HK1163973B - System, apparatus and method for providing aggregated network connections - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a network aggregation system, apparatus and method for creating aggregated network connections to provide high availability and increased throughput where the plurality of network connections may possess diverse physical and logical characteristics. Increased throughput on the aggregated network connection equals the sum of the available throughput on the aggregated network connections. Aggregation is performed in a transparent fashion, independent of any physical or logical characteristics of the individual connections. Network connectivity over the aggregated connection is managed such that the loss or gain of connectivity in an individual connection among the aggregated group does not result in the loss of data from the data stream aggregation device.

Description

System, apparatus and method for providing aggregated network connections

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to communications, and in particular to aggregating different communication links, such as cable, DSL, Tl or metro ethernet.

Background

Although the capacity of network connections has increased due to the introduction of dial-up, high speed connectivity is not ubiquitous in all regions. Even by adding a wide variety of connection options, such as DSL (digital subscriber line) and its variants (VDSL etc.) and cable-based broadband, most consumers cannot use the theoretical maximum throughput. The inability to achieve a theoretical maximum throughput from a circuit is a result of the inverse proportional relationship between throughput and distance over a wide variety of types of network connections, such as cable, DSL, and the like.

Network connection aggregation is a method by which multiple network connections are grouped to provide a single logical aggregated network connection. This provides higher throughput and additional benefits in terms of high availability/redundancy for network applications. Each network connection in the aggregation provides a percentage of bandwidth to a logical network communication link that is independent of the characteristics of the underlying network communication link (latency, bandwidth capacity, provider and provider architecture).

Although the previous ITU recommendations g.998.1 (ATM-based multi-pair binding), g.998.2 (ethernet-based multi-pair binding), and g.998.3 (multi-pair binding using time division inverse multiplexing) discuss a wide variety of binding techniques applicable to DSL links, there is generally no discussion of an architectural approach to aggregating different network connections to provide a single (logical) aggregated network connection. There are no provisions made for independence from the physical and logical characteristics of the aggregated network connection or for high availability and lossless network failure within the aggregated connection.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,621,859 to Bell ("Bell") sets forth the idea of combining different network connections to provide a bi-directional data communication technique. The combination cable and DSL modem disclosed by Bell employs unidirectional data transmission over existing cable equipment used for downstream data communications, and unidirectional DSL data transmission over existing cable pairs employed by the telecommunications network in a single data communications loop. Bell requires a dedicated network connection between the internet service provider, the client side cable and the DSL provider. Bell also does not address splitting sessions and distributing data packets (i.e., aggregation) across different network connections.

U.S. patent application 20040213386 to Gupta ("Gupta") discloses a communication device, method and service that integrates broadband and dial-up internet access. A modem is provided that combines both broadband and dial-up connectivity in a single device. The modem includes an auto-induction program for switching between the two types of connections. However, Gupta provides a single connection at any given time. Gupta does not state the segmentation of sessions into data packets and the distribution of data packets over different, aggregated network connections.

U.S. patent application 20080080371 to Liu ("Liu") sets forth macro-spatial network multiplexing. Liu discloses partitioning data from a particular application for transmission over different network connections. The communication module may transmit signals to/from a plurality of base stations. In this manner, multiple network connections may be utilized for a client. Liu states that packets formed from data are transmitted via the first network connection and the second network connection such that packets transmitted via the first network connection do not match packets transmitted over the second network connection, thereby increasing the bandwidth available to the client. Liu also sets forth a determination as to which of a plurality of network connections to use for transferring data based on one or more considerations. For example, the determination may be made based on a quality of service (QoS) specified for the particular data, available bandwidth of the network connection, cost, and so forth. The packet includes a header that identifies a particular order that may be used to reorder the data included in the packet after transmission. However, Liu does not disclose bindings with bandwidth aggregation and diversity. The apparatus of Liu is limited to directing traffic among the networks and allowing traffic to be distributed among different networks.

