Computer network packet classification method and system based on a ...

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(12) United States Patent

Rung et al.

(io) Patent No.: (45) Date of Patent:

US 7,792,120 B2 Sep. 7, 2010

(54) COMPUTER NETWORK PACKET

CLASSIFICATION METHOD AND SYSTEM
BASED ON A NONOVERLAPPING RULE
GROUP ENCODING SCHEME

(75) Inventors: Ching-Fu Kung, Taipei (TW);

Sheng-De Wang, Taipei (TW)

(73) Assignee: National Taiwan University, Taipei (TW)

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 208 days.

(21) Appl.No.: 12/163,048

(22) Filed: Jun. 27, 2008

(65) Prior Publication Data

US 2009/0196291 Al Aug. 6, 2009

(30) Foreign Application Priority Data

Jan. 31,2008 (TW) 97103642 A

(51) Int. CI.

H04L12/28 (2006.01)

(52) U.S. CI 370/395.32; 370/395.31;

370/389; 370/392; 370/466; 370/474

(58) Field of Classification Search 370/254,

370/351-356, 389, 390, 392, 393, 395.31, 370/395.32, 395.7, 395.71, 395.72, 400, 370/401,408, 466, 474 See application file for complete search history.

(56) References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

7,116,663 B2* 10/2006 Liao 370/392

7,313,667 Bl* 12/2007 Pullelaetal 711/202

7,408,932 B2* 8/2008 Kounavisetal 370/392

7,474,657 B2 * 1/2009 Sahni et al 370/392

7,508,825 B2 * 3/2009 Jason, Jr 370/389

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

T. V. Lakshman, et al. "High Speed Policy-Based Packet Forwarding
Using Efficient Multidimensional Range Matching", Sep. 1998,191-
202, ACM SIGCOMM, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Van Lunteren, J., "Searching Very Large Routing Tables in Fast
Sram", Oct. 2002, 4-11, IEEE ICCCN Conf, Scottsdale, Arizona.
Van Lunteren, J., "Searching Very Large Routing Tables in Wide
Embedded Memory", Nov. 2001, vol. 3, 1615-1619, IEEE
GLOBECOM Conf, San Antonio, Texas.

* cited by examiner

Primary Examiner—Pankaj Kumar
Assistant Examiner—Mark A Mais
(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Pearne & Gordon LLP

A computer network packet classification method and system based on a nonoverlapping rule group encoding scheme is proposed, which is designed for integration to a network system for classification of packets within the network system. The proposed method and system is characterized by the use of a nonoverlapping rule group encoding scheme which organizes a database of rules into nonoverlapping rule groups and creates a number of consecutive projected intervals over the dimension of each classification-related field of the packet header, whereby a projected-interval to encoded-bit-vector lookup table and an encoded-bit-vector to rule-group lookup table can be established. During the operation of packet classification, these two lookup tables are used to find the corresponding rule for each incoming packet. This scheme allows the encoded bit vectors to have a reduced bit length, and therefore allows the packet classification to be implemented with low memory requirement and enhanced performance.

22 Claims, 8 Drawing Sheets