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    • 专利摘要:
    The present invention relates to a communication device in an IP network for significantly increasing the bandwidth available for wireless communications between user terminals and their corresponding in the IP network. The device operates as an aggregation router via a single network interface to allocate data streams to different wireless routers configured in an aggregated router mode, and allow connected terminals to benefit from the aggregated bandwidth of aggregated wireless routers. .
    公开号:FR3044855A1
    申请号:FR1561933
    申请日:2015-12-07
    公开日:2017-06-09
    发明作者:Christophe Janneteau；Michael Boc
    申请人:Commissariat a lEnergie Atomique CEA；Commissariat a lEnergie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives CEA；
    IPC主号:
    专利说明:

    DEVICE AND METHOD FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION IN A
    IP NETWORK
    Field of the Invention The invention relates to the field of telecommunications, and in particular that of communications in IP networks such as the Internet.
    State of the art
    Many uses require being able to connect to the Internet (or any other Internet Protocol IP network) via a wireless connection, for example to access the Internet from a mobile vehicle, or from a geographical area not covered by a wired infrastructure like the ADSL connection. Broad Area Network (WAN) wide-area access networks - such as 2G, 3G or 4G cellular networks, or satellite networks - are the most commonly used means of connecting wirelessly. - to the Internet, because of their great geographic coverage. Moreover, in many cases, the need for wireless connection to the Internet does not concern a single piece of equipment such as a smart phone, but may relate to a plurality of equipment forming a network. A common case is that of a vehicle (car, truck, bus, bus, train ...) to connect to the Internet several of its own equipment or on-board terminals or equipment on board. To meet this need, it is known to use a wireless router. An example of a commonly used wireless router is that of the smartphone configured in the "connection-sharing" mode. In this mode, the smartphone configures its WiFi interface in access point mode (AP) in English, to create a WiFi access point to which other devices or terminals can connect. The smartphone can then route the IP communications of its equipment or third-party terminals via its WAN interface to offer them access to the Internet.
    Figure 1 illustrates an environment (100) of communication in an IP network via a wireless router (102). The wireless router (102) consists of a WAN interface (104) for example a 2G or 3G or 4G type cellular interface, for connecting to the Internet, and one or more local interfaces - Local Area Network (LAN) according to the dedicated anglicism - for example an Ethernet interface (106) and / or a WiFi interface (108) via which communicating terminals (110, 112) can connect to the wireless router (102) for connect to the Internet. The communicating terminals may be Ethernet (110) and / or WiFi (112) type terminals that have a corresponding Ethernet or WiFi interface but do not require a WAN interface. The wireless router (102) routes IP communications between the terminals and their correspondents in the Internet - Correspondant Node (CN) according to dedicated anglicism - by routing the IP data packets associated with these communications between the LAN interfaces and WAN and vice versa.
    The wireless router is also comprised of a TCP / IP communication protocol stack (114) that includes components for performing the IP router function for routing data packets between LAN and WAN interfaces, and the configuration function. access router for each of the LAN interfaces (Ethernet and WiFi). The router configuration provides the following functions:> default routing (116) which allows the wireless router to advertise itself as a "default router" to the terminals (110, 112) connected to the LAN interface (106, 108). With this feature these terminals can discover the IP address of the wireless router on the LAN interface and use it as their default router. Thus, all traffic transmitted by these terminals is systematically transmitted to the corresponding LAN interface (106, 108) of the wireless router. This feature relies on standard protocols, DHCP - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv4 (RFC 2131) or NDP - Neighbor Discovery Protocol for IPv6 (RFC 4861); > address provider (118) that allows the wireless router to provide an IP address to each of the terminals (110, 112) connected on the LAN interface. This feature relies on one of the following standard protocols: - stateful state configuration whereby the wireless router hosts a DHCP server managing a pool or set of IP addresses and allocates one or more addresses to a terminal acting as a DHCP client at the request of the latter, according to the DHCP protocol for IPv4 DHCP for IPv6. - stateless address configuration according to which the wireless router announces an address space (that is to say an IPv6 prefix) on its LAN interface and on the basis of which a terminal connected to this LAN interface can build or auto-configure an IPv6 address usable for itself, according to the IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration protocol; > NAT (120) for "Network Address Translation" which allows the wireless router to apply a change of source IP address when transferring IP packets to the WAN interface by entering an IP address configured on it interface so that the packet is mutable in the WAN domain and / or the Internet. Indeed, in general the IP addresses configured by the terminals connected to the LAN interfaces of the wireless router are so-called private addresses and therefore not mutable in the WAN and the Internet. This NAT function also makes it possible, by exploiting the TCP / UDP ports, to perform the reverse operation for the incoming data packets on the WAN interface by replacing the destination address of the packet with the private IP address allocated to the connected terminal. at the LAN interface to which the packet is intended. More details about the NAT function can be found in RFC 3022.
    In the vast majority of cases, the technologies used on the LAN interfaces offer much higher data rates than those available on a WAN interface, with the approximate size of a LAN bit rate approximately 10 times higher than the WAN rate, for example 1 Gbps on a network. Ethernet LAN interface and up to several hundred Mbps on a WiFi interface, when the bandwidth currently reaches a hundred Mbps on a 4G WAN interface. As a result, the WAN interface is a bottleneck for all traffic flowing through a wireless router from or to terminals connected to its LAN interfaces. And in practice this limits the number of terminals and / or the amount of traffic that can be routed by a wireless router. The quality of service or quality of experience perceived by the users is then affected.
