WO2011134495A1

WO2011134495A1 - Management of traffic in a communication network and traffic optimization

Info

Publication number: WO2011134495A1
Application number: PCT/EP2010/055581
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jochen Eisl; Kurt Tutschku; Albert Rafetseder
Original assignee: Nokia Siemens Networks Oy
Priority date: 2010-04-27
Filing date: 2010-04-27
Publication date: 2011-11-03

Abstract

There is proposed a mechanism providing traffic management and optimization. If a requesting peer requests to retrieve specified data from by using an unfavorable resource, this is detected by traffic monitoring. Then, an alternative resource in a preferred location is determined. The requesting peer is informed about the fact that an unfavorable resource usage is involved in connection with the present request to retrieve the specified data. Furthermore, information about alternative providing peers is provided to the requesting peer.

Description

DESCRIPTION Title

MANAGEMENT OF TRAFFIC IN A COMMUNICATION NETWORK AND

TRAFFIC OPTIMIZATION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to methods, apparatuses and a computer program product providing a mechanism for managing traffic in a communication network and for traffic optimizing wherein an application layer transport detection is conducted. In particular, the present invention relates to methods, apparatuses and a computer program product where when a requesting side wishes to retrieve desired data from a resource traffic optimization is conducted with the tar^¬ get that the load on the communication network resources is as low as possible. Related background Art

Prior art which is related to this technical field can e.g. be found in connection with IETF Working Group ALTO and DCIA Working Group P4P.

The following meanings for the abbreviations used in this specification apply:

3GPP - 3^r generation partnership project ALTO - application layer traffic optimization

APN - access point name

DCIA - Distributed Computing Industry Association

DNS - domain name service

DPI - deep packet inspection

GGSN - GPRS gateway support node

GPRS - general packet radio system

GTP - GPRS tunneling protocol

HTTP - hyper text transfer protocol

ID - identifier

IETF - Internet Engineering Task Force

IP - Internet protocol

ISP - Internet service provider

MMS - multimedia messaging service

NAT - network address translation

P2P - peer-to-peer

P4P - provider portal for applications

PDN - packet data network

QoS - quality of service

SMS - short message service

SMTP - simple mail transfer protocol

TCP - transmission control protocol

UDP - user datagram protocol

UE - user equipment

WG - working group

WLAN - Wireless Local Area Network

One classical concept for establishing a connection for re^¬ trieving data from a resource is the so-called client- server arrangement. Client-server communication is in par^¬ ticular used for Internet applications.

However, communication schemes, also in connection with the usage of the Internet, have shifted more and more in the recent past towards a so-called overlay structure. In many cases, users are not interested to connect with a specific node in the network but to retrieve specific content or data, such as a MP3 music file, a streaming video or a software program, a patch for existing software or the like. Such content may be located and hosted at different locations or servers, and an application or the user him^¬ self may select any network node, such as a server, a data^¬ base or another end user terminal to retrieve the requested content therefrom.

For this purpose, overlay networks can be established which are networks being built on top of one or more other logical or physical networks (which is referred to as underlying network) . Network or communication nodes in the overlay network can be thought of as being connected by virtual or logical links, each of which corresponds to a path in the underlying network. As a known example, P2P networks (such as BitTorrent, Gnutella etc.) are overlay networks running on top of the Internet. Other examples of overlay network structures are represented, for example, by content distribution networks (e.g. Akamai, LimeLight, Ap^¬ ple iTunes store etc.), online gaming platforms (World of Warcraft, 2nd Life, etc.) or social networks (Facebook, Xing, Orkut, Flickr) .

Overlay network structures are configured to form independ^¬ ently their relationships to connect to other peers irre^¬ spective of the underlying network topology. Therefore, while the change of paradigm for Internet communication to^¬ wards a dynamic overlay structure achieves new flexibility and opportunities for users and service providers, there are also revealed diverse problem areas. These problems could affect both network operators or ISPs and users of overlay applications, for example a significant increase of traffic volume in operator networks due to an unguided search for specific content or the like. Another problem results from the fact that current overlay networks lack synchronization with the underlying network topology. Furthermore, besides the significant steady in^¬ crease of traffic volume in operator networks, there is a commonly denoted unfair behavior of some overlay applica- tions and additional cost imposed for the network operator

(fairness in this regard may denote the situation where one or more users consume more network resources and hence negatively impact other users even though the pricing model is the same for all) . For instance, P2P applications in many cases show greedy behaviour, e.g. by setting up multi^¬ ple parallel TCP connections to increase resilience and shorten the time to download content. This may affect in particular communication networks based on wireless commu^¬ nication mechanisms. In addition, some P2P application may apply a so-called "give up and try next peer" strategy, e.g. when the estimated quality of a resource some time af^¬ ter connection initiation is not acceptable any more.

Such a behavior leads to an inefficient usage of network resources. Furthermore, arbitrary resource/content selec^¬ tion poses high load on transit links and therefore may cause higher cost for the operator. Due to the lack of lo^¬ cation knowledge about overlays, there can be situations where a specific content is retrieved from external net- works via cost intensive links even though a more suitable resource for the specific content may be present locally, i.e. by the network provider or another subscriber from the same provider who may host the requested content locally. Hence, the lack of locality awareness may pose additional interconnection fees for the network provider.

There are proposed several traffic engineering or managing schemes which aim to relieve the problems caused by over^¬ load or unbalanced load situations, such as QoS differen^¬ tiation on user or application level and enforcement of fair usage policy mechanisms. As a further approach, local caching of content and route optimization strategies are implemented as well to address the problems mentioned above .

As another mechanism to address the described problem of inefficient resource selection in application overlays, the usage of a network element referred to as a mediator is proposed .

Different initiatives investigate the mediator approach, such as DCIA WG P4P and IETF WG ALTO. The aim is to define a protocol for the communication with mediators, which are also referred to as trackers.

The general concept of providing mediators was motivated by the following three observations in provider networks:

- Intra-domain case: the network-oblivious peering

strategy of many P2P applications may cause traffic to scatter and unnecessarily traverse multiple links in^¬ side a provider' s network

Inter-domain case: network-oblivious applications may generate a significant amount of interdomain transit traffic or relay a substantial amount of traffic be^¬ tween the providers of a network - P2P's dynamic traffic distribution patterns do not necessarily enjoy a synergistic coexistence with net^¬ work traffic engineering.

A mediator is a centralized entity which supports the over lay nodes in their decision how to interconnect among each other. For example, the mediator may suggest upon request the "nearest" node based on specific criteria. In general, a mediator may have more knowledge than one single overlay node how the complete network system is working, e.g. on the physical topology, but also on network congestion status, costs, and policies. Thus, the mediator allows net work providers to explicitly provide more information, guidelines and capabilities to emerging applications, such as P2P content distribution.

In P4P approaches, the mediator constitutes a portal-like source of information. Specifically, a P4P system uses so- called iTrackers as portals operated by network providers for information regarding the tracked entities in the pro^¬ vider's network. That means the iTracker returns information on the resources available in the surveyed network with regard to specific policies, quality metrics (such as distance), or capabilities.

An example for illustrating a P4P architecture by a

tracker-based P2P file sharing application is depicted in Figure 11. Reference signs 210 and 230 represents peers (peer A and peer B) each located in a network, i.e. a net- work 220 of a provider A (peer A) or a network 240 of a provider B (peer B) . In each provider network 220, 240, a corresponding iTracker network element 250, 260 is implemented which is used to keep track of the entities and data available in the respective network part. Furthermore, an application tracker or appTracker 270 is provided which is linked to one or more iTrackers as a centralized managing element. In Fig. 11, a solid arrow indicates a tracker- based control message flow, while a dashed arrow indicates a trackerless control message flow.

In operation, peer A 210 (or peer B 230) contacts the ap^¬ plication tracker 270 for information about other peers sharing a specific requested content (e.g. a MP3 file or the like) . The appTracker 270 contacts the different iTrackers 250, 260 for potential peers in the network under their surveillance (i.e. network 220 in case of iTracker 250 or network 240 in case of iTracker 260) . The iTrackers 250, 260 check the information they have regarding the en^¬ tities under their surveillance, and inform the appTracker 270 and the requesting peer about a resource in their net^¬ work (e.g. peer B) . It is to be noted that in case the P2P file sharing does not apply a centralized mediation entity, i.e. the appTracker 270, then the peers A and B may contact the iTracker in their network directly.

By asking the iTracker about resources and their features, capabilities and qualities, peers are able select other peers to download from in a way that certain constraints are fulfilled, e.g. performance criteria are optimized.

However, the present concepts using a mediator or tracker function have the problem that it is possible that their services are not used. Basically, it is possible that over^¬ lay applications or users do not make use of the proposed mediator and its supported functionality, i.e. the inter^¬ faces provided by a mediator are not used. The reason for this may be that an application / peer is ignorant to the mediator service or that the interface to obtain the ser- vice from a mediator is not supported. As a consequence, the problems indicated above with regard to the traffic load and the like still exist since a peer still may try to retrieve content from an arbitrary location in the Inter- net .

A possible reaction to this circumstance may be that the network provider applies traffic shaping or blocking mecha^¬ nisms. However, the problem with such a solution is that this may severely affect user perception in a negative man^¬ ner .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved apparatus, method and computer program product by means of which a new mechanism for optimizing management of traffic in a communication network is provided, in particu^¬ lar in cases where an overlay network structure (overlay application) is involved. Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide methods, apparatuses and a computer program product a requesting side can be provided with access to desired data while a traffic optimization is conducted in such a manner that the load on communication network resources and costs for interconnections or the like are minimized.

These objects are achieved by the measures defined in the attached claims.

According to an example of the proposed solution, there is provided, for example, an apparatus comprising a traffic monitoring portion, and a traffic optimization portion, the traffic monitoring portion comprising: a receiver configured to receive a request from a requesting peer to re^¬ trieve specified data from a first resource, a processing portion configured to determine whether the first resource is unfavorable for retrieving the specified data for the requesting peer, and a transmitter configured to send, if the processing portion determines the first resource to be unfavorable, a trigger message for traffic optimization processing to the traffic optimization portion, and the traffic optimization portion comprising: a receiver config^¬ ured to receive the trigger message for traffic optimization processing, a first processing portion configured to process information received with the trigger message and to check whether at least one alternative resource for the specified data is known, wherein the at least one alterna^¬ tive resource is preferable in comparison to the first re^¬ source, and a second processing portion configured to ini^¬ tiate, in case at least one alternative resource for the specified data is known, at least one of a transmission of a notification to the requesting peer indicating at least one of the unfavorable usage of the first resource and the at least one alternative resource for retrieving the speci^¬ fied data, and a change of a destination resource from the first resource to the at least one alternative resource.

