Patent ID: 7983170

Claim:
A method for controlling packet traffic on a private network by in-band signaling of policy information to a source device via existing network packets, the method comprising: (a) sending, by a server via a private network, one or more return packets to a source traffic controller executing on a source device; (b) detecting, by a private network monitor, a status of congestion of the private network; (c) determining, by a private traffic controller, to send a network policy to the source traffic controller responsive to the detection, the network policy comprising a new policy for future packets transmitted via the source traffic controller; (d) intercepting, by the private traffic controller, the one or more return packets; (e) modifying, by the private traffic controller, one or more Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) bits in the one or more return packets to embed a message identifying non-DSCP traffic control instructions for the network policy while maintaining a size of the one or more return packets, the modified one or more DSCP bits not setting priority of the one or more modified return packets; (f) sending, by the private traffic controller, the one or more modified return packets to the source traffic controller; and (g) receiving, by the private traffic controller, an acknowledgement of the network policy from the source traffic controller, the source traffic controller modifying the one or more DSCP bits of the one or more return packets to the server to identify the acknowledgement.