    To address this problem of limited bandwidth, induced by the use of a WAN interface of a wireless router, a first approach is to equip the wireless router with several WAN interfaces, to create a router without - multi-interface wire. This approach is quite restrictive in practice because it requires both hardware and software extensions on the wireless router because new WAN interfaces must be integrated in the router, either directly in it (for example in the form of a mini PCI express card), either on external USB ports available on the router. These hardware extensions then induce a significant increase in the cost of the equipment while limiting its flexibility because it remains difficult for the user to change the number of WAN interfaces on his wireless router to adapt to his own needs in terms of bandwidth. In addition, this approach also requires software extensions on the wireless router to support the distribution of different data streams across different WAN interfaces. Different strategies exist for this: strategy called "backup link": in this case only one of the WAN interfaces is used to route all the traffic. If this becomes unavailable, due to a loss of connectivity for example, then a new backup WAN interface is used to route the new streams (flows previously routed to the first WAN interface being interrupted). This strategy does not increase the available bandwidth since only one WAN interface is active at a time; so-called "load balancing / sharing" strategy: in this case several WAN interfaces are used to route the different flows in order to distribute the global load on the different interfaces.
    Another known approach to address the limited bandwidth problem caused by the use of a WAN interface of a wireless router is to connect a source terminal and / or destination of the traffic to several wireless routers, each being equipped with a WAN interface. However, this approach is quite restrictive in practice because it requires both hardware and software extensions on the terminal itself. In particular: in the case where the terminal uses Ethernet technology, it can use only one Ethernet interface to connect to different wireless routers, which has the advantage of not causing extension hardware on the terminal. However, in this configuration, the terminal is exposed to several routers by default, each wireless router being a default router, which implies to provide software extensions on the terminal to support the distribution of different data flow on different routers by default. This type of mechanism amounts in practice to selecting the source IP address to be used by the terminal for a particular data stream; in the case where the terminal uses WiFi technology to connect to different wireless routers, the terminal must be equipped with as many WiFi interfaces as the number of wireless routers to which it wishes to connect, because a WiFi interface can only be connected to one WiFi access point at a time. This induces a significant increase in the cost of the terminal while limiting its flexibility of use. In addition, this approach also requires other software extensions on the terminal to support the distribution of the different data streams on the different interfaces, which in practice amounts to selecting the source IP address to be used by the terminal for particular data flow.
    Thus, whatever the LAN technology used (Ethernet or WiFi), this second approach may cause address conflicts since a terminal (110, 112) may be given the same IP address by different wireless routers, wireless routers allocating addresses in private address spaces, and therefore potentially identical from one router to another. This is particularly the case when the wireless routers do not allow a user to configure the private address spaces they use on their LAN interfaces, which is the case with some smartphones. In this situation of address conflict, the mechanism for choosing the wireless router associated with a data stream by simply choosing the source IP address is then no longer functional, which can cause various consequences such as duplication or multiplication of the streams if they are supported by two or more wireless routers and thus a potential malfunction of the associated applications and wasted bandwidth. This can also result in a systematic routing flows to a single wireless routers, no longer allowing to take advantage of the bandwidth of other routers.
    Finally, even if the possibility is given to a user to manually configure different address spaces on his different wireless routers, this implies for him an additional verification and configuration step which is tedious, complex and easily forgettable, so a complexity of use.
    Thus, the known approaches have disadvantages that can be summarized as being: risks of address conflicts at the user terminal making the approach ineffective or even inoperative; a complexity of use induced by the need to manually configure the address spaces at the level of the wireless routers; an increase in the cost of the user terminal or the cost of the wireless router due to the required hardware extensions; a limited use flexibility due to the constraints on the maximum number of wireless routers that can be used according to the LAN interfaces actually available on the terminal, and due to the software modifications required at all the user's terminals.
    There is then the need for a solution that pale with the disadvantages of known approaches. The present invention meets this need. Summary of the invention
    An object of the present invention is to provide a device for significantly increasing the bandwidth available for wireless communications between a user terminal and its correspondent in an IP network.
    The device of the invention generally consists of one or more wireless routers operatively coupled to a router called "aggregation router" via a single network interface, allowing each user terminal connected to the aggregation router to communicate with its correspondent in an IP network, enjoying a greater bandwidth corresponding to the aggregate bandwidth of different wireless routers.
    Another object of the present invention is to provide a reliable and functional solution that eliminates any risk of address conflicts.
    Another object of the present invention is to propose a solution that does not require any hardware modification on wireless routers or user terminals, while allowing the use of any number of wireless routers by the device.
    Advantageously, the device of the invention significantly increases the ease of use for a user, since no manual configuration of the address spaces of the wireless routers is required, the user terminals being not modified. In addition, the user can easily add new wireless routers to the device to increase the available bandwidth without requiring any particular modification to the aggregation router, nor modification of the correspondents in the Internet.
    Advantageously, the aggregation mode at the level of the aggregated wireless routers of the device of the invention can be easily implemented on any known wireless router, in the form of a software component for performing the required functions. Advantageously, the aggregation router requires only a single network interface.