Furthermore, according to an example of the proposed solu^¬ tion, there is provided, for example, a method comprising receiving a request from a requesting peer to retrieve specified data from a first resource, determining whether the first resource is unfavorable for retrieving the speci^¬ fied data for the requesting peer, providing, if the deter^¬ mination results in that the first resource is unfavorable, a trigger message for traffic optimization processing to a traffic optimization function, receiving the trigger mes^¬ sage for traffic optimization processing in the traffic op^¬ timization function, processing information received with the trigger message, checking whether at least one alterna^¬ tive resource for the specified data is known, wherein the at least one alternative resource is preferable in compari^¬ son to the first resource, and initiating, in case at least one alternative resource for the specified data is known, at least one of a transmission of a notification to the re^¬ questing peer indicating at least one of the unfavorable usage of the first resource and the at least one alterna^¬ tive resource for retrieving the specified data, and a des^¬ tination resource change from the first resource to the at least one alternative resource.

According to further refinements, there may be comprised one or more of the following features:

- a connection control procedure for controlling a communi^¬ cation flow or an associated transport condition may be ap^¬ plied, wherein the connection control procedure may com^¬ prise at least one of blocking forwarding of a connection setup request towards the first resource, blocking forward^¬ ing of data between the requesting peer and the first re^¬ source, changing a transmission priority for data exchanged between the requesting peer and the first resource, or changing a pricing scheme for the requesting peer;

- the traffic monitoring portion or function may be pro^¬ vided in a traffic monitoring entity of a network provider domain, wherein the traffic monitoring may further conduct, on the basis of information included in the request, at least one of a traffic pattern recognition procedure, and/or a packet inspection procedure for determining whether the first resource is unfavorable;

- the traffic monitoring portion or function may be provided in a core network element of a communication network, wherein the traffic monitoring may further conduct, on the basis of information included in the request, a traffic flow analysis during a connection setup phase of the requesting peer based on flow identifiers for determining whether the first resource is unfavorable;

- the traffic monitoring portion or function may retrieve, from a policy server, setting information for traffic man^¬ aging, the setting information indicating rules for the de^¬ termination of whether the first resource is unfavorable and rules for a selection of a processing scheme to be exe- cuted when an unfavorable resource usage is determined;

- the trigger message may include at least one of an iden^¬ tification of the requesting peer, an identification of the first resource, information specifying the specified data, a protocol identification, and traffic characteristic in- formation;

- the traffic optimization portion or function may be fur^¬ ther configured to compare the information specifying the specified data with stored resource information, to deter^¬ mine whether a matching entry for the specified data in the stored resource information exists, and to designate a re^¬ source assigned to the matching entry as the at least one alternative resource;

- the traffic optimization portion or function may be fur^¬ ther configured to decide whether a user interaction for traffic optimization is required, wherein in case a deci^¬ sion is made that a user interaction is required, the traf^¬ fic optimization portion or function may be configured to initiate the transmission of the notification to the re^¬ questing peer, and in case a decision is made that a user interaction is not required, the traffic optimization por^¬ tion or function may be configured to initiate the change of the destination resource from the first resource to the at least one alternative resource;

- the traffic optimization portion or function may be fur^¬ ther configured, in case at least one alternative resource for the specified data is known, and the transmission of the notification to the requesting peer is initiated, to send a notification message to a notification managing net- work element, wherein the notification message may comprise information regarding the at least one alternative re^¬ source ;

- the traffic optimization portion or function may be fur^¬ ther configured to transmit in connection with the notifi- cation message information regarding conditions of a usage of the at least one alternative resource;

- the traffic optimization portion or function may be fur^¬ ther configured, in case at least one alternative resource for the specified data is known, and the change of the des- tination resource from the first resource to the at least one alternative resource is initiated, to send a modifica^¬ tion message to a destination resource changing network element, wherein the modification message may comprise in^¬ formation regarding the at least one alternative resource and an instruction to change a destination resource from the first resource to the at least one alternative re^¬ source;

- a request message from the requesting peer may be re^¬ ceived to notify about alternative resources for the speci- fied data, wherein the traffic optimization portion or function may be further configured to initiate the trans^¬ mission of a notification to the requesting peer indicating the unfavorable usage of the first resource and the at least one alternative resource for retrieving the specified data;

- the traffic optimization portion or function may be provided in a traffic optimization network element or a media- tor network element of a network provider domain,

- the requesting peer may be part of an overlay network structure and the traffic monitoring portion or function as well as the traffic optimization portion or function may be disposed in one or more network elements of an underlying network structure.

In addition, according to a further example of the proposed solution, there is provided, for example, an apparatus com- prising a receiver configured to receive a notification message from a traffic optimization network element, wherein the notification message indicates to send a notification to a requesting peer indicating at least one of an unfavorable usage of a first resource for retrieving speci- fied data and at least one alternative resource for re^¬ trieving the specified data, a third processing portion configured to process the notification message and to ex^¬ tract information related to the at least one alternative resource, and a fourth processing portion configured to se- lect a communication channel towards the requesting peer for transmitting information for the notification, and to initiate transmission of the information for the notification via the selected communication channel to the request^¬ ing peer.

Moreover, according to according to a further example of the proposed solution, there is provided, for example, a method comprising receiving a notification message from a traffic optimization network function, wherein the notifi- cation message indicates to send a notification to a requesting peer indicating at least one of an unfavorable us^¬ age of a first resource for retrieving specified data and at least one alternative resource for retrieving the speci- fied data, processing the notification message and extract^¬ ing information related to the at least one alternative re^¬ source, selecting a communication channel towards the re^¬ questing peer for transmitting information for the notifi^¬ cation, and initiating transmission of the information for the notification via the selected communication channel to the requesting peer.

According to further refinements, in the above two examples, there may be comprised one or more of the following features:

- the notification message may comprise information regard^¬ ing at least one alternative resource, wherein the notifi^¬ cation message may then further comprise information regarding conditions of a usage of the at least one alterna- tive resource;

- the user context data related to the requesting peer may be received and processed, wherein the selection of the communication channel may be based on the user context data;

- at least one of user profile information related to the requesting peer and session information related to a re^¬ quest for retrieving the specified data sent by the re^¬ questing peer may be accessed and used;

- for the communication channel towards the requesting peer at least one of a messaging service, an electronic mail service, a voice messaging service via an automated voice call, a chatting service, and an information service using a pop-up window at the requesting peer may be selected; - for initiating the transmission of the information for the notification via the selected communication channel to the requesting peer, information may be sent by using an information service providing network element based on the selected service for the communication channel;

- the apparatus or function may be provided in a notification managing network element of a network service domain;

- the requesting peer may be part of an overlay network structure and the apparatus or function may be disposed in a network element of an underlying network structure;

- the apparatus or function is connectable to a traffic op^¬ timization portion or function as defined beforehand.

Moreover, according to another example of the proposed so- lution, there is provided, for example, a computer program product for a computer, comprising software code portions for performing the steps of the above defined methods, when said product is run on the computer. The computer program product may comprise a computer-readable medium on which said software code portions are stored. Furthermore, the computer program product may be directly loadable into the internal memory of the computer and/or transmittable via a network by means of at least one of upload, download and push procedures.

By virtue of the proposed solutions, it is possible to pro^¬ vide a communication system where the advantages provided by a mediator based traffic management are fully usable, i.e. also in cases where an overlay application or a user of a requesting peer originally ignores the mediator functionality and service. Thus, a network provider using the proposed mechanism is able to save interconnection cost, as a suitable selection of resources being in a more preferred domain, such as the local domain, for retrieving specified data is supported or preset. Furthermore, load balancing is possible among critical paths in the provider domain, for example by changing a setting indicating a preferred resource in view of current load situations or the like (lo- cations or domains with current heavy traffic can be pre^¬ served from becoming even more frequented) . This can lead to a more efficient usage of network resources.

Also from an end user perspective (i.e. the user of a re- questing peer) , the present invention provides advantageous effects by improving the general quality of experience for connecting to specific content since due to the optimiza^¬ tion of traffic and load balancing a latency for delay sen^¬ sitive services can be reduced. Furthermore, the quality of experience can be also improved by avoiding bandwidth fluc^¬ tuations, which could occur in external networks, i.e. by introducing bandwidth control (when for example the local domain is preferably used) . In other words, by means of the present invention, a gap in the conventional system concept of the mediator approach for resource selection is closed since peers / overlay ap^¬ plications, which are not actively requesting support from the mediator functionality, can be supported with more preferable resource alternatives both from the provider perspective and the user perspective.

The above and still further objects, features and advan^¬ tages of the invention will become more apparent upon re- ferring to the description and the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 shows a diagram illustrating an example of a commu^¬ nication network system in which a traffic management sys- tern or procedure according to an example of an embodiment of the invention is implemented.

Fig. 2 shows a flow chart illustrating a traffic management procedure according to an example of an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3 shows a flow chart illustrating a traffic monitoring procedure in a traffic management system or procedure ac^¬ cording to an example of an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 4 shows a flow chart illustrating a traffic optimiza^¬ tion procedure in a traffic management system or procedure according to an example of an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 5 shows a flow chart illustrating a notification pro^¬ cedure in a traffic management system or procedure accord^¬ ing to an example of an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 6 shows a flow chart illustrating a name modification procedure in a traffic management system or procedure ac^¬ cording to an example of an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 7 shows a block circuit diagram illustrating a network element usable for traffic monitoring in a traffic manage- ment system or procedure according to an example of an em^¬ bodiment of the invention. Fig. 8 shows a block circuit diagram illustrating a network element usable for traffic optimization in a traffic man^¬ agement system or procedure according to an example of an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 9 shows a block circuit diagram illustrating a network element usable for notification managing in a traffic man^¬ agement system or procedure according to an example of an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 10 shows a block circuit diagram illustrating a net^¬ work element usable for name modification in a traffic man^¬ agement system or procedure according to an example of an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 11 shows a diagram illustrating an example of a commu^¬ nication network system in which a conventional traffic management system or procedure is implemented. DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following, examples and embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the drawings. For illustrating the present invention, the examples and em- bodiments will be described in connection with a communica^¬ tion system which may be based on a 3GPP system where dif^¬ ferent users or subscribers using a respective user equip^¬ ment (UE) are able to establish a connection with the net^¬ work by means of different accesses. However, it is to be noted that the present invention is not limited to an ap^¬ plication in such a system or environment but is also ap- plicable in other communication systems, connection types and the like.

