| 主权项 |
1. A method enabling a communications network to perform viral upgrade of priority levels of Internet Protocol (IP) communications, comprising:
provisioning a priority end point device in the communications network to set a viral upgrade flag in initial priority IP communications originating from the priority end point device, wherein provisioning the priority end point device in the communications network comprises provisioning the priority end point device to set a designated viral upgrade bit in a differentiated services field of an IP packet header of an initial priority IP communication originating from the priority end point device; provisioning a receiving end point device in the communications network to set a response-based upgrade flag in a responsive IP communication, responsive to the initial priority IP communication originating from the priority end point device and received at the receiving end point device, wherein provisioning the receiving end point device in the communications network to set the response-based upgrade flag in the responsive IP communication comprises provisioning the receiving end point device with an end point viral upgrade module configured to:
identify that the designated viral upgrade bit is set in the differentiated services field of the IP packet header of the received initial priority IP communication; andwhen the designated viral upgrade bit is set, to flag the responsive IP communication for response-based upgrade by setting a designated response upgrade bit in a differentiated services field of an IP packet header of the responsive IP communication, wherein the designated response upgrade bit comprises a different designated bit within the differentiated services field than the designated viral upgrade bit; and provisioning a router in the communications network to:
identify, in response to receiving the initial priority IP communication at the router, that the initial priority IP communication is flagged for viral upgrade of a priority level of responsive IP communications, by checking the designated viral upgrade bit in the differentiated services field of the IP packet header of the initial priority IP communication;when the designated viral upgrade bit is set in the differentiated services field of the IP packet header of the initial priority IP communication, log flow information comprising a flow label from the IP packet header of the initial priority IP communication in a viral upgrade data structure;when the designated viral upgrade bit is set in the differentiated services field of the IP packet header of the initial priority IP communication, log viral upgrade priority level information in the viral upgrade data structure, wherein the viral upgrade priority level information comprises a priority level of the initial priority IP communication;place the initial priority IP communication in a router priority forwarding queue corresponding to the viral upgrade priority level;identify, in response to receiving the responsive IP communication at the router, that the responsive IP communication is flagged for response-based upgrade, by checking the designated response upgrade bit in the differentiated services field of the IP packet header of the responsive IP communication;when the designated response upgrade bit is set in the differentiated services field of the IP packet header of the responsive IP communication, look up flow information from the responsive IP communication in the viral upgrade data structure;when flow information from the responsive IP communication is found in the viral upgrade data structure, assign the logged viral upgrade priority level of the initial priority IP communication, as logged in the viral upgrade data structure, to the responsive IP communication; andplace the responsive IP communication in a router priority forwarding queue corresponding to the assigned viral upgrade priority level. |