    The present invention will find an advantageous application in all environments where a fixed or mobile user terminal type equipment having a communication interface (LAN) interfaces with the Internet via other equipment having a limited bandwidth, of type wireless router equipped with a WAN interface.
    Advantageously, the device of the invention allows the "user terminal" equipment to benefit from a higher bandwidth that can approach the maximum bit rate of its LAN interface by aggregating the bit rate of several WAN interfaces, the aggregate bandwidth corresponding to the sum of the bandwidths of the WAN interfaces of the wireless routers having configured themselves in aggregation mode.
    Without being limiting, examples of advantageous application of the present invention can be in the following scenarios: "Box" scenario for increasing the bandwidth of a box or fixed communication box having only one interface WAN (Ethernet / ADSL type, or optical fiber). The increase of the bandwidth can be achieved by the use of additional WAN interfaces provided by nomadic equipment of the users of the box such as smartphones having a WAN connection. "car" or "public transport" scenario for increasing the bandwidth of a mobile communication box deployed in a car or a public transport vehicle (eg bus, coach, train, etc.) and only a limited number of WAN interfaces (for example a "2G / 3G / 4G" interface, a "WiFi" interface and an "802.11 p" interface) or even no interface. The increase of the bandwidth can be achieved by the use of additional WAN interfaces provided by nomadic equipment of the driver or passengers of the vehicle such as smartphones having a WAN connection. The increase of the bandwidth can also be achieved by the use of communication boxes equipped with a WAN interface which will be fixedly integrated in the vehicle. Such a scenario can be extended similarly to the "public safety" of police vehicles, firefighters, ambulances, or for "logistics" or "industrial vehicle" field.
    To obtain the desired results, a device and a method are proposed. In particular, there is provided a wireless communications device in an IP network having a plurality of wireless routers capable of routing data streams, each router having at least one LAN interface for receiving data streams from to least one user terminal and a WAN interface for communicating to the IP network, which comprises: - a router discovery module for identifying among the plurality of wireless routers, a subset of routers, so-called aggregated routers, systematically using a Network Address Translation (NAT) mechanism for any traffic routed between its LAN and WAN interfaces; a stream allocation module for selecting an aggregated router in the subset of aggregated routers and allocating a received data stream to it; and a network interface called an aggregation interface, able to receive a data stream from a user terminal and to transmit the received data stream to said selected aggregated router.
    In one embodiment, the device includes a configuration module for configuring the default router aggregation interface and address provider.
    Advantageously, the aggregated router discovery module is able to generate solicitation messages to the plurality of wireless routers and to receive aggregated router announcement messages in response.
    In one embodiment, the flow allocation module operates a distribution algorithm for balancing the number of flows transiting on each of the aggregated routers. In one variant, the flow allocation module operates a distribution algorithm making it possible to balance the bandwidth consumed by the streams on each of the aggregated routers. In another variant, the flow allocation module operates a distribution algorithm for balancing the available bandwidth on each of the aggregated routers.
    Advantageously, the aggregation interface is a LAN interface of Ethernet or WiFi type. In one embodiment, the aggregation interface is a WiFi LAN interface configured in access point mode.
    In an implementation, the device comprises at least a second aggregation interface adapted to receive a data stream from a user terminal and to transmit the received data stream to an aggregated router selected in the subset of aggregated routers. Advantageously, the flow allocation module operates a flow allocation algorithm in joint allocation mode to distribute the flows on all of its aggregation interfaces. In another advantageous variant, the flow allocation module operates a flow distribution algorithm in disjoint allocation mode for distributing the flows on each of its aggregation interfaces.
    In one embodiment, the device further comprises one or more WAN network interfaces, and the flow allocation module operates an algorithm for distributing the streams on one or more WAN network interfaces and on one or more interfaces thereof. aggregation.
    In another embodiment, the device further comprises one or more network interfaces for transmitting data flows in user terminal mode.
    In an implementation variant, the device further comprises one or more LAN network interfaces for receiving user terminal data flows, and the flow allocation module operates an algorithm for distributing said flows on one or more interfaces. WAN network and its aggregation interface (s).
    Advantageously, the aggregated router comprises a configuration module for activating the network address transfer mechanism (NAT) in systematic use, and an announcement message generation module for transmitting announcement messages. In one mode, the announcement messages are sent in response to solicitations. In an implementation variant, the LAN interface of the aggregated router is of WiFi type configured in terminal station mode (STA) and systematically uses a network address translation (NAT) mechanism for any traffic routed between its WiFi and WAN interfaces. . The invention also covers a method for operating wireless communications in an IP network having a plurality of wireless routers capable of routing data streams, each router having at least one LAN interface for receiving data streams from at least one user terminal and a WAN interface for communicating to the IP network, the method comprises the steps of: - receiving a data stream from a user terminal; - identifying among the plurality of wireless routers, a subset of routers, so-called aggregated routers, systematically using a Network Address Translation (NAT) mechanism for any traffic routed between its LAN and WAN interfaces; selecting an aggregated router of the subset of aggregated routers to allocate the received data stream to it; and - transmitting the received data stream to said selected aggregated router.