A basic system architecture of a communication network may comprise a commonly known architecture comprising a wired or wireless access network subsystem and a core network.

Such an architecture comprises one or more access network control units, radio or wired access network elements, ac^¬ cess service network gateways or base transceiver stations, with which a UE is capable to communicate via one or more channels for transmitting several types of data. Further^¬ more, core network elements such as gateway network elements, authentication network elements, subscription net^¬ work elements, policy and charging control network elements and the like are usually comprised. The general functions and interconnections of these elements are known to those skilled in the art and described in corresponding specifi^¬ cations so that a detailed description thereof is omitted herein. However, it is to be noted that there may be pro^¬ vided several additional network elements and signaling links used for a communication connection or a call between

UEs and/or servers than those described in detail herein below .

Furthermore, the described network elements, such as a peer (requesting or providing peer) , a UE, a server, a network control element located in the core network, and the like, and their functions described herein may be implemented by software, e.g. by a computer program product for a com^¬ puter, or by hardware. In any case, for executing their re^¬ spective functions, correspondingly used devices and net- work elements may comprise several means and components

(not shown) which are required for control, processing and communication/signaling functionality. Such means may com^¬ prise, for example, a processor unit for executing instruc^¬ tions, programs etc. and for processing data, memory means for storing instructions, programs and data, for serving as a work area of the processor and the like (e.g. ROM, RAM,

EEPROM, and the like) , input means for inputting data and instructions by software (e.g. floppy diskette, CD-ROM, EEPROM, a network connection, and the like) , user interface means for providing monitor and manipulation possibilities to a user (e.g. a screen, a keyboard and the like), inter^¬ face means for establishing links and/or connections under the control of the processor unit (e.g. wired and wireless interface means, an antenna, etc.) and the like.

In Fig. 1, a simplified architecture of an exemplary commu- nication network system is shown in which a traffic manage^¬ ment according to examples of embodiments of the invention is implemented for controlling or optimizing traffic in the communication network, in particular in case an overlay network structure using overlay applications is used to re- trieve specific content or data from an arbitrary resource.

The communication network shown in Fig. 1 is based at least in part on elements suitable for a deployment in a 3GPP evolved packet core network architecture. It is to be noted that the network architecture shown in

Fig. 1 depicts only those network elements which are useful for understanding the principles of the examples of embodi^¬ ments of the invention. As known by those skilled in the art there are several other network elements involved in the establishment, control and management of a communica^¬ tion connection which are omitted here for the sake of sim^¬ plicity. Furthermore, with regard to links or interfaces between network elements or domains shown in Fig. 1, the connections indicated in Fig. 1 represent only simplified exam^¬ ples for such links. Other definitions or links providing similar functionality may be also used.

Referring to Fig. 1, reference sign 10 denotes a requesting peer. The requesting peer 10 is assumed in the following as a terminal node of a user or the like which requests to re- trieve specified data, i.e. a specific content like a MP3 file, a streaming video, a program, a patch or the like, by sending a corresponding request to the network. Specifically, according to examples of embodiments of the present invention, the requesting peer is part of an overlay net- work structure, such as an overlay application (P2P or the like) which uses an underlying network for physically transmitting and receiving information with another peer (referred to hereinafter as providing peer) . Reference sign 15 denotes a provider network to which the requesting peer is linked. The provider network 15 may be, for example, a 3GPP based communication network wherein the requesting peer 10 gets access to the provided network via a suitable access (e.g. a base station or the like, not shown) .

In the provider network 15, a traffic monitoring network element or function 50, a policy server network element or function 60 connected to the monitoring network element or function 50, and a traffic optimization network element or function (a mediator) 70 connected to the monitoring net^¬ work element or function 50 are included. The functionality of these elements 50, 60 and 70 is described later. Reference sign 40 denotes the Internet which provides a connection between the provider network 15 and other net^¬ works or domains. Specifically, in the example depicted in Fig. 1, a connection between the provider network 15 and a service domain 25 is established.

The service domain 25 contains for example another peer 20 which is a providing peer A for the specified data which the requesting peer 10 wishes to retrieve (providing peer A may be also referred to as first resource for the specified data) . In the following, it is assumed that the service do^¬ main 25 is to be regarded as being unfavorable as it repre^¬ sents a service domain being accessible only via the Inter^¬ net (which may cause interconnection costs, delays, etc.). In other words, providing peer A 20 is to be regarded as an unfavorable resource for retrieving the specified data.

Further in the example shown in Fig. 1, the provider net^¬ work 15 is associated with a local service domain 35. In the local service domain 35, another peer 30 is located which is a providing peer B for the specified data which the requesting peer 10 wishes to retrieve. In the follow^¬ ing, it is thus assumed that the service domain 35 is to be regarded as being preferable as it represents a service do- main being accessible in a more suitable way than the ser^¬ vice domain 25 (for example by means of local interfaces causing less interconnection costs, delays, etc. in com^¬ parison to the Internet connection) . In other words, pro^¬ viding peer B 30 is to be regarded as a preferred resource (also referred to hereinafter as an alternative resource) for retrieving the specified data.

In addition, the local service domain 35 comprises further elements, i.e. a notification manager element or function 80 and information services 85 linked to the notification manager 80. Furthermore, a destination resource changing element or function 90 is provided which may comprise, for example, a naming service element or function or a request redirection element such as a HTTP proxy. The functionality of these elements 80, 85 and 90 is described later. The traffic optimization network element or function 70 is linked to the notification manager element or function 80 and the destination resource changing element or function 90.

Indicated with dashed arrows in Fig. 1, connections or links between the respective network parts or domains are depicted .

In the following, an example of an embodiment of the inven^¬ tion for a traffic management and optimization system or procedure in a communication network system as depicted in Fig. 1 is described in connection with the flow chart ac- cording to Fig. 2.

Basically, one aspect of examples of embodiments of the in^¬ vention is to inform the requesting peer 10 (e.g. an end user system) about the fact that an unfavorable resource usage is involved in connection with the present request to retrieve the specified data, and to provide additional in^¬ formation about alternative providing peers (an end user system or a node in a service / network domain, e.g. pro^¬ viding peer B 30), which are preferable (e.g. since they are acceptable from the network provider's perspective with regard to costs or network load) . Furthermore, it is possi^¬ ble to provide information about conditions for resource usage of the alternative peer. Thus, in step S10, the requesting peer sends a request to the network (via the underlying network with the provider network 15 as one part thereof) that a specified content or data is to be retrieved from a suitable resource (for exam- pie the providing peer A 20 in the service domain 25) .

In step S20, the request, i.e. the information contained therein indicating a resource for the specified data in the service domain 25 (peer A 20), is processed in the network, e.g. in a traffic monitoring network element 50. By means of this processing, it is checked whether the usage of the resource (peer A) for retrieving the specified data is un^¬ favorable, e.g. from a provider's point of view. In step S30, in case unfavorable usage of the resource is determined (e.g. peer A 20 is determined to be not pre^¬ ferred for retrieving data by the requesting peer 10) , the traffic optimization network element 70 is triggered by the traffic monitoring network element 50 to conduct a traffic optimization processing. For example, when the traffic monitoring network element 50 detects unfavorable usage of the resource represented by peer A 20, the traffic optimi^¬ zation network element 70 determines whether an alternative resource which provides also the requested specified data is known in a service domain which is indicated to be pre^¬ ferred (or more preferable than the service domain 25 from the point of view of the network provider) . For example, the local service domain 35 represents such a preferred service domain as the access to it by means of the provider network is easier and does not require, for example, an in^¬ terconnection via the Internet 40.

If the traffic optimization network element 70 determines an alternative resource, e.g. that providing peer B 30 can provide the requested specified data, it is decided in step S40 in which way a corresponding information is to be for^¬ warded to the requesting peer 10. Specifically, it is de^¬ cided whether a user interaction shall be required or not for a notification about the unfavorable usage and the al^¬ ternative resource.

In case it is decided that user interaction is required for forwarding the information to the requesting peer 10 (i.e. the user thereof), in step S50, a transmission of a notifi^¬ cation to the requesting peer is initiated in order to in^¬ dicate the unfavorable usage of the first providing peer A 20 as resource for the specified data and the alternative resource found by the traffic optimization network element 70 for retrieving the specified data. For this purpose, the notification manager 80 is used.

Otherwise, in case it is decided that no user interaction is required for forwarding the information to the request- ing peer 10, in step S60, a change of the destination re^¬ source, such as a modification of name resolution informa^¬ tion from the providing peer A to the providing peer B, or a redirection of a request from the requesting peer to an^¬ other destination resource, such as an alternative server, or an address replacement is initiated or instructed. For this purpose, the destination resource changing network element 90 is used which may, for example, modify a name resolution to the favorable resource, redirect traffic from the requesting resource 10 to the alternative resource (e.g. a HTTP proxy redirecting traffic to another network server in case of a HTTP based traffic) , or change a desti^¬ nation address in case of e.g. an IP address. In other words, in the traffic managing procedure according to examples of embodiments of the invention based on Figs. 1 and 2, unfavorable usage of a providing peer (Providing Peer A 20) is detected by the traffic monitoring entity 50 in the network provider domain. As one example, traffic monitoring may be based on traffic pattern recognition or payload inspection (DPI) . As another example, a detection of the usage of an unfavorable peer is executed during con^¬ nection setup. In this case, a network element having ac- cess to e.g. IP data of the request, e.g. outside an encap^¬ sulated tunnel (e.g. GTP tunnel or the like), i.e. a net^¬ work element belonging to the core network of the provider network 15, for example, determines by means of a traffic flow analysis based on a flow identifier an unfavorable us- age. For example, the following ^xfive tuple' derived from information contained in the request message of the re^¬ questing peer 10 may be used for traffic monitoring:

- source IP address;

- source (TCP/ UDP) port number;

- destination IP address;

- destination (TCP/ UDP) port number;

- protocol identifier.

