Heterogeneous access gateway for an information-centric networking environment

Abstract

A method is provided in one example embodiment and may include receiving an interest message at a gateway, wherein the gateway provides connectivity to a plurality of radio accesses that interface with an Information-Centric Networking-based (ICN-based) network; identifying a service class associated with the interest message; selecting a particular radio access of the plurality of radio accesses to handle traffic for the interest message based on at least one of: one or more policies associated with the service class, one or more policies associated with the plurality of radio accesses, and network conditions associated with the plurality of radio accesses; and forwarding the interest message to the particular radio access.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 maintaining, by a network element, network condition information associated with plurality of radio accesses, wherein the network element interfaces with a terminal and a plurality of radio accesses, and the plurality of radio accesses further interface with an Information-Centric Networking-based (ICN-based) network;   obtaining an interest message by the network element;   identifying a service class associated with the interest message;   selecting a particular radio access of the plurality of radio accesses to handle traffic for the interest message based on at least one of: one or more policies associated with the service class, one or more policies associated with the plurality of radio accesses, and network conditions associated with the plurality of radio accesses; and   forwarding the interest message to the particular radio access.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each radio access of the plurality of radio accesses is associated with each of a different radio access technology (RAT) type. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a particular policy associated with the particular radio access comprises one or more of:
 an optimal throughput to be utilized for the particular radio access;   data usage information associated with the particular radio access; and   weighting information associated with the particular radio access.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the data usage information comprises at least one of:
 charging information associated with the particular radio access;   one or more applications supported by the particular radio access;   one or more data rates associated with the particular radio access; and   one or more data caps associated with the particular radio access.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the weighting information comprises at least one of:
 a weighted latency based on the charging information associated with the particular radio access; and   a weighted cost based on the charging information associated with the particular radio access.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a particular policy associated with a particular service class comprises one or more of:
 a minimum latency associated with the particular service class;   a packet loss rate associated with the particular service class;   a minimum bitrate associated with the particular service class; and   a guaranteed bitrate associated with the particular service class.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the interest message comprises at least a portion of a content name encoded within at least a portion of an Internet Protocol (IP) destination address field. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the network condition information is maintained within a Forwarding Information Base of the network element. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the ICN-based network is an Internet Protocol (IP) network comprising at least one hybrid ICN-enabled routing node capable of performing packet forwarding using both IP networking constructs and ICN constructs. 
     
     
         10 . One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, comprising:
 maintaining, by a network element, network condition information associated with plurality of radio accesses, wherein the network element interfaces with a terminal and a plurality of radio accesses, and the plurality of radio accesses further interface with an Information-Centric Networking-based (ICN-based) network;   obtaining an interest message by the network element;   identifying a service class associated with the interest message;   selecting a particular radio access of the plurality of radio accesses to handle traffic for the interest message based on at least one of: one or more policies associated with the service class, one or more policies associated with the plurality of radio accesses, and network conditions associated with the plurality of radio accesses; and   forwarding the interest message to the particular radio access.   
     
     
         11 . The media of  claim 10 , wherein each radio access of the plurality of radio accesses is associated with each of a different radio access technology (RAT) type. 
     
     
         12 . The media of  claim 10 , wherein a particular policy associated with the particular radio access comprises one or more of:
 an optimal throughput to be utilized for the particular radio access;   data usage information associated with the particular radio access; and   weighting information associated with the particular radio access.   
     
     
         13 . The media of  claim 12 , wherein the data usage information comprises at least one of:
 charging information associated with the particular radio access;   one or more applications supported by the particular radio access;   one or more data rates associated with the particular radio access; and   one or more data caps associated with the particular radio access.   
     
     
         14 . The media of  claim 13 , wherein the weighting information comprises at least one of:
 a weighted latency based on the charging information associated with the particular radio access; and   a weighted cost based on the charging information associated with the particular radio access.   
     
     
         15 . The media of  claim 10 , wherein a particular policy associated with a particular service class comprises one or more of:
 a minimum latency associated with the particular service class;   a packet loss rate associated with the particular service class;   a minimum bitrate associated with the particular service class; and   a guaranteed bitrate associated with the particular service class.   
     
     
         16 . The media of  claim 10 , wherein the network condition information is maintained within a Forwarding Information Base of the network element. 
     
     
         17 . A network element comprising:
 at least one memory element for storing data; and   at least one processor for executing instructions associated with the data, wherein executing the instructions causes the network element to perform operations, comprising:   maintaining, by the network element, network condition information associated with plurality of radio accesses, wherein the network element interfaces with a terminal and a plurality of radio accesses, and the plurality of radio accesses further interface with an Information-Centric Networking-based (ICN-based) network;   obtaining an interest message by the network element;   identifying a service class associated with the interest message;   selecting a particular radio access of the plurality of radio accesses to handle traffic for the interest message based on at least one of: one or more policies associated with the service class, one or more policies associated with the plurality of radio accesses, and network conditions associated with the plurality of radio accesses; and   forwarding the interest message to the particular radio access.   
     
     
         18 . The network element of  claim 17 , wherein each radio access of the plurality of radio accesses is associated with each of a different radio access technology (RAT) type. 
     
     
         19 . The network element of  claim 17 , wherein the network condition information is maintained within a Forwarding Information Base of the network element. 
     
     
         20 . The network element of  claim 17 , wherein the interest message comprises at least a portion of a content name encoded within at least a portion of an Internet Protocol (IP) destination address field.