    All or part of the invention may operate in the form of a computer program product that includes code instructions for performing the claimed process steps when the program is run on a computer.
    Description of figures
    Various aspects and advantages of the invention will appear in support of the description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, but not limiting, with reference to the figures below:
    Figure 1 shows a communication environment using a wireless router;
    Fig. 2 illustrates a communication environment using a wireless router and an aggregation router in a first embodiment of the invention;
    Fig. 3 illustrates a communication environment using a wireless router and an aggregation router in a second embodiment of the invention;
    Figure 4 shows a sequence of steps for routing a data stream in one embodiment of the invention;
    Figure 5 shows a sequence of steps for initializing an aggregation router according to one embodiment of the invention;
    Figure 6 shows a sequence of steps for enabling the aggregation mode on a wireless router according to one embodiment of the invention; and
    FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary operating environment of the invention according to a "public transport" implementation scenario.
    Detailed Description of the Invention Reference is made to Figure 2 which illustrates a communication environment in an IP network using an aggregation router (210) in one embodiment of the invention using WiFi technology.
    In this configuration, one or more wireless routers (220 to 220-n) called aggregated routers, communicate in WiFi mode (221) with the aggregation router (210) via their respective Wifi interface. In the example described, a user equipment (202) which communicates with the aggregation router (210) in Wifi mode (211) will be able to communicate with its correspondent (s) in the IP network while benefiting from a larger bandwidth. corresponding to the aggregated bandwidth of different wireless routers (220 to 220-n). The bandwidth aggregation is obtained by distributing the various data streams of the user terminals to the IP network on the various aggregated wireless routers.
    For example, if a user terminal has 3 streams of data, each of these streams can be associated with a different aggregated wireless router, and so each stream can benefit from the maximum bandwidth of a WAN interface, whereas if all flows passed through the same WAN interface, without "aggregation" of wireless routers, each stream could have on average only one third of the bandwidth of a WAN interface, all flows then to a single router without -fil.
    The maximum bandwidth theoretically available for user terminal flows to the IP network is the minimum value between (1) the bandwidth of the LAN to which the user terminals and the aggregation router are connected, and the LAN interfaces of the aggregated wireless routers, and (2) the sum of the bandwidths of the WAN interfaces of the aggregated wireless routers.
    The aggregation router (210) is composed of a single network interface, called the aggregation interface (214) on which it is configured via a protocol module (212) as an access router, that is to say default router and address provider. In the example of Figure 2, the aggregation router configures its WiFi aggregation interface in access point (AP) mode. More generally, for any LAN technology associated with a star topology, the aggregation router configures its aggregation interface to operate as a root node of the topology. The aggregation interface is used to intercept the data streams from the user terminals (202) and redirect these streams to the WiFi interfaces of the aggregated routers (220 to 220-n).
    The aggregation router (210) also includes a module (216) for discovering wireless routers (220 to 220-n) that operate in aggregation mode and are connected to the router's WiFi aggregation interface (214). aggregation.
    The aggregation router (210) also includes a module (218) for allocating the data streams of the user terminals (202) on the various uncovered wireless routers (220 to 220-n) discovered connected to the interface. aggregation (214) of the aggregation router.
    The aggregation router (210) may further include additional interface blocks (203) to enable the aggregation router to support data flows from terminals connected to these additional interfaces 203 and dispatcher them over the terminals. aggregated routers.
    To facilitate the description of the invention, thereafter, a single aggregated wireless router (220) is described in more detail, but one skilled in the art can extend the principles to a plurality of aggregated wireless routers (220). 220-n) in communication with the aggregation router (214).
    An aggregated wireless router (220) includes a WAN interface (222) connected to the Internet or an IP network, a WiFi LAN interface (224) configured as a terminal, i.e. operating neither the default router nor the address provider, and can be connected to the aggregation interface (214) of an aggregation router (210). The aggregated wireless router further includes a protocol module (226) for enabling IP routing between the WAN interface (222) and the WiFi interface (224) with systematic use of a translation mechanism. NAT address (referenced as NAT * in the figure) for any IP traffic routed between its LAN and WAN interfaces. The aggregated wireless router (220) further includes an advertisement module (228) that allows the router to advertise itself as configured in aggregation mode to allow an aggregation router (210) to discover that the router wireless operates according to the aggregation mode.
    The aggregated wireless router may also include other LAN interfaces (223) of the Ethernet type, for example, as detailed with reference to FIG. 3. The technologies commonly used for LAN interfaces are in particular Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) and WiFi (family of IEEE 802.11 standards).
    Figure 3 illustrates a high speed communication environment by aggregating wireless routers (320 to 320-n) in a case of using Ethernet technology.
    In this configuration, the topology is bus or "mesh" in English where each node (301, 311, 321, 321-n) on the LAN can communicate directly with another node on the same LAN.
    In the example described, one or more wireless routers (320 to 320-n) called aggregated routers, communicate in Ethernet mode (321) with an aggregation router (310) via their respective Ethernet interface. A user equipment (302) which communicates with the aggregation router (310) in Ethernet mode on the LAN (301, 311) will be able to communicate with its correspondent (s) in the IP network with a larger bandwidth corresponding to the aggregated bandwidth of the different wireless routers (320 to 320-n).
