Patent ID: 8792339
Filing Date: 2014-07-29
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for moving peer-to-peer traffic flows to a lower priority service flow comprising: in response to detecting the presence of peer-to-peer traffic, if at least one upstream and downstream service flows that already exist for the peer-to-peer traffic is not a low priority service flow, establishing separate upstream and downstream service flows between a cable modem termination system and a cable modem; wherein establishing the service flows further comprises: establishing at least one of the service flows as a low priority service flow; directing a given packet onto the low priority service flow if the given packet contains information that matches one or more classifiers; wherein the classifiers are installed into a memory under control of a cable modem termination system, the cable modem termination system checking that the cable modem is correctly classifying packets on the upstream service flow; if a low-priority service flow between the cable modem termination system and the cable modem already exists, directing packets of the peer-to-peer traffic to the existing low-priority service flow; wherein directing packets of the peer-to-peer traffic to the existing low-priority service flow further comprises: employing a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) Dynamic Service Change exchange to install additional classifiers at the cable modem or cable modem termination system to identify the peer-to-peer traffic, so that packets that match the classifiers are directed to the existing low-priority service flow; and in response to detecting the service flow as carrying no traffic for a predetermined period of time, the cable modem termination system exchange DOCSIS Dynamic Service Delete messages with the cable modem to delete the service flow.