Patent ID: 7636309
Filing Date: 2009-12-22
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of processing traffic flows at a node in a network, comprising the steps of: obtaining by the node a plurality of traffic flows, each of the traffic flows comprising multiple packets or bytes; splitting by the node each of the plurality of traffic flows into at least two sub-flows, wherein each of the at least two sub-flows comprises a portion of the multiple packets or bytes from its respective traffic flow; and routing by the node the packets or bytes of the at least two sub-flows respectively on at least two paths in the network; wherein the routing step further comprises combining at least one of the sub-flows of each of at least two of the plurality of traffic flows and routing the combined packets or bytes on one of the paths; wherein each traffic flow between the node and a given destination node is split based on a given split ratio vector into a plurality of sub-flows corresponding to respective ones of a plurality of paths between the node and the given destination node, and further wherein the given split ratio vector is configured such that the portion of the multiple packets or bytes assigned to each of the plurality of sub-flows is based at least in part on a ratio between a mean traffic rate of a cumulative flow on the respective corresponding path and a sum of mean traffic rates of cumulative flows on the plurality of paths.