    The aggregation router (310) comprises an Ethernet network interface known as an aggregation interface (314) on which it is configured via a protocol module (312) as an access router, that is to say as a router by default and address provider. As for any LAN technology associated with a "bus" or "mesh" type topology, the Ethernet interface does not require any particular configuration to intercept the data flows from user terminals and redirect them to the Ethernet interfaces of the aggregated routers. .
    An aggregated wireless router (320) in an Ethernet mode of operation includes a WAN interface (322) connected to the Internet or an IP network, an Ethernet LAN interface (323) connectable to the Ethernet aggregation interface (314) an aggregation router (310). The aggregated wireless router further includes a protocol module (326) for enabling IP routing between the WAN interface (322) and the Ethernet interface (323) with the systematic use of a translation mechanism. NAT address (NAT reference * in Figure 3). The aggregated wireless router (320) further includes an announcement module (328) that allows the router to announce itself as being in aggregation mode to allow an aggregation router (310) to discover that the router without -file operates according to the aggregation mode.
    The aggregation router (310) also includes a module (316) for discovering the wireless routers (320 to 320-n) that operate in aggregation mode and that are connected to the Ethernet aggregation interface (314) of the aggregation router.
    The aggregation router (310) also comprises a module (318) for allocating the data streams of the user terminals (302) on the various uncovered wireless routers (320 to 320-n) discovered connected to the interface. aggregation (314) of the aggregation router.
    The aggregation router (310) may further include additional interface blocks (303) for out-of-aggregation communications with user terminals (304).
    FIG. 4 shows a sequence of steps (400) operated by the device of the invention making it possible to route a data flow from a user terminal to the IP network while benefiting from a larger bandwidth corresponding to the aggregated bandwidth. different wireless routers. The method begins with a step (402) of initialization of the aggregation router and a step (404) of activation of the aggregation mode on one or more wireless routers. The method then allows (step 406) the discovery of wireless routers that are configured in aggregation mode. In a next step (408), the method enables the detection and reception of a new stream sent by a user terminal. Because the aggregation router acts as the default router on its aggregation interface, it is used by the user terminals connected on the LAN of the aggregation interface as the default router. Each user terminal therefore transmits any outgoing stream to a correspondent in the Internet to the aggregate interface of the aggregation router. The next step (410) is to allocate the received stream to one of the aggregated wireless routers. The wireless routers configured in aggregation mode can be selected by the aggregation router according to certain criteria. The aggregation router uses the list of selected aggregated routers to distribute, distribute the data streams from the user terminals connected to the aggregation interface on the various aggregated routers. Several distribution algorithms can be used such as for example those aimed at: balancing the number of flows transiting on each of the aggregated routers. When a new stream from a user terminal connected to the aggregation interface is received by the aggregation router, the aggregate router allocates this stream to the aggregated router managing the least number of streams. In this embodiment, the aggregation router counts down the number of flows allocated to each aggregated router; the balancing of the bandwidth consumed by the streams on each of the aggregated routers. When a new stream from a user terminal connected to the aggregation interface is received by the aggregation router, the aggregate router allocates this stream to the aggregated router having the lowest cumulative bandwidth consumed by the streams already In progress. In this embodiment, the aggregation router counts for each of the aggregated routers, the total bandwidth consumed by the flows allocated to said aggregated router; balancing according to the bandwidth available on each of the aggregated routers. When a new stream from a user terminal connected to the aggregation interface is received by the aggregation router, the aggregate router allocates this stream to the aggregated router having on its WAN interface the largest available bandwidth. . In this embodiment, the aggregation router counts for each of the aggregated routers the bandwidth available on the WAN interface of said aggregated router, which can for example be estimated by subtracting from the maximum bandwidth of the interface. WAN, the total bandwidth consumed by the flows allocated to said aggregated router and transiting on its WAN interface. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other algorithms can be implemented to distribute the data streams on aggregated wireless routers.
    In a next step (412), the method records the association created between the stream and the selected aggregated router. The module (218, 318) for allocating flows to aggregated routers is in charge of maintaining an association table indicating for each flow the aggregated router assigned to it. An entry in the table can for example identify a new stream in the form of a set of parameters from the protocol headers contained in the data stream, such as for example the set {source IP address, destination IP address, source port , destination port}. The associated aggregated router can be identified according to a router identification parameter received from the latter in its announcement messages, such as for example its IP address or its MAC address on the aggregation interface.
    In a next step (414), the method makes it possible to route all the data packets associated with a received stream to the selected aggregated router according to the corresponding entry in the association table. When a new stream that is not already listed in the association table is detected, the stream allocation module selects the aggregated router to use for that new stream, according to the implemented algorithm, and adds a new entry in the stream. his association table. Once this entry is created, all data packets associated with that same stream are automatically routed to the corresponding aggregated router. More specifically, the aggregation router transmits said data packets on its aggregation interface by specifying the MAC address of the aggregated router as the destination address in the header of the MAC frame of the message.
