US6496477B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Processes, articles, and packets for network path diversity in media over packet applications
Assignee: Texas Instruments Inc
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Filing: 2000-04-19
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Granted: 2002-12-17
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Expires: 2020-04-19
Abstract
Abstract In one form of the invention, a process of sending real-time information from a sender computer to a receiver computer coupled to the sender computer by a packet network wherein packets sometimes become lost, includes steps of directing packets containing the real-time information from the sender computer by at least one path in the packet network to the receiver computer, and directing packets containing information dependent on the real-time information from the sender computer by at least one path deversity path in the packet network to the same receiver computer.
Inventors
- 👤 Stephen J. Perkins
- 👤 Alan Gatherer
- 👤 Krishanasamy Anandakumar
- 👤 Alan V. McCree
- 👤 Vishu Viswanathan
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-03 20:23
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04L; H04L45/00; H04L45/24; H04L47/00; H04L47/10; H04L47/24; H04L47/2416; H04L69/00; H04L69/40; H04W; H04W40/00; H04W40/02; H04W40/20; H04W88/00; H04W88/18; H04W88/182
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 28
Claim 1
Independent Claim
54 words
A process of operating a network comprising the steps of: providing proxies that forward voice over packet communications providing a list server with stored information about the proxies; executing an identification process that identifies upon request at least two of said proxies for packet network path diversity using the stored information about the proxies.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
54 words
A process of operating a network comprising the steps of: providing proxies that forward voice over packet communications providing a list server with stored information about the proxies; executing an identification process that identifies upon request at least two of said proxies for packet network path diversity using the stored information about the proxies.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
46 words
The process of claim 1 wherein said identification process is responsive to a request including a destination area, and includes the steps of selecting the at least two proxies from a prestored list of proxies by geographic region providing path diversity relative to the destination area.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
75 words
The process of claim wherein said identification process is responsive to a request including a destination area, and includes the steps of responding with proxy identifiers for a first one of the at least two proxies from a first prestored list of proxies in a first geographic region and responding with proxy identifiers for a second one of the at least two proxies from a second prestored list of proxies in a second geographic region.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
130 words
The process of claim wherein said identification process is responsive to a request and includes the steps of providing a prestored region table that identifies the proxies located in respective regions; identifying first region in which a source computer lies, and a second region in a destination computer lies; from the source and destination regions thus identified, then identifying third and fourth regions other than the first and second regions, wherein the third and fourth regions are displaced from a line joining the source and destination regions; accessing the region table for the third region and providing at least one identifier of a proxy in the third region; and accessing the region table for the fourth region and providing at least one identifier of a proxy in the fourth region.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
42 words
The process of claim 1 wherein said identification process is responsive to a request and includes the steps of providing a table of distances between proxies and selecting at least one pair of proxies that are more than a predetermined distance apart.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
12 words
The process of claim 5 wherein the predetermined distance exceeds 200 kilometers.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
45 words
The process of claim 1 wherein said identification process is responsive to a request and includes the steps of providing a table of proxy descriptors relevant to path diversity and selecting at least one pair of proxies that have different descriptors indicative of path diversity.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
19 words
The process of claim 7 wherein the table of proxy descriptors includes class of service information for different proxies.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
17 words
The process of claim 7 wherein the table of proxy descriptors includes geographic information for different proxies.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
31 words
The process of claim 5 wherein the table of proxy descriptors includes location information about different proxies and said selecting step including computing a distance between proxies from the location information.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
18 words
The process of claim 5 wherein the table of proxy descriptors includes service provider information about different proxies.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
55 words
The process of claim 1 wherein said identification process is responsive to a request and includes the steps of providing a table of distances between proxies; executing a search in the table of distances for one or more acceptable proxy pairs according to a search condition; and selecting at least one pair of acceptable proxies.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
22 words
The process of claim 12 wherein the search condition provides at least that proxies be more than a predetermined geographic distance apart.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
33 words
The process of claim 12 wherein given a line between a source computer and a destination computer the search condition provides at least that acceptable proxies lie on opposite sides of the line.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
57 words
The process of claim 12 wherein given a line between a source computer and a destination computer, each proxy has a perpendicular distance to the line, and the search condition provides at least that respective distances from acceptable proxies to the line lie in a predetermined zone width but more than a predetermined distance from the line.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
46 words
The process of claim 12 wherein given a line segment between a source computer and a destination computer, the search condition provides at least that acceptable proxies are ones located such that there are respective perpendiculars from the acceptable proxies that intersect the line segment itself.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
19 words
The process of claim 12 wherein the table of distances provides network distances including number of hops between proxies.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
63 words
The process of claim 12 wherein the table of distances provides network distances including a first number of hops between a pair of proxies, and given a second number of hops between one of the proxies and the source, the search condition provides at least that acceptable proxies are ones wherein the first number divided by the second number exceeds a predetermined amount.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
175 words
The process of claim 12 wherein the table of distances provides network distances including numbers of hops from source-to-proxyA, from source-to-proxyB, from proxyA-to-proxyB, from proxyA-to-destination, and from proxyB-to-destination, and the search condition at least provides inequalities on a set of ratios H 1 , H 2 , H 3 , H 4 wherein Ratio H 1 is a ratio of the number of hops Hab from proxyA-to-proxyB to the number of hops Hsa from source to proxy A, H 2 is the ratio of the number of hops Hab from proxyA-to-proxyB to the number of hops Hsb from source to proxy B, H 3 is the ratio of the number of hops Hab from proxyA-to-proxyB to the number of hops Had from proxy A to destination, and H 4 is the ratio of the number of hops Hab from proxyA-to-proxyB to the number of hops Hbd from proxy B to destination; and wherein the inequalities are that H 1 , H 2 , H 3 , H 4 are respectively greater than respective predetermined constants.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
48 words
The process of claim 12 wherein the table of distances provides network distances including numbers of hops Hsa from source-to-proxyA, Hsb from source-to-proxyB, Had from proxyA-to-destination, and Hbd from proxyB-to-destination, and the search includes a search in a range of values of a path-length ratio H 0 =(Hsa+Had)/(Hsb+Hbd).
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
44 words
The process of claim 12 wherein the table of distances includes network distances as a matrix of entries to indicate presence or absence of a network link between a given pair of network nodes free of any intermediate network node between the given pair.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
29 words
The process of claim 21 wherein given a source and a destination, the process includes searching the matrix of entries for different network paths between the source and destination.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
27 words
The process of claim 22 wherein at least one pair of paths are selected depending on a search condition depending on number of path nodes in common.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
46 words
The process of claim 22 wherein at least one pair of paths are selected which has a ratio of a first number of path nodes in common divided by a sum of the nodes in each path wherein the ratio is less than a predetermined amount.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
29 words
The process of claim 12 wherein given a source and a destination, the process includes searching the table of distances for different network paths between the source and destination.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
44 words
The process of claim 25 wherein at least one pair of paths are selected based on a first number depending on links shared by the paths divided by a second number depending on the number of links in at least one of the paths.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
25 words
The process of claim 25 wherein at least one pair of paths are selected by comparing numbers of links in the paths of the pair.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2005-12-16 | 2006-06-17 | 2006-12-17 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-12-16 | 2010-06-17 | 2010-12-17 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2013-12-16 | 2014-06-17 | 2014-12-17 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |