A communication equipment receives a plurality of network sessions and includes a memory and a processor. The memory stores a plurality of software modules. The processor is connected to the memory and configured to implement the following steps. A network session inferring step is performed to execute an inference software module, and the inference software module processes at least one network packet of each of the network sessions and a packet characteristic module according to a machine learning algorithm to infer a priority level. An adaptive priority list establishing step is performed to execute a classification software module, and the classification software module establishes an adaptive priority list according to the priority levels of the network sessions. The communication equipment transmits the network packets of each of the network sessions to a network according to the adaptive priority list so as to set QoS of the network sessions.

Methods are provided to categorize and filter node metadata by adding a priority field to the node metadata, obtained as part of in-band network telemetry data collection. The methods involve obtaining, by a first network device, a packet having a header and a payload and adding, by the first network device, to the header of the packet, metadata which includes first telemetry data and a metadata priority level that indicates a priority of the first telemetry data added to the header of the packet by the first network device. The methods further involve providing the packet to a second network device in a path of a network.

Methods are provided to categorize and filter node metadata by adding a priority field to the node metadata, obtained as part of in-band network telemetry data collection. The methods involve obtaining, by a first network device, a packet having a header and a payload and adding, by the first network device, to the header of the packet, metadata which includes first telemetry data and a metadata priority level that indicates a priority of the first telemetry data added to the header of the packet by the first network device. The methods further involve providing the packet to a second network device in a path of a network.

A switching system comprises a controlling switch and a plurality of port extenders. One of the port extenders includes: at least one upstream port; multiple downstream ports; and a forwarding engine. A forwarding database is populated with entries indicating associations between i) respective network addresses corresponding to devices coupled to downstream ports, and ii) respective local downstream ports. The forwarding database excludes entries corresponding to network addresses corresponding to devices coupled to the at least one upstream port. The forwarding engine is configured to: for a first packet received via one of the local downstream ports, and having a destination network address in the forwarding database, forward the first packet to a different local downstream port indicated by the forwarding database. For a second packet received via one of the local downstream ports, and having a destination network address not in the forwarding database, forward the second packet to the at least one upstream port.

A switching system comprises a controlling switch and a plurality of port extenders. One of the port extenders includes: at least one upstream port; multiple downstream ports; and a forwarding engine. A forwarding database is populated with entries indicating associations between i) respective network addresses corresponding to devices coupled to downstream ports, and ii) respective local downstream ports. The forwarding database excludes entries corresponding to network addresses corresponding to devices coupled to the at least one upstream port. The forwarding engine is configured to: for a first packet received via one of the local downstream ports, and having a destination network address in the forwarding database, forward the first packet to a different local downstream port indicated by the forwarding database. For a second packet received via one of the local downstream ports, and having a destination network address not in the forwarding database, forward the second packet to the at least one upstream port.

A wireless communication device that transmits data to another wireless communication device that performs wireless connection using a packet including a transmission number, the wireless communication device includes, a controller configured to classify the data as first data when a transmission condition indicating a condition related to transmission of the data is a first transmission condition and classifies the data as second data when the transmission condition of the data is a second transmission condition different from the first transmission condition, and a transmitter configured to transmit the data in a first transmission mode in a layer related to the wireless connection when the data is the first data and transmits the data in a second transmission mode in a layer related to the wireless connection when the second data is second data.

Some embodiments provide a network forwarding IC with packet processing pipelines, at least one of which includes a parser, a set of match-action stages, and a deparser. The parser is configured to receive a packet and generate a PHV including a first number of data containers storing data for the packet. A first match-action stage is configured to receive the PHV from the parser and expand the PHV to a second, larger number of data containers storing data for the packet. Each of a set of intermediate match-action stage is configured to receive the expanded PHV from a previous stage and provide the expanded PHV to a subsequent stage. A final match-action stage is configured to receive the expanded PHV and reduce the PHV to the first number of data containers. The deparser is configured to receive the reduced PHV from the final match-action stage and reconstruct the packet.

Some embodiments provide a network forwarding IC with packet processing pipelines, at least one of which includes a parser, a set of match-action stages, and a deparser. The parser is configured to receive a packet and generate a PHV including a first number of data containers storing data for the packet. A first match-action stage is configured to receive the PHV from the parser and expand the PHV to a second, larger number of data containers storing data for the packet. Each of a set of intermediate match-action stage is configured to receive the expanded PHV from a previous stage and provide the expanded PHV to a subsequent stage. A final match-action stage is configured to receive the expanded PHV and reduce the PHV to the first number of data containers. The deparser is configured to receive the reduced PHV from the final match-action stage and reconstruct the packet.

A method and system for subscriber awareness for traffic flows in a computer network. The system including: a Subscriber Awareness Control Plane (SACP) module configured to register as a network node and subscribe to at least one network function on the network; at least one processing module configured to request and receive information of traffic flow parameters and subscriber parameters for the traffic flows from the at least one network function; and a subscriber awareness module configured to map subscribers to traffic flows, based on the received traffic flow parameters and subscriber parameters. The method including: registering an SACP module as a network node; subscribing to at least one network functions; receiving information of traffic flow parameters and subscriber parameters for the traffic flows; and mapping subscribers to traffic flows, based on the traffic flow parameters and subscriber parameters.

A novel algorithm for packet classification that is based on a novel search structure for packet classification rules is provided. Addresses from all the containers are merged and maintained in a single Trie. Each entry in the Trie has additional information that can be traced back to the container from where the address originated. This information is used to keep the Trie in sync with the containers when the container definition dynamically changes.