    In a next step (416), the method routes the outgoing data packets to the IP network from the aggregated router. The outgoing packets of the data stream are received on the LAN interface of the aggregated router and modified according to the NAT-systematic mechanism described above before being transmitted over the WAN interface. This mechanism ensures that all outbound data packets will have the IP address of the WAN interface of the aggregated router. As a result, "incoming" data packets sent in response to "outgoing" data packets are routed to the WAN interface of the aggregated router managing said stream. Advantageously, this systematic NAT address transfer mechanism makes it possible to ensure that the "incoming" and "outgoing" packets of the same data stream all pass through the same aggregated router. The next step (418) illustrates the reception of incoming packets of a data stream received at the WAN interface of the aggregated router. The incoming packets are modified according to the NAT-systematic mechanism (NAT *) in order to replace the destination IP address contained in the packet, i.e. that of the WAN interface, by the IP address of the destination user terminal of the stream. After replacement, the packet is transmitted on the LAN interface of the aggregated router. If the LAN has a star-like topology, the case of WiFi technology with the aggregation interface configured as access points, the "incoming" packets are routed through the aggregation router and via its aggregation interface. to the receiving user terminal. If the LAN has a "bus" or "mesh" type topology, in the case of Ethernet technology, the "incoming" packets are routed directly from the aggregated router to the user terminal if the latter is connected to said LAN.
    Figure 5 details the sequence of steps (500) for initializing an aggregation router according to one embodiment of the invention. The aggregation router configures its aggregation interface to operate as an access router. This operation comprises at the link level (step 502), the configuration of the interface in WiFi access point mode if the interface is of WiFi type (or in general, the configuration of the interface as a root node for any other LAN technology associated with a star topology), and at the network level (step 504), the configuration of the interface as a default router and address provider on the LAN.
    In a next step (506), the aggregation router generates one or more discovery messages on its aggregation interface to solicit the delivery of announcement messages by wireless routers configured in aggregation mode and connected to the aggregation interface. the aggregation interface of the aggregation router. The aggregation router maintains a list of discovered aggregated wireless routers. According to the implementation variants, an aggregation router may periodically send, for example periodically, discovery messages on its aggregation interface in order to check and, if necessary, update the list of wireless routers configured in the same mode. aggregation, called an "aggregated router list", connected to its aggregation interface. The aggregation router uses the list of aggregated routers to distribute and allocate the data streams from the user terminals to the different aggregated routers.
    The list of selected aggregated routers may change over time, depending on whether new aggregation-based wireless routers are discovered on the LAN or that other aggregated routers disappear, for example, by disabling aggregation mode on a wireless router .
    In one variant of the invention, the aggregation router can evaluate the availability and quality of the WAN connection of an uncovered wireless router in open mode, before considering it as a usable router to add to the list of aggregated routers. Verification of the availability of connectivity on the WAN interface can be performed by the aggregation router by sending a packet of data to a destination in the Internet and waiting for the response back. One way of proceeding can be with the application of "ping". The quality assessment can be done on certain quality parameters of a WAN connection, such as latency for example. The aggregation router can proceed to a packet exchange with a recipient in the Internet network in order to measure the round trip time (RTT) of the exchange according to the conspicuous Anglicism and deduce a latency, for example 1/2 RTT. Quality assessment can also be done on other quality parameters of the WAN connection, such as the signal strength received on the WAN interface. The aggregation router may use a discovery message by including an appropriate option to solicit one or more quality parameters, which will be included in the announcement message returned by the aggregated router to be selected.
    FIG. 6 details the sequence (600) of the steps for activating the aggregation mode on a wireless router according to one embodiment of the invention.
    A first step (602) is to disable any existing configuration on the wireless router. It may be to disable a previous configuration of "default router" type or "address provider" type or any configuration of IP address, type IPv4 and / or IPv6 for example.
    Advantageously, the "aggregation" mode can be statically configured on the wireless routers, and in which case they operate systematically according to this mode, or alternatively the "aggregation" mode can be configured dynamically, for example directly by the user of the device. For example, in the case where the wireless router is a smartphone, the "aggregation" mode can be activated manually by the user from a configuration interface of the smartphone.
    Advantageously, a wireless router can operate according to the aggregation mode on one or more of its LAN interfaces in parallel. In an implementation variant, the aggregation mode configuration on the wireless router may include a list of LAN interfaces for which the aggregation mode is used.
    If the LAN interface is of the WiFi type, the method makes it possible to configure it in terminal station 'STA' mode (step 604) and to proceed with the attachment of this WiFi LAN interface to the WiFi aggregation interface (configured as in access point mode) of the aggregation router, to allow the establishment of the WiFi connection between the wireless router (via its LAN interface) and the aggregation router (via its aggregation interface).
    To enable the Wi-Fi terminal-based wireless router to detect the presence of the aggregation router acting as a WiFi access point, the WiFi interface of the aggregation router may be associated with a WiFi network identifier (e.g. eg a known ESSID) of the wireless router so that it recognizes, thanks to this identifier announced by the aggregation router on its WiFi interface, that it is indeed the targeted aggregation router. Thus, the wireless router connects its WiFi LAN interface to the WiFi access point formed by the WiFi aggregation interface of the aggregation router.
    Then, the method makes it possible to automatically configure (step 606) on the LAN interface a new IP address, which can be an IPv4 and / or IPv6 address. The address configuration can be of stateful or stateless type. In a next step (608), the router's WAN interface is connected to the Internet.