Us patent application 20060176900 to Liu ("Liu 2") discloses a decentralized architecture for bonding communication links, such as ATM-based bonding of DSL lines, such as asymmetric DSL (adsl), very high speed DSL (vdsl), or more generally any DSL (xdsl) line. However, Liu 2 does not address polymeric cable, ADSL, Tl, wireless or dial-up.

U.S. patent application 20080075111 to Feng ("Feng") discloses a binding apparatus to allow transmission of a single or unified data stream over two or more different telecommunications links. The two or more telecommunication links are DSLs. Feng does not teach polymeric cable and DSL.

U.S. patent 5,809,070 to Krishnan ("Krishnan") sets forth a method and apparatus for achieving high data transmission rates using multiple simultaneous parallel connections. Two or more modems are coupled to the host computer. The operating system components control the modems as separate communication channels or for high speed data transmission and "combine" or "bind" multiple public switched telephone network type connections together to create a high speed data link. This is achieved by splitting the high speed data stream into a plurality of lower speed data streams and transmitting each lower speed data stream via a low speed modem and a PSTN connection. Krishnan does not disclose a method to support aggregation of network connections with different characteristics, nor a method for aggregating connections using the "always-on" technique.

Thus, there remains a need for a connection aggregation technique that provides an enhanced high availability mechanism along with high throughput while maintaining independence and transparency to underlying network connection features, whether logical (such as latency, transport protocols) or physical (such as provider architecture, transport mechanisms, etc.).

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention provides an apparatus for managing the transmission of communication traffic over one or more diverse network connections, the apparatus characterized by: a network aggregation device operative to configure the one or more diverse network connections as an aggregation group defining an aggregated connection having a transmission rate defined by an aggregated group transmission rate associated with available transmission rates of the one or more diverse network connections, the network aggregation device further operative to transmit communication traffic between a further connection and the aggregated connection.

The present invention also provides a method for managing the transmission of communication traffic over one or more diverse network connections, the method characterized by the steps of: (a) configuring, by means of a network aggregation device, the one or more diverse network connections into an aggregation group, thereby defining an aggregated connection having a transmission rate defined by an aggregated group transmission rate associated with available transmission rates of the one or more diverse network connections; and (b) transmitting communication traffic between the further network connection and the aggregated connection.

The invention also provides a system, which is characterized in that: one or more components configured to manage transport of communication traffic over one or more diverse network connections, the one or more components defining, including or linked to a network aggregation device operative to configure the one or more diverse network connections into an aggregation group defining an aggregated connection having a transmission rate defined by an aggregated group transmission rate associated with available transmission rates of the one or more diverse network connections, the network aggregation device further operative to transport communication traffic between a further connection and the aggregated connection.

In this regard, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

Drawings

Examples of embodiments of the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 is a block diagram of a communication device incorporating certain embodiments of the present invention, wherein the device is shown as an aggregation device on the client/CPE side of a network connection.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a communication device incorporating certain embodiments of the present invention, where the device is shown as an aggregation means on the server/concentrator side of a network connection.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a communication network incorporating certain embodiments of the present invention, wherein the apparatus is shown as an aggregation device on both the client/CPE side and the server/concentrator side of the network connection.

Fig. 4 is a flow diagram of a method of providing redundancy and increased throughput by aggregating multiple network connections in a network connection.

Detailed Description

The present invention provides systems and architectures for aggregating multiple network access connections from similar or diverse bearers to create new aggregated connections that provide greater speed and high availability features.

The architecture of the present invention is best understood to be a centralized architecture for aggregating network connections, broadband, or other items. Diverse network connections are aggregated into virtual (logical) connections that provide higher throughput and independence of the network characteristics that make up the (physical) network. Aggregation may be performed for a given customer premises equipment terminal.

For example, in one example of an implementation of the present invention, metro ethernet 10Mbps (E10) links and T1(DS1) links are aggregated in accordance with the present invention as described below in order to provide higher fault tolerance and improved access speed. The aggregation of diverse bearers according to the present invention extends to any broadband network connection including Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) communication links, Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS), integrated services digital network, multi-protocol label switching, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), and ethernet, among others.