When the traffic monitoring results in a detection of an unfavorable usage of a resource (e.g. it is detected that providing peer A 20 would be the destination of the origi^¬ nal request by the requesting peer 10), the traffic moni^¬ toring network element 50 may trigger user plane control actions on the data flow or the associated transport con- nection. That is, the traffic monitoring network element 50 may apply a predetermined connection control procedure by means of which the communication flow between the request^¬ ing peer 10 and the providing peer A 20 is controlled or influenced. Also a transport condition for the communica- tion between the requesting peer 10 and the providing peer A 20 may be modified. Examples for such a connection con^¬ trol procedure may comprise, for example, one or more of the following mechanisms:

- blocking forwarding of the connection setup request towards the providing peer A 20 so as to completely prevent the initially intended connection (i.e. to block the connection to the providing peer A 20 via the Internet) ,

- blocking forwarding of specific data between the re^¬ questing peer and the providing peer A 20, e.g. so as to prevent that the requested specified data or con^¬ tent is transmitted to the requesting peer 10,

- changing a transmission priority or decreasing a

granted quality of service for data exchange between the requesting peer 10 and the providing peer A 20, e.g. so as to avoid an unfair behavior with regard to other users, and/or

- changing a pricing scheme for the requesting peer 10, i.e. to charge the requesting peer side with higher costs so as to compensate the costs for the provider caused by the unfavorable resource usage.

Furthermore, traffic monitoring network element 50 uses a specific interface towards the traffic optimization network element 70 (the mediator) in order to send a trigger mes^¬ sage. The traffic optimization network element 70 as media^¬ tor keeps information about preferred resource identities. When the trigger message from the traffic monitoring net^¬ work element 50 is received, this message triggers a proc- essing resulting in information forwarding of content from the mediator's database, if a better alternative for a pro^¬ viding peer is available. Therefore, this interface is also referred to as ^triggering interface' . The triggering interface of the traffic optimization net^¬ work element 70 is usable by trusted entities or network elements which are capable to detect usage of potentially unfavorable resources, which may have been selected by a requesting peer (e.g a DPI entity) .

The trigger message sent via the triggering interface from the traffic monitoring network element 50 to the mediator 70 may contain the following information elements:

- ID of requesting peer (i.e. identification of the re^¬ questing peer 10);

- ID of selected peer (i.e. identification of the pro^¬ viding peer A 20);

- type of content (i.e. identification of the specified data which the requesting peer 10 wishes to retrieve) ;

- protocol ID;

- traffic characteristics.

On the basis of the information provided with the trigger message, the traffic optimization network element 70 starts processing of resource data contained, for example, in a database (as a mediator, the traffic optimization network element 70 is configured to keep track of the enti^¬ ties/peers and the data available in the network which is observed by it, i.e. the local service domain 35) . For ex^¬ ample, the processing may comprise a step to compare the information obtained via the triggering interface, in par^¬ ticular the type of content element, with corresponding en^¬ tries in the database. If matching entries are found for the type of content sent within the resource data (e.g. providing peer B 30), the traffic optimization network ele^¬ ment 70 initiates a further processing including a notifi^¬ cation about alternatives either to the user (the request^¬ ing peer 10) or to the destination resource changing net- work element or function 90, such as a local naming service or a HTTP proxy.

For a notification to the user, the traffic optimization network element 70 uses the notification manager 80. For this purpose, a notification message may be sent to the no^¬ tification manager 80 which contains all necessary information. That means that an indication regarding an unfavor^¬ able usage of resource (which may also include, for exam- pie, an identification of the peer in question, i.e. peer A

20), an indication regarding alternative resources, such as an identification of the local service domain 35 or of the providing peer B 30 are provided with the notification message to the notification manager 80.

The notification manager 80 processes the notification message and extracts in particular information related to alternative peer selection sent by the mediator 70. Furthermore, the notification manager 80 selects an appropriate communication channel towards the user, i.e. to the re^¬ questing peer 10. The selection of the communication channel may be based on additional information about user context. For example, for a selection of an appropriate commu^¬ nication channel to the requesting peer 10, the notifica- tion manager 80 may access to user profile information and specific session information, for example in order to de^¬ termine which UE is currently connected to the network as the requesting peer 10, etc., in order to estimate which communication channel would be suitable or available.

For example, a communication channel to be selected may be based on one of the following: - a service causing appearance of a pop-up window on the user terminal (e.g. realized by web browser via HTTP or a command line / console window) ;

- Messaging services (e.g. SMS, MMS, etc.);

- Electronic mail service (e.g. SMTP) /

- Voice message via automated voice call;

- Chat services.

These services are offered to the notification manager 80 by means of information service network elements 85 shown in Fig. 1, for example.

When the notification manager 80 has selected the appropri^¬ ate communication channel, the transmission of the notifi^¬ cation information to the requesting peer 10 is initiated, e.g. by using the corresponding information service 85.

In a further example of an embodiment of the invention, the notification message may further comprise additional infor^¬ mation. For example, the traffic optimization network ele- ment 70 may include information about the conditions of the resource usage to the notification manager 80. For in^¬ stance, access to an alternative resource (i.e. to provid^¬ ing peer B 30) may be associated with connectivity to a specific gateway node (not shown) . For example, in case of a mobile core network defined by 3GPP, an APN information to be used could be specified in the notification message which information is to be forwarded also to the user (re^¬ questing peer 10) with the notification information. As an alternative to the usage of the notification manager

80, the traffic optimization network element 70 may also initiate information forwarding without user interaction by means of the destination resource changing network element or function 90, i.e. by means of a naming service. In other words, a manipulation of locator information or name ser^¬ vice information (DNS information) may be executed. Addi^¬ tionally or alternatively, the traffic optimization network element 70 may also instruct that the destination resource changing network element or function 90 redirects the re^¬ quest to the alternative resource, e.g. in case of a HTTP based request where it is redirected by means of a HTTP proxy as the destination resource changing network element or function 90 to the alternative providing peer B.

Specifically, in case an unfavorable usage of a resource is detected and an alternative resource is found by the traf^¬ fic optimization network element 70, a network provider may decide to manipulate name resolution information for a de- ployed DNS. For example, domain names with unfavorable lo^¬ cation are replaced with address information (e.g. an IP address) from a preferred domain, if the latter domain can provide the same content. In the example of Fig. 1, the do^¬ main name of the service domain 25 is thus replaced with address information associated with the local service do^¬ main 35. Specifically, the mediator 70 can send a modifica^¬ tion message to the destination resource changing network element or function 90 (i.e. a naming service network ele^¬ ment) which causes such a change of information. As one ex- ample, the address of the providing peer B 30 is mapped to the address of the providing peer A 20.

Hence, if the requesting peer 10 asks for name resolution for a destination in the unpreferred domain (i.e. of pro- viding peer A 20 in service domain 25) , the naming server

90 as the destination resource changing network element re^¬ sponds to this resolution request with an IP address which is associated with the preferred domain 25. It is to be noted that the naming service as the destination resource changing network element or function 90 manipulating the name resolution information has to ensure that the manipulated information is not changed by another, possibly external, collaborative naming server within a certain timeframe so as to ensure that the correct informa^¬ tion is sent to the requesting peer 10.

Alternatively, in case the destination resource changing network element or function 90 is a redirection network element, such as a HTTP proxy redirecting the traffic from the requesting peer 10 to an alternative resource, the re^¬ quest for retrieving the specified data is redirected by the destination resource changing network element or func- tion 90 to the providing peer B 30, instead of contacting the unfavorable providing peer A 20.

It is to be noted that the destination resource changing network element or function 90 may also be implemented by other mechanisms. For example, a network address translation (NAT) function may be used as the destination resource changing network element or function 90 which may be part of a network element or function of the provider network, such as a firewall, a gateway network element like a GGSN or a PDN gateway, and the like. In this case, if for exam^¬ ple the requesting peer 10 sends a request to a resource (which is determined to be unfavorable) via an IP address, the NAT function as the destination resource changing net^¬ work element or function 90 may replace the destination ad- dress to that of the favorable providing peer.

In the following, individual processings for conducting the traffic managing procedure according to examples of embodi^¬ ments of the invention executed by the network elements de- picted in Fig. 1, i.e. of the traffic monitoring function, the traffic optimization function, the notification manag^¬ ing function and the naming service function, will be de^¬ scribed in connection with Figs. 3 to 6.

Fig. 3 shows a flow chart illustrating the traffic monitor^¬ ing procedure part of the traffic management according to an example of an embodiment of the invention. The traffic monitoring procedure according to Fig. 3 may be executed in the traffic monitoring network element or function 50 ac^¬ cording to Fig. 1.

In step S210, a request from the requesting peer 10 for re^¬ trieving specified data from a first resource (e.g. provid- ing peer A 20) is received.

In step S220, parameters used for traffic management are retrieved or obtained and set. For example, setting infor^¬ mation may be retrieved which enable a determination of whether a usage of the first resource would be unfavorable

(e.g. in view of interconnection costs, current traffic load situation, load balancing situation or the like) . For example, the policy server 60 provides a logic rule or the like by means of which the traffic monitoring network ele- ment 50 can make a corresponding decision. The setting in^¬ formation may also indicate a rule which further processing scheme is to be selected or executed when an unfavorable resource usage is determined. That is, for example, infor^¬ mation regarding whether a user interaction or no user in- teraction is required may be provided, wherein a corre^¬ sponding selection may depend on the type of request received from the requesting peer, e.g. the used transport mechanism (e.g. a HTTP based request or the like) . Further^¬ more, it may be set which exact mechanism for a change of a destination resource (e.g. naming service, HTTP proxy based redirect, NAT based procedure or the like) is to be used in case no user interaction shall be considered. Corresponding information may be also indicated to the mediator portion, if required, for example in the trigger message. It is to be noted that parameter setting may be done, for example, dynamically, i.e. for each request received which is to be checked, or in case a traffic situation significantly changes in the network, or a fixed rule may be installed. It is to be further noted that step S220 is not necessarily conducted in each cycle, i.e. it can be omitted in case previously set parameters are still valid.

Based on the setting for the determination of whether the first resource is unfavorable, in step S230, the determina^¬ tion regarding a possible unfavorable usage of the peer in question (i.e. providing peer A 20) by the requesting peer for retrieving the requested specified information is exe^¬ cuted. This determination may use one of the above men- tioned traffic pattern recognition or packet inspection methods, or a traffic flow analysis method.

In step S240, the determination result of step S230 is con^¬ sidered for deciding whether an unfavorable usage is deter- mined. If the decision in step S240 is yes, step S250 is conducted where the trigger message is generated in order to trigger the traffic optimization network element (the mediator) 70. The trigger message is then sent in step S260 to the traffic optimization network element 70, for example via the triggering interface of the traffic optimization network element 70. Otherwise, the decision in step S240 is no, step S270 is conducted where the connection between the requesting peer 10 and the providing peer A 20 is allowed to be continued. It is to be noted that in case of a positive decision in step S240 (i.e. unfavorable usage of resource by requesting peer is detected) , the traffic monitoring network element 50 may be further configured to initiate, e.g. in step S250, user plane control actions on the data flow or the associated transport connection, e.g. in the form of the above described predetermined connection control procedure by means of which the communication flow between the requesting peer 10 and the providing peer A 20 is controlled or influenced, such as blocking forwarding of the connec- tion setup request towards the providing peer A 20, block^¬ ing forwarding of specific data between the requesting peer and the first resource, changing a transmission priority or decreasing a granted quality of service for data exchange between the requesting peer 10 and the providing peer A 20, and/or changing a pricing scheme for the requesting peer

10.