    Then (step 610), the method makes it possible to activate the IP routing (IPv4 and / or IPv6) between the WAN interface and the LAN interface, and activate (step 612) the systematic use of the address translation mechanism. NAT * for any IP traffic routed between its LAN and WAN interfaces. The systematic use of NAT differs from the traditional use of this mechanism, which is usually used only when the address space on the LAN interface is not routable over the WAN interface. In the method of the present invention, the systematic NAT * mechanism causes the address translation to be used even when the addresses used on the LAN interface are routable on the WAN interface. Thus, for example, the NAT * mechanism is used even if the LAN interface is configured with globally routable IPv4 and / or IPv6 addresses in the internet network reachable via the WAN interface. Advantageously, this systematic configuration of the NAT mechanism makes it possible to ensure that the packets associated with a bidirectional data stream all transit on the outgoing and the return channels via the same WAN interface.
    In a next step (614), the method allows the transmission of an announcement message on each of its LAN interfaces associated with the "aggregation" mode. The announcement message sent on a LAN interface contains at least one identifier of the wireless router, such as for example the MAC address or the IP address of the LAN interface.
    FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary operating environment of the invention according to a "public transport" implementation scenario.
    In this implementation variant, the same aggregation router may be equipped with several (two or more) aggregation interfaces, each interface being associated with a different LAN network. In the illustrated example, an aggregation router (702) is provided with a first WiFi type aggregation interface (706) and a second Ethernet type aggregation interface (704).
    In this configuration, the distribution of flows implemented by the flow allocation module (708) of the aggregation router can be done either: in "disjoint allocations" mode where the aggregation router manages independently, disjoint flow distribution on each of its aggregation interfaces. The flows coming from user terminals associated with an aggregation interface can only pass through the aggregated routers visible on this same aggregation interface. - In "joint allocation" mode where the aggregation router manages jointly, joint distribution of flows on all of its aggregation interfaces. Thus, a flow from a user terminal associated with a first aggregation interface may optionally be allocated to an aggregated router connected to another aggregation interface of the same aggregation router.
    This variant is illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 in the form of the optional module "LAN interface Techno-Y" that can serve as an additional aggregation interface on the aggregation router (210, 310).
    In another variant of implementation, which can coexist with the preceding variant, the same aggregation router may be equipped with one or more interface (s) WAN (714) in addition to its (or its) interface (s) d aggregation, for example two WAN interfaces of the same type or of different types, eg 2G / 3G / 4G.
    Advantageously, in this variant of implementation, the aggregation router can also be configured as a wireless router operating in the "aggregation" mode on its WAN interface (s) (714) using as a router LAN interface. wireless, one of the aggregation interfaces (704, 706). In this configuration, the NAT NAT mechanism is enabled for LAN interface flows routed to the WAN interface. This variant is illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 in the form of optional modules "WAN interface Techno-X" and "NAT *". In this variant, the aggregation router (702) can jointly manage the distribution of the streams on its WAN interface (s) (714) and on the aggregated routers (710, 712) connected to its interface (s). ) of aggregation (704, 706). Thus, a flow from a user terminal associated with an aggregation interface may optionally be allocated to a WAN interface of the aggregation router acting as an aggregated router.
    In another implementation variant that can coexist with the previous variants, the aggregation router may also act as a user terminal, and be the source of data streams that are then processed similarly to those from other user terminals. connected to aggregation interfaces of the aggregation router.
    In another alternative embodiment that can coexist with the preceding variants, the aggregation router (702) may be equipped with one or more additional LAN interface (s) on which the equipment also acts as an access router. traditional without operating as an aggregation router on this interface, that is to say without issuing announcement messages on its interfaces. In this configuration, any data stream from terminals connected to these interfaces can be processed similarly to streams from other user terminals connected to aggregate interfaces of the aggregation router. This variant is illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 in the form of the optional modules "Techno-Z interface" and "NAT" at the level of the aggregation router.
    In another implementation variant, the WAN interfaces may be wired.
    Thus, the present description illustrates a preferred implementation of the invention, but is not limiting. An example has been chosen to allow a good understanding of the principles of the invention, and a concrete application, but it is in no way exhaustive and should allow the skilled person to make changes and implementation variants in keeping the same principles. The invention can be implemented from hardware and / or software elements. It may be available as a computer program product on a computer readable medium. The support can be electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic or infrared type. Such supports are, for example, Random Access Memory RAMs (ROMs), magnetic or optical tapes, disks or disks (Compact Disk - Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), Compact Disk -Read / Write (CD-R / W) and DVD).
    权利要求:
    Claims (20)
    [1" id="c-fr-0001]
    claims
    A wireless communications device in an IP network having a plurality of wireless routers capable of routing data streams, each router having at least one LAN interface for receiving data streams from at least one user terminal and a WAN interface for communicating to the IP network, the device comprising: - a router discovery module for identifying among the plurality of wireless routers, a subset of routers, so-called aggregated routers, systematically using a translation mechanism network address (NAT) for any traffic routed between its LAN and WAN interfaces; a stream allocation module for selecting an aggregated router in the subset of aggregated routers and allocating a received data stream to it; and a network interface called an aggregation interface, able to receive a data stream from a user terminal and to transmit the received data stream to said selected aggregated router.