The present invention also provides an apparatus for managing the transport of communication traffic over multiple network connections aggregated into a single autonomous connection independent of the wide variety of underlying network connections. The apparatus may include a network aggregation device and an aggregation engine. The network aggregation device may be adapted to configure a plurality of network connections (which transport communication traffic between the other network connections and the plurality of network connections) as an aggregation group for providing transmission rates on the other communication links, and to assign a transmission rate to the aggregation group that is equal to a total available transmission rate of the underlying network. The aggregation engine may be adapted to manage the distribution of received communication traffic to and from the plurality of network connections, establishing the newly formed aggregated network connection. The aggregation engine may be implemented in software for execution by a processor or in hardware in a manner known to those skilled in the art.

Multiple diverse network connections may be aggregated to create an aggregated network connection. The diversity of network connections may be a result of the diversity in the provider network due to the use of different device manufacturers, network architectures/topologies, internal routing protocols, transmission media, and even routing policies. These diversities may result in different network connections having different delays and/or jitter on the network connection. Likewise, variations within the transmission path in a single provider network may result in delay and/or jitter variations within the network connection.

Delay and jitter typically affect all data communications across a network connection. The delay, as known to those skilled in the art, is the round trip time of the transmission that occurs end-to-end on the network connection. Jitter, as known to those skilled in the art, is the variance in delay for the same data flow over a network connection. High delay and jitter generally have a direct and significant impact on application performance and bandwidth. Applications such as VOIP and video delivery are typically highly sensitive to increases in jitter and delay and may deteriorate as they increase.

Transparent aggregation of multiple network connections in an aggregated network connection requires management of data transmitted over the aggregated connection by an aggregation engine and received from an aggregated traffic termination engine. Transparent aggregation may not require any configuration by the network provider. The aggregation engine and the aggregation traffic termination engine may manage data transmission such that variable path speeds and delays over the plurality of network connections do not affect application data transmitted over the aggregated network connections. The network aggregation engine and the aggregate traffic termination engine may process sequences and segments of data transmitted over the aggregated connection to transparently deliver application data over the aggregated connection with a minimum possible latency while ensuring an orderly delivery of the application data.

The network aggregation engine may provide a new aggregated network connection having a capacity equal to the sum of the configured maximum throughputs of the network connections.

The aggregation engine and aggregation traffic termination engine (described further below) may process packet fragments as required by architectural specifications such as maximum fragment size (MSS) and maximum transmission unit of the underlying network connection. The network aggregation device may be operable to process the assignment of sequence identifiers to packets transmitted over the aggregated network connection in order to maintain the ordering of the transmitted data units over the aggregated network connection.

The network connection device may include or be linked to a connection termination device and a plurality of fixed or hot swappable transceivers for transporting communication traffic over a corresponding plurality of sets of network connections, which may be for configuring the plurality of network connections as an aggregated connection, or for managing the plurality of aggregated network connections, as well as providing access to the aggregated network connection for any network communication traversing the device.

In this specification, the described routing protocols or routing mechanisms are only intended to provide examples and do not limit the scope of the invention in any way.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a communication device incorporating certain embodiments of the present invention, where the device is shown to act as a client.

As shown in fig. 1, a network element/network aggregation device (also referred to simply as a "device" or "network aggregation device" in this disclosure) 23 may include (shown for illustration in this particular embodiment) a network connection termination module 25, which network connection termination module 25 may further include representative transceiver interfaces 14, 15, and 16. Each transceiver interface 14, 15, and 16 may represent an interface to a physical communication medium over which communication to a network connection may be established.

One possible implementation of a network aggregation device may use a single or multiple chassis with slots for multiple network connection termination modules and multiple network aggregation engine modules. The plurality of network connection termination modules may be grouped in accordance with protocol-specific or media-specific transceivers/interfaces.

The network aggregation engine 11 may handle the configuration of the network aggregation device and all relevant interactions with external inputs. The device configuration repository 24 may provide persistent data storage for device configuration information such as network aggregation policies.

