A wireless network device, for use within a wireless network, comprising: a processor; a memory; and an interface for receiving and transmitting data; wherein the wireless network device is adapted to: determine a first cost associated with communication between the wireless network device and a client device to which the wireless network device is connectable; determine a second cost associated with communication between the client device and a further wireless network device to which the client device is connectable; determine whether the first cost or the second cost is the lower cost; and if the second cost is the lower cost, the wireless network device is adapted to guide the client device to communicate with the further network device.

A method, corresponding system, and computer program product for detecting and transferring defect information during a manufacturing process is disclosed. The method includes receiving data to be transferred from a source to a destination over a primary communication link. The method identifies at least one type of data in the received data in response to receiving the data to be transferred over the primary communication link. Thereafter, the method allows transfer of a first type of data from the at least one type of data to the destination over a secondary communication link, the first type of data corresponding to the defect information, and wherein the secondary communication link is different from the primary communication link. Further, the method allows transfer of a second type of data from the at least one type of data to the destination over the primary communication link.

A method and application function for managing data flows in a network comprising a plurality of nodes. The method comprises generating a number N of network load representatives (NLRs) of an expected loading of the network, identifying a path selection configuration for the data flows for each of the N NLRs and mapping a prevailing network loading to a selected one of the N NLRs. If the selected NLR is different from a currently selected NLR, the method triggers traffic engineering (TE) by implementing the path selection configuration of the selected NLR at nodes affected thereby. The application function may comprise an NLR generator, a path optimizer and an NLR mapper.

In an embodiment, there is provided a method for optimization of application layer traffic carried by an IP connection over a multi-access technology mobile network between a User Equipment UE and an IP connection endpoint in an IP network, the optimization being based on network information provided using a network information service, the network information including path costs capable of indicating preferences in terms of network paths for the IP connection, the preferences in terms of network paths including preferences in terms of access technologies.

A method for failure recovery in a virtual network environment including a virtual network having virtual nodes and virtual links mapped onto substrate nodes and substrate paths, respectively, of a substrate network, the method comprising, in response to an indication of failure of at least one substrate node in the substrate network: re-mapping a virtual node mapped to a failed substrate node to a selected substrate node other than the failed substrate node; and re-mapping a virtual link mapped to a substrate path that involves the failed substrate node to a substrate path that does not involve the failed substrate node; wherein the re-mapping is carried out to achieve at least one re-mapping objective.

A method in a flow controller for selecting optimal path is provided. A plurality of potential flow paths in the network for a particular pair of source and destination switch ports is determined in a flow controller. A plurality of cost factors associated with each of the plurality of potential flow paths is identified. Individual cost values are determined for each of the identified plurality of cost factors for each of the plurality of potential flow paths by multiplying the identified cost factors by a stratification factor. A single cost value for each of the plurality of potential flow paths is determined based on the determined individual cost values. One of the potential flow paths is selected in the flow controller for the particular pair of source and destination switch ports based upon the determined single cost value.

Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method of offline traffic matrix aware segment routing. The method may include receiving a traffic matrix based upon all the traffic between nodes i and j that is routed in the network; and determining the amount of traffic between nodes i and j will be routed through node k, based on minimizing a maximum link utilization for the traffic matrix by determining that the total amount of flow on a link e in the network is less than the link's capacity.

A method for adjusting capacity in a multi-stage routing network includes monitoring a number of available connections between a router in a first stage of a multi-stage router network and one or more routers in a second stage of the multi-stage router network. Each of the stages of the multi-stage router network may include a plurality of routers. The method may also include detecting that the number of available connections falls below a threshold number. A notification can be sent to one or more routers in a third stage of the multi-stage router network that the router in the first stage is deprioritized. The one or more routers in the third stage can be operated so that communications to the first stage are routed to one or more other routers in the first stage.

The present invention provides a path computation method, a Path Computation Element (PCE), a node device, and a network system. The method includes: receiving a path computation request message (S201), where the path computation request message carries a network type identifier and traffic parameter constraint conditions of a path required to be computed, and the network type identifier indicates a type of a network where the path required to be computed locates; determining the network through the network type identifier, and computing the path in the network according to the traffic parameter constraint conditions (S202); and sending a path computation response message (S203), where the path computation response message carries the computed path. The problem of distinguishing and computing Traffic Engineer (TE) paths for various types of services in a multi-region convergence network is solved.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and a device for allocating a packet switching resource, which includes: receiving, by a management plane unit, a service transport request carrying service information, where the service information includes source node information, sink node information, quality of service QoS requirement information, and bandwidth requirement information; determining, by the management plane unit, at least one transport path according to the service information and a preset resource allocation policy, and generating a routing table entry/forwarding table entry according to the at least one transport path; and sending, by the management plane unit, the routing table entry/forwarding table entry to data plane units of packet switching devices of each transport path of the at least one transport path. According to the embodiments, transparent and controllable allocation of a network bandwidth resource is implemented, so that utilization efficiency of a network resource is improved.