Patent ID: 9584406
Date: 2017-02-28
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method for selecting a data path, comprising: identifying a plurality of available data paths between a router device and a wide area network, wherein each of the plurality of available data paths is routed via a service provider such that a first of the plurality of available data paths is routed via a first service provider and a second of the plurality of available data paths is routed via a second service provider; obtaining path selection data; processing path selection rules with the obtained path selection data selecting, for each of a plurality of data communications to be routed, one of the plurality of available data paths according to the processing of the path selection rules and wherein the plurality of data communications to be routed are a plurality of data packets and selecting comprises selecting, for each data packet to be routed, on a packet-by-packet basis, one of the plurality of available data paths according to the processing of the path selection rules; and routing each of the plurality of data communications between a local area network and the wide area network via a data exchanger and a remote link that follows the data path selected for that data communication wherein routing comprises routing each of data packet between the local area network and the wide area network via the data exchanger and a remote link that follows the data path selected for that data packet, wherein obtaining path selection data comprises obtaining path selection data that includes client priority information for a first client and a second client and data and link status information for a first data path and a second data path, and wherein: selecting comprises selecting the first data path for a first subset of the plurality of data packets and a second subset of the plurality of data packets and selecting the second data path for a third subset of the plurality of data packets and a fourth subset of the plurality of data packets, data packets in the first and third subsets originating from the first client and data packets in the second and fourth subsets originating from the second client, a first ratio of a number of the data packets in the first subset compared to a number of the data packets in the second subset and a second ratio of a number of the data packets in the third subset compared to a number of the data packets in the fourth subset being determined according to the processing of the path selection rules; and routing comprises routing each data packet of the first and second subsets between the local area network and the wide area network via the data exchanger and a first remote link that follows the first data path and routing each of data packet of the third and fourth subsets between the local area network and the wide area network via the data exchanger and a second remote link that follows the second data path.