    [2" id="c-fr-0002]
    The device of claim 1 including a configuration module for configuring the default router aggregation interface and address provider.
    [3" id="c-fr-0003]
    3. The device according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the aggregated router discovery module is adapted to generate soliciting messages to the plurality of wireless routers and to receive in response aggregated router announcement messages.
    [4" id="c-fr-0004]
    4. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the flow allocation module operates a distribution algorithm for balancing the number of flows transiting on each of the aggregated routers.
    [5" id="c-fr-0005]
    5. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the flow allocation module operates a distribution algorithm for balancing the bandwidth consumed by the streams on each of the aggregated routers.
    [6" id="c-fr-0006]
    6. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the flow allocation module operates a distribution algorithm for balancing the available bandwidth on each of the aggregated routers.
    [7" id="c-fr-0007]
    7. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the aggregation interface is a LAN interface type Ethernet or WiFi.
    [8" id="c-fr-0008]
    8. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein the aggregation interface is a WiFi LAN interface configured in access point mode.
    [9" id="c-fr-0009]
    9. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 8 comprising at least a second aggregation interface adapted to receive a data stream of a user terminal and to transmit the received data stream to an aggregated router selected in the subset of aggregated routers.
    [10" id="c-fr-0010]
    10. The device of claim 9 wherein the flow allocation module operates a flow allocation algorithm in joint allocation mode to distribute the flows on all of its aggregation interfaces.
    [11" id="c-fr-0011]
    11. The device of claim 9 wherein the flow allocation module operates a disjoint allocation mode flow distribution algorithm for distributing the flows on each of its aggregation interfaces.
    [12" id="c-fr-0012]
    The device according to any one of claims 1 to 11, further comprising one or more WAN network interfaces, and wherein the flow allocation module operates an algorithm for distributing the streams on the one or more WAN network interfaces. and on its aggregation interface (s).
    [13" id="c-fr-0013]
    The device according to any one of claims 1 to 12 further comprising one or more network interfaces for transmitting data streams in user terminal mode.
    [14" id="c-fr-0014]
    The device according to any one of claims 1 to 13, further comprising one or more LAN network interfaces for receiving user terminal data streams, and wherein the flow allocation module operates an algorithm for distributing said flows on one or more WAN network interfaces and on its aggregation interface (s).
    [15" id="c-fr-0015]
    The device of any one of claims 1 to 14 wherein said aggregated router comprises a configuration module for enabling the network address transfer mechanism (NAT) in routine use, and a message generation module of announce to send announcement messages.
    [16" id="c-fr-0016]
    The device of claim 15 wherein the announcement messages are issued in response to soliciting messages.
    [17" id="c-fr-0017]
    The device according to any one of claims 1 to 16 wherein the LAN interface of said aggregated router is WiFi type configured in terminal station mode (STA) and systematically using a network address translation (NAT) mechanism for any traffic routed between its WiFi and WAN interfaces.
    [18" id="c-fr-0018]
    A method for operating wireless communications in an IP network having a plurality of wireless routers capable of routing data streams, each router having at least one LAN interface for receiving data streams of at least one user terminal and a WAN interface for communicating to the IP network, the method comprising the steps of: - receiving a data stream from a user terminal; - identifying among the plurality of wireless routers, a subset of routers, so-called aggregated routers, systematically using a Network Address Translation (NAT) mechanism for any traffic routed between its LAN and WAN interfaces; selecting an aggregated router of the subset of aggregated routers to allocate the received data stream to it; and - transmitting the received data stream to said selected aggregated router.
    [19" id="c-fr-0019]
    19. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 17 wherein the means make it possible to operate the method according to claim 18.
    [20" id="c-fr-0020]
    20. A computer program product, said computer program comprising code instructions for performing the steps of the method of claim 18, when said program is run on a computer.
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    同族专利:
    公开号 | 公开日
    US20180359214A1|2018-12-13|
    WO2017097576A1|2017-06-15|
    FR3044855B1|2018-08-10|
    EP3387862A1|2018-10-17|
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    法律状态:
    2016-12-29| PLFP| Fee payment|Year of fee payment: 2 |
    2017-06-09| PLSC| Publication of the preliminary search report|Effective date: 20170609 |
    2018-01-02| PLFP| Fee payment|Year of fee payment: 3 |
    2019-12-31| PLFP| Fee payment|Year of fee payment: 5 |
    2020-12-28| PLFP| Fee payment|Year of fee payment: 6 |
    2021-12-31| PLFP| Fee payment|Year of fee payment: 7 |
    优先权:
    申请号 | 申请日 | 专利标题
    FR1561933A|FR3044855B1|2015-12-07|2015-12-07|DEVICE AND METHOD FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION IN AN IP NETWORK|
    FR1561933|2015-12-07|FR1561933A| FR3044855B1|2015-12-07|2015-12-07|DEVICE AND METHOD FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION IN AN IP NETWORK|
    EP16798511.8A| EP3387862A1|2015-12-07|2016-11-21|Device and method for wireless communication in an ip network|
    PCT/EP2016/078332| WO2017097576A1|2015-12-07|2016-11-21|Device and method for wireless communication in an ip network|
    US15/781,687| US20180359214A1|2015-12-07|2016-11-21|Device and method for wireless communication in an ip network|
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