Fig. 4 shows a flow chart illustrating a traffic optimiza^¬ tion procedure in a traffic management according to an ex- ample of an embodiment of the invention. The traffic opti^¬ mization procedure according to Fig. 4 may be executed in the traffic optimization network element or function 70 (the mediator) according to Fig. 1. In step S310, the traffic optimization network element 70 receives the trigger message (see step S250, S260) for traffic optimization processing from the traffic monitoring network element 50 for indicating the determination of the unfavorable usage of the resource by the requesting peer 10 for retrieving the specified data.

In step S320, the information contained in the trigger mes^¬ sage (see above) is processed. For example, it is determined which type of content is intended to be obtained.

In step S330, it is checked by the mediator 70 whether at least one of the entities in the network part observed by it (i.e. in the local service domain 35) offers also the specified data, i.e. whether an alternative resource in the more preferred local service domain is known. For this pur^¬ pose, a data comparison with database entries is made, for example, in order to determine if a matching entry for the specified data in the stored resource information exists, and to determine the resource (another providing peer, i.e. peer B 30) assigned to the matching entry as the alterna^¬ tive resource. In step S340, the result of the check in step S330 is con^¬ sidered in such a manner that it is first determined if an alternative resource is known. If at least one alternative resource has been found by the traffic optimization network element 70 in a preferred network part or domain, step S350 is executed.

Otherwise, if no matching entry could be found by the traf^¬ fic optimization network element 70, the processing ends. For example, the traffic monitoring network element 50 can be then informed so as to stop the predetermined connection control procedure, such as to cancel a blocking of forward^¬ ing of the request to the first resource (peer A 20, for example) . In step S350, the decision is taken whether a user interac^¬ tion for traffic optimization is required, i.e. whether a user interaction at the requesting peer side is necessary so as to notify the unfavorable usage. This may be decided on the basis of a processing internally executed in the me^¬ diator 70 (e.g. algorithm based) or by using information comprised in the trigger message (see description of step S220) .

In case the user interaction is required, step S360 is exe^¬ cuted wherein a transmission of a notification to the re^¬ questing peer side for indicating the unfavorable usage of the first resource and the alternative resource for re^¬ trieving the specified data is initiated. Specifically, a notification message to be sent to the notification manager 80 is prepared and sent.

Otherwise, in case no user interaction is required, step S370 is executed wherein a destination resource change is initiated, e.g. by initializing a modification of name resolution information from the unfavorable resource (pro^¬ viding peer A 20) to the alternative resource (providing peer B 30), by instructing a redirection of the request to another destination or by initializing changing of an ad^¬ dress information. Specifically, a modification message is sent to the respective destination resource changing net^¬ work element 90 so as to instruct a corresponding change. A selection of the respective destination resource changing network element 90 may be done also in step S350.

Fig. 5 shows a flow chart illustrating a notification pro^¬ cedure in a traffic management according to an example of an embodiment of the invention. The notification procedure according to Fig. 5 may be executed in the notification manager network element or function 80 according to Fig. 1.

In step S410, the notification message (see step S360) from the traffic optimization network element 70 is received which indicates to send a notification to the requesting peer 10 in order to indicate the unfavorable usage of the first resource for retrieving the specified data and the alternative resource for retrieving the specified data found instead.

In step S420, the notification message is processed and in^¬ formation related to the alternative resource is extracted. In step S430, information related to the requesting peer 10 are obtained, such as user context data, user profile in^¬ formation and/or session information related to the origi^¬ nal request for retrieving the specified data sent by the requesting peer.

In step S440, based on the obtained information related to the requesting peer 10, a communication channel towards the requesting peer for transmitting the information for the notification is selected. For example, a service provided by one of the information services 85 is selected if spe^¬ cific criteria based on the obtained information are ful^¬ filled.

In step S450, the transmission of the information for the notification via the selected communication channel to the requesting peer is initiated, e.g. by giving a correspond^¬ ing instruction together with necessary information as pay- load to the information service 85 corresponding to the se^¬ lected communication path.

Fig. 6 shows a flow chart illustrating an example of a des- tination resource changing procedure. Specifically, Fig. 6 shows a name modification procedure in a traffic management procedure according to an example of an embodiment of the invention. The name modification procedure according to Fig. 6 may be executed in a naming service network element or function representing one example of the destination re^¬ source changing element or function 90 according to Fig. 1.

In step S510, the modification message (see step S370) from the traffic optimization network element 70 is received, which instructs, due to the unfavorable usage of the first resource for retrieving the specified data by the request^¬ ing peer 10, a modification of name resolution information from the first resource (providing peer A 20) to the alter^¬ native resource (providing peer B 30) .

In step S520, in reaction to the modification message, the naming service network element 90 conducts the modifica^¬ tion, e.g. by changing a data entry indicating the name resolution for the unfavorable resource to the alternative resource, i.e. peer A to peer B. Alternatively, a mapping of the alternative resource information (peer B) to the un^¬ favorable resource information (peer A) can be made.

In step S530, the naming service network element 90 re- ceives a resolution request from the requesting peer 10 for a name resolution for a domain to which the first resource belongs . In step S540, in response to the resolution request, the naming service network element 90 answers with address in^¬ formation related to a domain to which the alternative re^¬ source belongs, i.e. the local service domain 35.

It is to be noted that in case the destination resource changing procedure is not a name modification procedure but either a redirection procedure using, for example, a HTTP redirect mechanism, or an address replacement procedure us- ing, for example, an NAT mechanism, a corresponding modifi^¬ cation signal is processed in a manner resulting in effect^¬ ing the respective change of the destination resource, as described above. Next, an exemplary configuration of the individual network elements used for conducting the traffic managing procedure according to examples of embodiments of the invention as depicted in Fig. 1, i.e. of the traffic monitoring network element 50, the traffic optimization network element 70, the notification managing network element 80 and the naming service network element 90, will be described in connection with Figs. 7 to 10.

Fig. 7 shows a block circuit diagram illustrating a network element usable for traffic monitoring in a traffic manage^¬ ment according to an example of an embodiment of the inven^¬ tion. The network element shown in Fig. 7 is configured, for example, to implement the traffic monitoring in a traf^¬ fic management described in connection with Fig. 3. It is to be noted that a traffic monitoring network element like that depicted in Fig. 7 may comprise several further ele^¬ ments or functions besides those described in connection therewith but which are omitted herein for the sake of sim- plicity as they are not essential for understanding the invention .

The traffic monitoring network element 50 may comprise a processing function or processor 501, such as a CPU or the like, which executes instructions given by programs or the like related to the traffic management. The processor 501 may comprise further portions dedicated to specific proc^¬ essings described below. Portions for executing such spe- cific processings may be also provided as discrete elements or within one or more further processors, for example. Reference signs 502, 503 and 504 denote transceiver or in^¬ put/output (I/O) units connected to the processor 501 (or corresponding other elements comprising the functions of the further portions) . The I/O unit 502 may be used for communicating with the policy server 60 for obtaining the setting parameters for the determination of the unfavorable usage of a resource. The I/O unit 503 may be used for com^¬ municating with other network elements in order to receive the request from requesting peer 10. The I/O unit 504 may be used for communicating with the traffic optimization network element 70 in order to transmit the trigger message to it (i.e. with the triggering interface of the traffic optimization network element 70) . The I/O units 502 to 504 may be a combined unit comprising the communication equip^¬ ment towards all network elements in question, or may com^¬ prise a distributed structure with a plurality of different interfaces. Reference sign 505 denotes a memory usable, for example, for storing data and programs to be executed by the processor 501 and/or as a working storage of the proc^¬ essor 501. The processor 501 is configured to execute processings re^¬ lated to the traffic monitoring procedure described above in examples of embodiments of the invention. For example, the processor 501 comprises a request identification por- tion 511 which identifies the request of the requesting peer 10, including information contained therein which are used for the further processing. Reference sign 512 denotes an "unfavorable" determination part which, on the basis of parameters set for example via the I/O unit 502, determines from the information retrieved by the request identifica^¬ tion portion 511 whether the usage of a providing peer for retrieving the specified data is unfavorable, e.g. from the provider's point of view. Reference sign 513 denotes a trigger message generation portion which generates the above described trigger message to be transmitted via the

I/O unit 504. Reference sign 514 denotes a connection con^¬ trol processing element which is configured to control, in case it is determined by the determination portion 512 that the usage would be unfavorable, the communication flow be- tween the requesting peer 10 and a providing peer or to modify a transport condition for the communication between the requesting peer 10 and the providing peer (i.e. block^¬ ing forwarding of the connection setup request towards the providing peer, blocking forwarding of specific data be- tween the requesting peer and the providing peer, changing a transmission priority or decreasing a granted quality of service for data exchange between the requesting peer 10 and the providing peer, and/or changing a pricing scheme for the requesting peer 10.

Fig. 8 shows a block circuit diagram illustrating a network element usable for traffic optimization in a traffic man^¬ agement according to an example of an embodiment of the in^¬ vention. The network element shown in Fig. 8 is configured, for example, to implement the traffic optimization in a traffic management described in connection with Fig. 4. It is to be noted that a traffic optimization network element like that depicted in Fig. 8 may comprise several further elements or functions besides those described in connection therewith but which are omitted herein for the sake of sim^¬ plicity as they are not essential for understanding the in^¬ vention . The traffic optimization network element 70 may comprise a processing function or processor 701, such as a CPU or the like, which executes instructions given by programs or the like related to the traffic management. The processor 701 may comprise further portions dedicated to specific proc- essings described below. Portions for executing such spe^¬ cific processings may be also provided as discrete elements or within one or more further processors, for example. Ref^¬ erence signs 702, 703, 704 and 705 denote transceiver or input/output (I/O) units connected to the processor 701 (or corresponding other elements comprising the functions of the further portions) . The I/O unit 702 may be used for communicating with the notification manager 80 for trans^¬ mitting the notification message. The I/O unit 703 may be used for communicating with requesting peer 10. The I/O unit 704 may be used for communicating with the traffic monitoring network element 50 in order to receive the trig^¬ ger message (i.e. the triggering interface) . The I/O unit 705 may be used for communicating with destination resource changing network element 90 for transmitting the modifica- tion message. The I/O units 702 to 705 may be a combined unit comprising the communication equipment towards all network elements in question, or may comprise a distributed structure with a plurality of different interfaces. Refer^¬ ence sign 706 denotes a memory usable, for example, for storing data and programs to be executed by the processor 701 and/or as a working storage of the processor 701.