The network aggregation engine 11 may process queries from external sources (such as configuration parameters), for example, according to a network management protocol such as simple network management protocol. The interface 10 may be a protocol agent and may provide communication with a Network Management System (NMS) or operator system to configure the aggregation engine by defining an aggregation policy. Control and management information may be transmitted between the network aggregation device 23 and the NMS or operator system over the interface 10, via any available or specifically designated network connections 19, 20, 21 and 17, over any transceiver interfaces 14, 15 and 16.

Multiple network connections may be combined to form an aggregated network connection 22, as disclosed in further detail herein. Each individual network connection may be configured to have a maximum communication traffic rate, which may be expressed as a bit rate in bits/second.

The network aggregation engine 11 may be implemented in software for execution by a processor in the network aggregation device 23, or in hardware, such as by means of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other integrated circuit, or some combination thereof. The network aggregation engine 11 may be implemented in a distributed manner in a known manner by intelligently allocating the aggregation engine to the network connection termination module 25.

The network aggregation engine 11 may receive traffic from a client network connection device 18 over a network connection 17 provided via a transceiver interface 16. The client network connection device 18 may be any device including, but not limited to, a router, switch, or media converter capable of providing termination to a single or multiple client nodes, where a node is any device capable of connecting to a network regardless of the specifics of the protocol or interface. In various embodiments, traffic may be received over multiple network connections through a single or multiple transceiver interfaces. The network aggregation engine 11 may accept all traffic from client network connections, may provide encapsulation and segmentation services for the traffic for transmission over the aggregated network connection 22, and may transmit it over any of the network connections 19, 20, and 21 through any of the transceiver interfaces 14, 15, and 16. When transmission occurs over aggregated network connection 22 over any of network connections 19, 20, and 21, network aggregation engine 11 may process the fragments in a manner that avoids fragmenting aggregated communication traffic received through client network connection device 18 by ensuring that the length of packets/frames transmitted over any of network connections 19, 20, and 21 is less than or equal to a frame length configured or detected for a respective one of aggregated network connections 22.

The network aggregation engine 11 may poll the status of the network connections 19, 20, and 21, for example, according to a configured interval stored in the device configuration repository 24 to ensure that all network connections configured in the aggregation group are within a configured acceptable tolerance. If the network connections 19, 20, and 21 exceed the acceptable tolerance values for any of the polled parameters, the network aggregation engine 11 may remove the network connections 19, 20, and 21 from within the aggregated network connection 22 without removing it from the polled list of network connections. By leaving the removed network connections 19, 20 and 21 in the polled list of network connections, the network aggregation engine 11 may aggregate the network connections into an aggregated network connection 22 once the network connections have returned within acceptable tolerance values. This may ensure that the network connection may change state between whether residing in the aggregated network connection 22 or not without intervention by an external system or input. The network aggregation engine 11 may process notifications for all endpoints configured within the device configuration repository 24 with internal events such as changes in network connection status, violations of configured thresholds for any number of configurable variables for any object within the network aggregation device 23 or connected to the network aggregation device 23. The network aggregation engine 12 may also handle events such as changes in the state of the network connections 19, 20, and 21 included within the aggregated connection, changes in the latency of the network connections included within the aggregated network connection 22, scheduling changes, event logs, and other events.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a communication device incorporating certain embodiments of the present invention, wherein the device is shown to act as a server/concentrator.

The network aggregation engine 11 may provide access to a network aggregation policy database 36, the network aggregation policy database 36 storing configuration information related to a wide variety of aggregated network connections that terminate on the aggregated network connection device 28. The network aggregation termination device 28 may be implemented in such a way that each aggregated network connection defined in the network aggregation policy database 36 is handled by its own virtual instance, the use of which supports the termination of each aggregated network connection from multiple Customer Premises Equipments (CPEs).

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a communication network incorporating certain embodiments of the present invention, wherein the functionality of the device is shown to act as a client/CPE and a server/concentrator.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the aggregated network connections 70, 71 and 72 may be built by network aggregation devices 63, 64 and 65, which are terminated by network connections 66 and 68 as their endpoints to a single aggregated network connection termination device 61. The aggregate network connection termination device 61 may access an external communication network via network connections 66 and 68 to access external/remote network resources 69. Access to the external communication network may be provided by the aggregated network connection termination device 61 via the use of network connections 66 or 68 by using a routing protocol, such as Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), Open Shortest Path (OSPF), or by using simpler mechanisms, such as load distribution over multiple static routes within the communication network 74 that serve as active next hops for the aggregated network connection termination device 61.

