When a signal-to-noise ratio affecting radio communication becomes sufficiently low, then the data transmission rate is responsively decreased in compensation. The signal-to-noise ratio of the communication link is thereby increased. Data for multiple different services is transmitted in data packets between two radios. By allocating one part, or time slot, of the data packet's payload to one service, and allocating another part, or time slot, of the data packet's payload to another service, communications sessions for multiple services can be maintained concurrently. Services are prioritized relative to each other. In case the signal-to-noise ratio becomes too low, data packet portions that are related to lower-priority services can be omitted from some data packets before those data packets are transmitted. Data remaining in the packet can be sent at a reduced data transmission rate without causing the quality of service for the remaining packets to fall below the minimum required level.

A computer-implemented method for increasing the scalability of software-defined networks may include (1) maintaining a set of databases collectively configured to (i) store a set of flow entries that direct network traffic within a software-defined network and (ii) facilitate searching the set of flow entries based at least in part on at least one key whose size remains substantially constant irrespective of the number of flow entries within the set of flow entries, (2) detecting a request to perform an operation in connection with a flow of data packets within the software-defined network, (3) identifying at least one attribute of the flow of data packets in the request, and then (4) searching, using the attribute of the flow of data packets as a database key, at least one database within the set of databases to facilitate performing the operation. Various other methods, systems, and apparatuses are also disclosed.

Network tool optimizers for server cloud networks and related methods are disclosed. In part, master filters are defined to segregate and control user traffic, and user filters are defined to forward the user traffic to cloud-based network tools or tool instances. A master user interface and user interfaces for each user are provided so that the master filters and user filters can be defined and managed. A filter rules compiler within the cloud-based network tool optimizer then combines the master filters with the user filters, resolves conflicts in favor of the master filters, and generates filter engine rules that are applied to filter engines within the network tool optimizer for the cloud network. The filter engines then forward packets received at input ports for the network tool optimizer to output ports for the network tool optimizer that are coupled to network tools or tool instances within the cloud network.

A method and apparatus are provided in which network traffic is separated based on application, query, or other criteria. A first application is stored in a first control group in a resource isolation environment, the first control group being associated with a first policy. A second application is stored in a second control group in the resource isolation environment, the second control group being associated with a second policy. Upon receiving a request for content through one of the first application and the second application, it is determined which control group is associated with the request. Traffic is managed in connection with the request according to the policy associated with the determined control group.

Techniques for managing preamble transmission and processing on a shared communication medium are disclosed. An access point or an access terminal, for example, may generate a preamble for silencing communication on a communication medium with respect to an upcoming data transmission, configure the preamble to identify one or more target devices for the silencing, and transmit the preamble over the communication medium in advance of the data transmission. Conversely, the access point or the access terminal may receive a preamble (as a receiving device) over a communication medium, identify one or more target devices for silencing communication on the communication medium with respect to an upcoming data transmission based on the preamble, and selectively silence communication over the communication medium based on itself (as the receiving device) being among the one or more target devices.

Embodiments provide a system and method for network tracking. By using packet capture applications having a flow identifier and a time stamper, one or more raw packets from one or more packet flows intercepted from a network can be tagged with a unique identifier and timestamp that can later be used to aggregate packet flows that have been analyzed by one or more capture applications. The unique identifier can relate to the network interface of the particular capture application and can also have an increasing value, where the increase in value can be monotonic. Later capture applications, while capable of generating secondary timestamps, can disregard those secondary timestamps for the primary timestamp of the first capture application in order to remove complications arising from latency issues.

A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes receiving at a network element a packet associated with a flow and determining whether a flow cache of the network element includes an entry for the flow indicating a classification for the flow. The method further includes, if the network element flow cache does not include an entry for the flow, punting the packet over a default path to a classifying service function, in which the classifying service function classifies the flow and determines a control plane service function for handling the flow, and receiving from the classifying service function a service path identifier (“SPI”) of a service path leading to the determined control plane service function. The flow is subsequently offloaded from the classifying service function to the network element.

Transferring data over a network includes identifying an application flow and mapping the application flow to a network bound connection.

An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for handling data being communicated over lossless Ethernet that is sensitive to delays. Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) is one example of an environment where data may be subject to unacceptable delays. The method involves designating certain data as low latency data that is sensitive to delays in transmission. The low latency data is then transmitted in such a manner that the receiving devices are aware that they are receiving low latency data. If a delay in the transmission of low latency is detected, commands are issued that pause or slow standard data in order to free up bandwidth for the low latency data. The commands may be, for example, backward congestion notifications and priority flow control. Low latency data is exempted from backward congestion notifications and priority flow control. Priority 7 priority group 15 may be reserved exclusively for low latency data.

A plurality of in-vehicle control apparatuses (100) and a DLC (200) connected to a vehicle network each include a frame monitoring unit (131). The frame monitoring units (131) detect simultaneous transmission of a plurality of communication data having a shared CAN ID by monitoring an error frame transmitted to the vehicle network. The plurality of in-vehicle control apparatuses (100) and the DLC (200) also each include a control determination unit (132) and a transmission/reception control unit (133) that execute adjustment processing to adjust the plurality of communication data having the shared CAN ID when simultaneous transmission of the communication data is detected.