The processor 701 is configured to execute processings re^¬ lated to the traffic optimization procedure described above in examples of embodiments of the invention. For example, the processor 701 comprises a trigger message processing portion 711 which processes the trigger message and the in^¬ formation contained therein. Reference sign 712 denotes an alternative resource checking part which, on the basis of information from the trigger message and database entries kept by the traffic optimization network element 70 (the mediator) with regard to the entities located in the net^¬ work part observed by it, checks if resource offering the requested specified data. Reference sign 713 denotes a no^¬ tification initialization portion which initializes the no^¬ tification of the user by means of the notification manager 80 (i.e. to send the notification message via the I/O unit

702) . Reference sign 714 denotes a destination resource changing initialization portion which initializes the change of the destination resource in a selected destina^¬ tion resource changing network element 90 (e.g. manipula- tion of the name resolution information in the naming ser^¬ vice network element, redirection of the request in a HTTP proxy, address replacement etc.) (i.e. to send the manipu^¬ lation message via the I/O unit 705) . Fig. 9 shows a block circuit diagram illustrating a network element usable for notification managing in a traffic man^¬ agement according to an example of an embodiment of the in^¬ vention. The network element shown in Fig. 9 is configured, for example, to implement the notification processing in a traffic management described in connection with Fig. 5. It is to be noted that a notification managing network element like that depicted in Fig. 9 may comprise several further elements or functions besides those described in connection therewith but which are omitted herein for the sake of sim^¬ plicity as they are not essential for understanding the in^¬ vention .

The notification managing network element 80 may comprise a processing function or processor 801, such as a CPU or the like, which executes instructions given by programs or the like related to the traffic management. The processor 801 may comprise further portions dedicated to specific proc^¬ essings described below. Portions for executing such spe- cific processings may be also provided as discrete elements or within one or more further processors, for example. Ref^¬ erence signs 802, 803 and 804 denote transceiver or in^¬ put/output (I/O) units connected to the processor 801 (or corresponding other elements comprising the functions of the further portions) . The I/O unit 802 may be used for communicating with the traffic optimization network element 70 for receiving the notification message. The I/O unit 803 may be used for communicating with information services 85 providing services to establish the selected communication channel to the requesting peer 10. The I/O unit 804 may be used for communicating with network elements in order to obtain user context data and the like used for the communi^¬ cation channel selection. The I/O units 802 to 804 may be a combined unit comprising the communication equipment to- wards all network elements in question, or may comprise a distributed structure with a plurality of different inter^¬ faces. Reference sign 805 denotes a memory usable, for ex- ample, for storing data and programs to be executed by the processor 801 and/or as a working storage of the processor 801. The processor 801 is configured to execute processings re^¬ lated to the notification procedure described above in ex^¬ amples of embodiments of the invention. For example, the processor 801 comprises a notification message processing portion 811 which processes the notification message and the information contained therein. Reference sign 812 de^¬ notes an alternative resource extraction unit which ex^¬ tracts information related to the alternative resource from the notification message. Reference sign 813 denotes a com^¬ munication channel selection portion selecting the communi- cation channel to be used for notifying the user (the re^¬ questing peer 10) . Reference sign 814 denotes a notifica^¬ tion transmission initialization portion which initializes the transmission of information for the notification by means of the selected communication channel to the request- ing peer 10, e.g. by using an information service 85 con- nectable via the I/O unit 803.

Fig. 10 shows a block circuit diagram illustrating a net^¬ work element usable for the destination resource changing processing. Specifically, Fig. 10 shows an example of a network element used for name modification in a traffic management according to an example of an embodiment of the invention. The network element shown in Fig. 10 is config^¬ ured, for example, to implement the name modification proc- essing in a traffic management described in connection with

Fig. 6. It is to be noted that a naming service network element like that depicted in Fig. 10 may comprise several further elements or functions besides those described in connection therewith but which are omitted herein for the sake of simplicity as they are not essential for under^¬ standing the invention.

The destination resource changing (naming service) network element 90 may comprise a processing function or processor 901, such as a CPU or the like, which executes instructions given by programs or the like related to the traffic man- agement . The processor 901 may comprise further portions dedicated to specific processings described below. Portions for executing such specific processings may be also provided as discrete elements or within one or more further processors, for example. Reference signs 902, 903 and 904 denote transceiver or input/output (I/O) units connected to the processor 901 (or corresponding other elements compris^¬ ing the functions of the further portions) . The I/O unit 902 may be used for communicating with the traffic optimization network element 70 for receiving the modification message. The I/O unit 903 may be used for communicating with the requesting peer 10. The I/O unit 904 may be used for communicating with other network elements, such as net^¬ work elements responsible for forwarding the request of the requesting peer 10 for retrieving specified data to another peer (i.e. a providing peer) . The I/O units 902 to 904 may be a combined unit comprising the communication equipment towards all network elements in question, or may comprise a distributed structure with a plurality of different interfaces. Reference sign 905 denotes a memory usable, for ex- ample, for storing data and programs to be executed by the processor 901 and/or as a working storage of the processor 901. The processor 901 is configured to execute processings related to the name modification procedure described above in examples of embodiments of the invention. For example, the processor 901 comprises a modification message processing portion 911 which processes the modification message and the information contained therein. Reference sign 912 de^¬ notes a name resolution changing portion which performs changing of name resolution information for the providing peers (peer A 20 and peer B 30) . Reference sign 913 denotes name resolution request processing portion which processes a request for name resolution from the requesting peer 10. Reference sign 914 denotes a request response portion which sends to the requesting peer 10 via the I/O unit 903 a re- sponse to the request for name resolution, i.e. the changed information indicating the alternative resource.

It is to be noted that the destination resource changing network element 90 may be configured to perform another processing and may comprise correspondingly different portions than those shown in Fig. 9. For example, in case the destination resource changing network element 90 is used to redirect the request of the requesting peer to another des^¬ tination resource, e.g. in case the destination resource changing network element 90 is a proxy, such as a HTTP proxy configured to conduct a HTTP redirect processing, a processing portion may be provided in the processor 901 which determines an alternative server and initialize redi^¬ rection of the request to this determined alternative server. For this purpose, the I/O unit 904 may be used which starts the redirection to the alternative server. Otherwise, in case a NAT mechanism is to be used in the destination resource changing network element 90, the proc^¬ essor 901 may comprise processing portions which conducts the replacement of the IP address or the like. Next, possible modifications in examples of embodiments of the invention will be discussed.

In examples of embodiments of the invention described above, the parameters used for setting the traffic manage- ment and monitoring are retrieved from policy server 60.

However, the parameters may be retrieved also from another network element. Alternatively, the traffic monitoring net^¬ work element may also have stored one or more sets of set^¬ ting parameters which are fixedly set for the respective traffic monitoring network element (i.e. it is not neces^¬ sary to retrieve setting parameters from an external source or the like) .

Furthermore, it is also possible to obtain different sets of setting information which are each related to a differ^¬ ent sort of connection type. That means, if for example a requesting peer seeks for a first type of connection, a de^¬ cision regarding an unfavorable usage of a resource may be based on a different set of setting parameters than in a case where the same requesting peer would seek for another

(second) connection type.

Moreover, according to examples of embodiments of the in^¬ vention described above, the preferred domain, i.e. the lo- cation of the preferred providing peer B 30 is indicated to be in a local service domain. However, the location of a preferred resource, i.e. the favorable domain, may be also a domain other than the local service domain. In addition, according to examples of embodiments of the invention described above, the traffic optimization network element determines one alternative resource for replacing the original (first) resource being unfavorable. However, it is also possible that more than one alternative resource is found, wherein the further processing, such as the noti^¬ fication of the user, considers this results and provides information indicating all of the found resources. Further^¬ more, the decision regarding whether or not a user interac- tion is required for the notification may consider also a result where more than one alternative resource has been found wherein in such a case a user interaction could be preferred . Furthermore, according to examples of embodiments of the invention described above, either the notification of the user or the change of the destination resource, e.g. by means of a modification of the name resolution information, is initialized. However, according to further examples of embodiments of the invention, it is also possible that both the notification and a processing related to the change of the destination resource are initialized in parallel. In this case, it is also possible to omit a decision step re^¬ garding a necessity for a user interaction (i.e. step S40 or S350) .

In addition, according to a further example of embodiments of the invention, it is also possible that when a manipula^¬ tion of the name resolution entry is decided, the request for retrieving specified data is automatically forwarded to the new destination indicated after the change. That means that there is no need for the requesting peer to ask for a resolution. Such a mechanism may be executed, for example, by using the redirect function, such as an HTTP redirect procedure. As a further alternative, the automatic forward^¬ ing may be done not transparently for the requesting peer, but the automatic forwarding to the new destination may by indicated to the requesting peer by a separate message (us- ing for example one of the information services) .

According to examples of embodiments of the invention, when no user interaction is required, the procedure for changing the destination resource is conducted which is based on at least one of a naming service modifying a name resolution information, a redirect mechanism or a network address translation mechanism. However, it is possible to use al^¬ ternative mechanisms as long as it is ensured that the des^¬ tination to which the request from the requesting peer is forwarded is changed from the unfavorable peer to the pref^¬ erable peer.

The information regarding the destination of the request from the requesting peer to retrieve specified data, i.e. for example an address of the originally intended providing peer A, may be part of the request or derived later from a central network element or server involved in the overlay network structure. It is to be noted that contents of messages defined above, e.g. of the trigger message, the notification message, the manipulation message etc, may vary from the disclosure in the above described examples of embodiments of the inven^¬ tion, wherein they may contain more or less information than those defined. The information content of a respective message may depend, for example, on an ability of a receiv^¬ ing side to obtain necessary information from other sources than the message. Furthermore, according to examples of embodiments of the invention described above, the notification of the user comprises both an indication regarding an unfavorable usage of a resource and an indication for an alternative re- source. However, according to further examples of embodi^¬ ments of the invention, the notification to the requesting peer may contain only one information part, i.e. either an indication regarding the unfavorable usage or an indication regarding alternative resources.