The aggregated network connections 70, 71 and 72 may provide access to the client network nodes 67 connected to the network aggregation devices 63, 64 and 65 through the aggregated network connections 70, 71 and 72 to the communication network 74 accessible by the aggregated network connection termination device 61.

The client network node 67 may request data provided by external/remote network resources 69 accessible through a communication network 74. This request for external/remote network resources may be routed over network connection 73, network connection 73 providing access from client network node 67 over aggregated network connection 70 to its endpoint (which is aggregated network connection termination device 61). This may be done via the network connection 66 into the aggregated network connection termination device 61 through the communication network 74. Any data sent by external/remote network resource 69 may be routed back through the aggregate network connection termination device.

Particular embodiments of the present invention may use the internet as the communication network 74 mentioned in fig. 3. Alternatively, however, the communication network 74 may be built up by a plurality of sub-networks created by using a plurality of network aggregation devices 63, 64 and 65 and an aggregation network connection termination device 61 endpoint via a plurality of network connections 66 and 68.

The invention also relates to providing high availability over aggregated network connections by the network aggregation engine 11. Fig. 4 illustrates a method of providing redundancy and increased throughput by aggregating multiple network connections in a network connection. The method 90 may begin with the step of configuring a plurality of network connections (91) by creating a network aggregation policy to form (92) an aggregated network connection. The aggregated network connection may be initialized according to a network aggregation policy. Control connections may be created (93) for a plurality of network connections configured as part of an aggregated connection to allow aggregation engine 11 to manage membership of network connections within the aggregated connection. Network aggregation engine 11 may accept the packet for transmission over aggregated network connection 22 (94). The network aggregation engine 11 may select a network connection 95 among a group of network connections configured (91) within an aggregation in the stored aggregation policy to transmit the current packet being transmitted. The selection of the network connection for transmitting the current packet may be specified within the aggregation policy and may be taken into account by the data provided by the control connection constructed at 94.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a non-responsive network connection can be easily detected when delay and packet loss are used as metrics. The mechanism for detecting (96) and adapting (97) to network connection changes within the aggregated network connection may be implemented within a data transfer routine in the aggregation engine 11, or as a separate process in parallel with the transfer routine in the aggregation engine 11, to allow further flexibility in providing redundancy within the aggregated network connection.

Since this may occur on a per-packet basis (as opposed to a per-flow basis), a single unresponsive network connection may not affect the aggregated network connection, and may allow data transfer to continue regardless of the state of the single network connection, so long as the single network connection within the aggregated network connection is available for data transfer.

Claims (21)

1. An apparatus for managing transmission of communication traffic over a plurality of diverse network connections, the apparatus comprising a network aggregation apparatus operative to configure the plurality of diverse network connections as an aggregation group defining an aggregated connection having a transmission rate defined by an aggregated group transmission rate associated with available transmission rates of the plurality of diverse network connections, the network aggregation apparatus further operative to transmit bidirectional communication traffic between other connections and the aggregated connection;

characterized in that the plurality of diverse network connections comprises at least two different network connections having different network characteristics, the at least two different network connections being provided by a plurality of diverse network bearers, the different network characteristics comprising a bi-directional transmission rate and a delay;

further characterized in that the aggregated connection is independent of the different network characteristics of the at least two different network connections; and

the network aggregation device is further operative to bi-directionally manage communication traffic utilizing any change in state in diverse network connections to adjust the aggregation group to prevent data loss from the change in state.

