizations for such flow tracking and management are also described.