According to further examples of embodiments of the inven^¬ tion, a user of the requesting peer may trigger notifica^¬ tion of candidate peers to obtain the relevant information. For this purpose, a corresponding request message is sent from the requesting peer to the mediator in order to request a notification about (alternative) resources for specified data in a preferred domain. The mediator in turn responds to this request by initiating the transmission of corresponding notification information to the requesting peer which indicates at least known alternative resources for retrieving the specified data. The notification may be sent to the requesting peer by using, for example, the no^¬ tification manager, or by the mediator itself. It is to be noted that the respective portions or func^¬ tions, i.e. the traffic monitoring portion or function, the traffic optimization portion or function (the mediator) , the notification managing portion or function and the des^¬ tination resource changing portion and function (e.g. nam- ing service, proxy) may be located in separated network elements, or two or more of them may be combined in one network entity. The respective combination possibilities may change depending on the used network structure. According to examples of embodiments of the invention, the traffic optimization network element or function (the me^¬ diator) may be installed in a gateway node in the user plane of a mobile packet core, e.g. a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) , a Signal^¬ ing Gateway (S-GW) or a Packer Data Network Gateway (PDN- GW) . The notification mechanisms like the notification man^¬ ager, the information service network elements or function, the naming service network element or function, may be part of an operator service domain.

According to an example of embodiments of the invention, there is proposed, as a traffic monitoring function, a method comprising receiving a request from a requesting peer to retrieve specified data from a first resource, de^¬ termining whether the first resource is unfavorable for re^¬ trieving the specified data for the requesting peer, and sending, if the determination results in that the first re^¬ source is unfavorable, a trigger message for traffic opti- mization processing to a traffic optimization function.

In this method, there is further comprised a step of apply^¬ ing a connection control procedure for controlling a commu^¬ nication flow or an associated transport condition, wherein the connection control procedure comprises at least one of blocking forwarding of a connection setup request towards the first resource, blocking forwarding of data between the requesting peer and the first resource, changing a trans^¬ mission priority for data exchanged between the requesting peer and the first resource, or changing a pricing scheme for the requesting peer.

Furthermore, this method is executable in a traffic moni^¬ toring function of a network provider domain, wherein the determining whether the first resource is unfavorable fur^¬ ther comprises conducting, on the basis of information in^¬ cluded in the request, at least one of a traffic pattern recognition procedure, and/or a packet inspection proce- dure .

Moreover, the method is executable in a core network func^¬ tion of a communication network, wherein the determining whether the first resource is unfavorable further comprises conducting, on the basis of information included in the re^¬ quest, a traffic flow analysis during a connection setup phase of the requesting peer based on flow identifiers.

The method further comprises a step of retrieving, from a policy server function, setting information for traffic managing, the setting information indicating rules for the determination of whether the first resource is unfavorable and rules for a selection of a processing scheme to be exe^¬ cuted when an unfavorable resource usage is determined.

In this method, the sending of the trigger message for traffic optimization processing to the traffic optimization network element is executed via a specific interface. The method further comprises including in the trigger mes^¬ sage at least one of an identification of the requesting peer, an identification of the first resource, information specifying the specified data, a protocol identification, and traffic characteristic information.

In the method, the requesting peer is part of an overlay network structure and the method is conducted in a network element of an underlying network structure. According to another example of embodiments of the inven^¬ tion, there is proposed, as a traffic optimization function (or mediator function) , a method comprising receiving a trigger message for traffic optimization processing, the trigger message indicating a determination of an unfavor^¬ able usage of a first resource for retrieving specified data by a requesting peer, processing information received with the trigger message, checking whether at least one al^¬ ternative resource for the specified data is known, wherein the at least one alternative resource is preferable in com^¬ parison to the first resource, and initiating, in case at least one alternative resource for the specified data is known, at least one of a transmission of a notification to the requesting peer indicating at least one of the unfavor- able usage of the first resource and the at least one al^¬ ternative resource for retrieving the specified data, and a destination resource change from the first resource to the at least one alternative resource. In this method, the trigger message comprises at least one of an identification of the requesting peer, an identifica^¬ tion of the first resource, information specifying the specified data, a protocol identification, and traffic characteristic information.

The method according further comprises comparing the infor^¬ mation specifying the specified data with stored resource information, determining whether a matching entry for the specified data in the stored resource information exists, and designating a resource assigned to the matching entry as the at least one alternative resource.

The method further comprises deciding whether a user inter^¬ action for traffic optimization is required, wherein in case a decision is made that a user interaction is re^¬ quired, the transmission of the notification to the re^¬ questing peer is initiated, and in case a decision is made that a user interaction is not required, the change of the destination resource from the first resource to the at least one alternative resource is initiated.

The method further comprises sending, in case at least one alternative resource for the specified data is known, and the transmission of the notification to the requesting peer is initiated, a notification message to a notification man^¬ aging network function, wherein the notification message comprises information regarding the at least one alterna^¬ tive resource.

The method further comprises transmitting in connection with the notification message information regarding condi^¬ tions of a usage of the at least one alternative resource. The method further comprises sending, in case at least one alternative resource for the specified data is known, and the change of the destination resource from the first re^¬ source to the at least one alternative resource is initi^¬ ated, a modification message to a destination resource changing network function, wherein the modification message comprises information regarding the at least one alterna^¬ tive resource and an instruction to change a destination resource from the first resource to the at least one alter^¬ native resource.

The method further comprises receiving a request message from the requesting peer to notify about alternative re^¬ sources for the specified data, and initiating the trans^¬ mission of a notification to the requesting peer indicating the unfavorable usage of the first resource and the at least one alternative resource for retrieving the specified data . The method is executable in a traffic optimization network function or a mediator network function of a network ser^¬ vice domain, wherein the traffic optimization network func^¬ tion or the mediator network function can be provided in a core network element of a communication network.

In this method, the requesting peer is part of an overlay network structure and the method is executed in a network element of an underlying network structure. According to another example of embodiments of the inven^¬ tion, there is proposed, as a notification manager function, a method comprising receiving a notification message from a traffic optimization network function, wherein the notification message indicates to send a notification to a requesting peer indicating at least one of an unfavorable usage of a first resource for retrieving specified data and at least one alternative resource for retrieving the speci^¬ fied data, processing the notification message and extract^¬ ing information related to the at least one alternative re- source, selecting a communication channel towards the re^¬ questing peer for transmitting information for the notifi^¬ cation, and initiating transmission of the information for the notification via the selected communication channel to the requesting peer.

In this method, the notification message comprises informa^¬ tion regarding at least one alternative resource. Moreover, in this method the notification message further comprises information regarding conditions of a usage of the at least one alternative resource.

The method further comprises receiving and processing user context data related to the requesting peer, wherein the selection of the communication channel is based on the user context data.

The method further comprises getting access to at least one of user profile information related to the requesting peer and session information related to a request for retrieving the specified data sent by the requesting peer.

The method further comprises selecting for the communica^¬ tion channel towards the requesting peer at least one of a messaging service, a electronic mail service, a voice mes^¬ saging service via an automated voice call, a chatting ser^¬ vice, and an information service using a pop-up window at the requesting peer, wherein, for initiating the transmis^¬ sion of the information for the notification via the se^¬ lected communication channel to the requesting peer, infor^¬ mation is sent by using an information service providing network function based on the selected service for the com^¬ munication channel.

The method is executed in a notification managing network function of a network service domain.

In the method, the requesting peer is part of an overlay network structure and the method is executed in a network element of an underlying network structure.

According to another example of embodiments of the inven^¬ tion, there is proposed, as a destination resource changing portion, an apparatus comprising a receiver configured to receive a modification message from a traffic optimization network element, wherein the modification message in^¬ structs, in case an unfavorable usage of a first resource for retrieving specified data by a requesting peer is de^¬ termined and at least one alternative resource for retriev^¬ ing the specified data is found, a change of a destination resource indication from the first resource to the at least one alternative resource, and a fifth processing portion configured to change a data entry indicating the destina^¬ tion resource from the first resource to the at least one alternative resource.

In the apparatus, the modification message comprises infor- mation regarding the at least one alternative resource.

Furthermore, in the apparatus, the fifth processing portion is configured to conduct one of modifying a name resolution information of the first resource to the at least one al- ternative resource by mapping of the alternative resource name to the first resource name, initializing redirecting of traffic from the requesting peer to a network element associated with the at least one alternative resource, or replacing an address information of the first resource by an address information of the at least one alternative re^¬ source .

The apparatus further comprises a receiver configured to receive a request from the requesting peer for a name reso- lution for a domain to which the first resource belongs, and a transmitter configured to send in response to the resolution request address information related to a domain to which the at least one alternative resource belongs. The apparatus is provided in at least one of a naming service network element of a network service domain, a proxy network element of a network service domain, or a network address translation network element.

The requesting peer is part of an overlay network structure and the apparatus is disposed in a network element of an underlying network structure. According to another example of embodiments of the inven^¬ tion, there is proposed, as a destination resource changing function, a method comprising receiving a modification mes^¬ sage from a traffic optimization network function, wherein the modification message instructs, in case an unfavorable usage of a first resource for retrieving specified data by a requesting peer is determined and at least one alterna^¬ tive resource for retrieving the specified data is found, a change of a destination resource indication from the first resource to the at least one alternative resource, and changing a data entry indicating the destination resource from the first resource to the at least one alternative re^¬ source .

In this method, the modification message comprises informa- tion regarding the at least one alternative resource.

The method further comprises conducting one of modifying a name resolution information of the first resource to the at least one alternative resource by mapping the alternative resource name to the first resource name, initializing redirecting of traffic from the requesting peer to a network element associated with the at least one alternative re^¬ source, or replacing an address information of the first resource by an address information of the at least one al^¬ ternative resource.

The method further comprises receiving a resolution request from the requesting peer for a name resolution for a domain to which the first resource belongs, and sending in re^¬ sponse to the resolution request address information related to a domain to which the at least one alternative re^¬ source belongs.

The method is executable in at least one of a naming ser^¬ vice network function of a network service domain, a proxy network function of a network service domain, or a network address translation network function.

In the method, the requesting peer is part of an overlay network structure and the method is executed in a network element of an underlying network structure. For the purpose of the present invention as described herein above, it should be noted that

- an access technology via which signaling is transferred to and from a peer network element or node may be any tech^¬ nology by means of which a node can access an access net- work (e.g. via a base station or generally an access node) .