2. An arrangement according to claim 1, characterised in that said network aggregation means is operable independently of the various underlying network connections and is thereby operable to configure said aggregated connection as a single autonomous connection.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the network aggregation means further comprises:

a. aggregation means operable to manage distribution of received communication traffic to and from the aggregated connection; and

b. a centralized device operative to configure and terminate the single autonomous connection for the purpose of processing and delivering communication traffic to and from the network aggregation device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the aggregated connection has a traffic capacity equal to a sum of the configured maximum throughputs of the plurality of diverse network connections.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein network connections are aggregated into the aggregated network connection without configuration by a network provider.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said plurality of diverse network connections used to create said aggregated connection may comprise any broadband network connection comprising one of: digital Subscriber Line (DSL) communication links, Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS), integrated services digital network, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), and ethernet.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network aggregation means is implemented using hardware components, software components, or a combination thereof.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the network aggregation apparatus configures the aggregated connection such that the aggregated connection is redefined when at least one of the diverse network connections has the following characteristics: change from being within acceptable tolerances to a characteristic that is outside of the acceptable tolerances, or have a characteristic that changes from being outside of the acceptable tolerances to being within the acceptable tolerances.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said aggregated connection supports communication traffic to said other network connections whenever one of said plurality of diverse network connections is available.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said throughput of said aggregated connection is redefined based on said throughput of said available diverse network connections.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said network aggregation means is operative to redefine said aggregated connection without any loss of communication traffic.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the communication traffic comprises an existing real-time application session, the real-time application session comprising at least one of: voice, video, and data traffic.

13. An arrangement according to claim 11, characterized in that no connection-specific parameters are required.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network aggregation means and the aggregate traffic termination means process packet fragments defined by a communication transport protocol.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said communication transport protocol is a transmission control protocol/internet protocol.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein said network aggregation means assigns a sequence identifier to each packet transmitted over said aggregated connection to maintain ordering of communication traffic units over said aggregated connection.

17. A method for managing the transmission of communication traffic over a plurality of diverse network connections, the method characterized by the steps of:

(a) configuring, by means of a network aggregation device, the plurality of diverse network connections into an aggregation group, thereby defining an aggregated connection having a transmission rate defined by an aggregated group transmission rate associated with available transmission rates of the plurality of diverse network connections; and

(b) transmitting bidirectional communication traffic between the other network connection and the aggregated connection;

characterized in that the plurality of diverse network connections comprises at least two different network connections having different network characteristics, the at least two different network connections being provided by a plurality of diverse network bearers, the different network characteristics comprising a bi-directional transmission rate and a delay;

further characterized in that the aggregated connection is independent of the different network characteristics of the at least two different network connections; and

the network aggregation device is further operative to bi-directionally manage communication traffic utilizing any change in state in diverse network connections to adjust the aggregation group to prevent data loss from the change in state.

18. A method according to claim 17, characterised in that the network aggregation means operates independently of the various underlying network connections, the method comprising the further step of configuring the aggregated connection as a single autonomous connection.

19. The method according to claim 17, characterized by the further step of selectively configuring or terminating said single autonomous connection for the purpose of processing and delivering said communication traffic to and from said network aggregation device.

20. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that said method supports said feature independent of said network connection, said feature of said network connection comprising at least one of the following: delay, jitter, and architecture to support autonomous aggregation of network connections.

21. A system for managing the transmission of communication traffic over a plurality of diverse network connections, the system characterized by:

one or more components configured to manage transport of communication traffic over a plurality of diverse network connections, the plurality of components defining, including, or linked to a network aggregation device operative to configure the plurality of diverse network connections into an aggregation group defining an aggregated connection having a transmission rate defined by an aggregated group transmission rate associated with available transmission rates of the plurality of diverse network connections, the network aggregation device further operative to transport bi-directional communication traffic between other connections and the aggregated connection;

characterized in that the plurality of diverse network connections comprises at least two different network connections having different network characteristics, the at least two different network connections being provided by a plurality of diverse network bearers, the different network characteristics comprising a bi-directional transmission rate and a delay;

further characterized in that the aggregated connection is independent of the different network characteristics of the at least two different network connections; and

the network aggregation device is further operative to bi-directionally manage communication traffic utilizing any change in state in diverse network connections to adjust the aggregation group to prevent data loss from the change in state.