Any present or future technology, such as WLAN (Wireless Local Access Network) , WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) , BlueTooth, Infrared, and the like may be used; although the above technologies are mostly wireless access technologies, e.g. in different radio spec^¬ tra, access technology in the sense of the present inven^¬ tion implies also wirebound technologies, e.g. IP based ac^¬ cess technologies like cable networks or fixed lines but also circuit switched access technologies; access technolo- gies may be distinguishable in at least two categories or access domains such as packet switched and circuit

switched, but the existence of more than two access domains does not impede the invention being applied thereto,

- usable access networks may be any device, apparatus, unit or means by which a station, entity or other user equipment may connect to and/or utilize services offered by the communication network; such services include, among others, data and/or (audio-) visual communication, data download etc.;

- a peer may be any device, apparatus, unit or means by which a system user or subscriber may experience services from a communication network, such as a mobile phone, per^¬ sonal digital assistant PDA, or computer;

- method steps likely to be implemented as software code portions and being run using a processor at a network ele^¬ ment or terminal (as examples of devices, apparatuses and/or modules thereof, or as examples of entities includ^¬ ing apparatuses and/or modules therefor), are software code independent and can be specified using any known or future developed programming language as long as the functionality defined by the method steps is preserved;

- generally, any method step is suitable to be implemented as software or by hardware without changing the idea of the invention in terms of the functionality implemented;

- method steps and/or devices, apparatuses, units or means likely to be implemented as hardware components at a termi^¬ nal or network element, or any module (s) thereof, are hard^¬ ware independent and can be implemented using any known or future developed hardware technology or any hybrids of these, such as MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) , CMOS (Com^¬ plementary MOS), BiMOS (Bipolar MOS), BiCMOS (Bipolar

CMOS), ECL (Emitter Coupled Logic), TTL (Transistor- Transistor Logic), etc., using for example ASIC (Applica- tion Specific IC (Integrated Circuit)) components, FPGA (Field-programmable Gate Arrays) components, CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device) components or DSP (Digital Sig^¬ nal Processor) components; in addition, any method steps and/or devices, units or means likely to be implemented as software components may for example be based on any secu^¬ rity architecture capable e.g. of authentication, authori^¬ zation, keying and/or traffic protection;

- devices, apparatuses, units or means can be implemented as individual devices, apparatuses, units or means, but this does not exclude that they are implemented in a dis^¬ tributed fashion throughout the system, as long as the functionality of the device, apparatus, unit or means is preserved,

- an apparatus may be represented by a semiconductor chip, a chipset, or a (hardware) module comprising such chip or chipset; this, however, does not exclude the possibility that a functionality of an apparatus or module, instead of being hardware implemented, be implemented as software in a (software) module such as a computer program or a computer program product comprising executable software code portions for execution/being run on a processor;

- a device may be regarded as an apparatus or as an assem^¬ bly of more than one apparatus, whether functionally in co- operation with each other or functionally independently of each other but in a same device housing, for example.

As described above, there is proposed a mechanism providing traffic management and optimization. If a requesting peer requests to retrieve specified data from by using an unfa^¬ vorable resource, this is detected by traffic monitoring. Then, an alternative resource in a preferred location is determined. The requesting peer is informed about the fact that an unfavorable resource usage is involved in connec- tion with the present request to retrieve the specified data. Furthermore, information about alternative providing peers is provided to the requesting peer.

Although the present invention has been described herein before with reference to particular embodiments thereof, the present invention is not limited thereto and various modifications can be made thereto.

Claims

1. Apparatus comprising

a traffic monitoring portion, and

a traffic optimization portion,

the traffic monitoring portion comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a request from a re^¬ questing peer to retrieve specified data from a first re- source,

a processing portion configured to determine whether the first resource is unfavorable for retrieving the specified data for the requesting peer, and

a transmitter configured to send, if the processing por- tion determines the first resource to be unfavorable, a trig^¬ ger message for traffic optimization processing to the traffic optimization portion, and

the traffic optimization portion comprising:

a receiver configured to receive the trigger message for traffic optimization processing,

a first processing portion configured to process infor^¬ mation received with the trigger message and to check whether at least one alternative resource for the specified data is known, wherein the at least one alternative resource is pref- erable in comparison to the first resource, and

a second processing portion configured to initiate, in case at least one alternative resource for the specified data is known, at least one of

a transmission of a notification to the requesting peer indicating at least one of the unfavorable usage of the first resource and the at least one alternative resource for re^¬ trieving the specified data, and

a change of a destination resource from the first re^¬ source to the at least one alternative resource.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing portion of the traffic monitoring portion is further configured to apply a connection control procedure for controlling a communication flow or an associated transport condition, wherein the connection control procedure comprises at least one of blocking forwarding of a connection setup request towards the first resource, blocking forwarding of data between the requesting peer and the first resource, changing a trans^¬ mission priority for data exchanged between the requesting peer and the first resource, or changing a pricing scheme for the requesting peer.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the traffic monitoring portion is provided in a traffic monitoring entity of a network provider domain, wherein the processing portion of the traffic monitoring portion is further configured to conduct, on the basis of information included in the request, at least one of a traffic pattern recognition proce^¬ dure, and/or a packet inspection procedure for determining whether the first resource is unfavorable.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the traffic monitoring portion is provided in a core network element of a communication network, wherein the processing portion of the traffic monitoring portion is further configured to conduct, on the basis of information included in the request, a traffic flow analysis during a connection setup phase of the requesting peer based on flow identifiers for determining whether the first resource is unfavorable.

5. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the processing portion of the traffic monitoring portion is further configured to retrieve, from a policy server, setting information for traffic managing, the setting information in- dicating rules for the determination of whether the first resource is unfavorable and rules for a selection of a process- ing scheme to be executed when an unfavorable resource usage is determined.

6. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the trigger message includes at least one of an identifica^¬ tion of the requesting peer, an identification of the first resource, information specifying the specified data, a proto^¬ col identification, and traffic characteristic information.

7. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the first processing portion of the traffic optimization portion is further configured

to compare the information specifying the specified data with stored resource information,

to determine whether a matching entry for the specified data in the stored resource information exists, and

to designate a resource assigned to the matching entry as the at least one alternative resource.

8. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the second processing portion of the traffic optimization portion is further configured to decide whether a user interaction for traffic optimization is required,

wherein in case a decision is made that a user interac- tion is required, the second processing portion is configured to initiate the transmission of the notification to the re^¬ questing peer, and

in case a decision is made that a user interaction is not required, the second processing portion is configured to initiate the change of the destination resource from the first resource to the at least one alternative resource.

9. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the second processing portion of the traffic optimization portion is further configured, in case at least one alterna^¬ tive resource for the specified data is known, and the trans- mission of the notification to the requesting peer is initiated, to send a notification message to a notification manag^¬ ing network element, wherein the notification message comprises information regarding the at least one alternative re- source.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the second processing portion is further configured to transmit in connection with the notification message information regarding conditions of a usage of the at least one alternative re^¬ source .

11. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the second processing portion of the traffic optimization portion is further configured, in case at least one alterna^¬ tive resource for the specified data is known, and the change of the destination resource from the first resource to the at least one alternative resource is initiated, to send a modi^¬ fication message to a destination resource changing network element, wherein the modification message comprises informa^¬ tion regarding the at least one alternative resource and an instruction to change a destination resource from the first resource to the at least one alternative resource.

12. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 11, further comprising

a receiver configured to receive a request message from the requesting peer to notify about alternative resources for the specified data, wherein the second processing portion is further configured to initiate the transmission of a notifi^¬ cation to the requesting peer indicating the unfavorable usage of the first resource and the at least one alternative resource for retrieving the specified data.

13. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 12, wherein the traffic optimization portion is provided in a traffic op- timization network element or a mediator network element of a network provider domain.

14. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 13, wherein the requesting peer is part of an overlay network structure and the apparatus is disposed in one or more network elements of an underlying network structure.

15. Method comprising

receiving a request from a requesting peer to retrieve specified data from a first resource,

determining whether the first resource is unfavorable for retrieving the specified data for the requesting peer, providing, if the determination results in that the first resource is unfavorable, a trigger message for traffic optimization processing to a traffic optimization function, receiving the trigger message for traffic optimization processing in the traffic optimization function

processing information received with the trigger mes- sage,

checking whether at least one alternative resource for the specified data is known, wherein the at least one alter^¬ native resource is preferable in comparison to the first re^¬ source, and

initiating, in case at least one alternative resource for the specified data is known, at least one of

a transmission of a notification to the requesting peer indicating at least one of the unfavorable usage of the first resource and the at least one alternative resource for re- trieving the specified data, and

a destination resource change from the first resource to the at least one alternative resource.

16. Apparatus comprising

a receiver configured to receive a notification message from a traffic optimization network element, wherein the no- tification message indicates to send a notification to a re^¬ questing peer indicating at least one of an unfavorable usage of a first resource for retrieving specified data and at least one alternative resource for retrieving the specified data,

a third processing portion configured to process the no^¬ tification message and to extract information related to the at least one alternative resource, and

a fourth processing portion configured to select a com- munication channel towards the requesting peer for transmit^¬ ting information for the notification, and to initiate transmission of the information for the notification via the selected communication channel to the requesting peer.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the notifi^¬ cation message comprises information regarding at least one alternative resource.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the notifi- cation message further comprises information regarding conditions of a usage of the at least one alternative resource.

19. The apparatus according to any of claims 16 to 18, wherein the fourth processing portion is further configured to receive and process user context data related to the re^¬ questing peer, wherein the selection of the communication channel is based on the user context data.

20. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the fourth processing portion is further configured to get access to at least one of

user profile information related to the requesting peer and

session information related to a request for retrieving the specified data sent by the requesting peer.

21. The apparatus according to any of claims 16 to 20, wherein the fourth processing portion is configured to select for the communication channel towards the requesting peer at least one of a messaging service, an electronic mail service, a voice messaging service via an automated voice call, a chatting service, and an information service using a pop-up window at the requesting peer.

22. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the fourth processing portion is configured to send, for initiating the transmission of the information for the notification via the selected communication channel to the requesting peer, information by using an information service providing network element based on the selected service for the communication channel.

23. The apparatus according to any of claims 16 to 22, wherein the apparatus is provided in a notification managing network element of a network service domain.

24. The apparatus according to any of claims 16 to 23, wherein the requesting peer is part of an overlay network structure and the apparatus is disposed in a network element of an underlying network structure.

25. The apparatus according any of claims 16 to 24, wherein the apparatus is connectable to the traffic optimization por^¬ tion of the apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 14.

26. Method comprising

receiving a notification message from a traffic optimization network function, wherein the notification message indicates to send a notification to a requesting peer indicating at least one of an unfavorable usage of a first resource for retrieving specified data and at least one alternative resource for retrieving the specified data, processing the notification message and extracting information related to the at least one alternative resource, selecting a communication channel towards the requesting peer for transmitting information for the notification, and initiating transmission of the information for the notification via the selected communication channel to the re^¬ questing peer.