User-driven dynamic traffic prioritization for home networks

Abstract

Network contention in a multi-user home setting can degrade performance for all participants. To maximize user experience, we propose that traffic be prioritized based on the specific activity of the user: the more a user interacts with an application and its associated traffic flows, the higher the priority that the application's traffic should receive. We introduce a client-side application that resides on the user's machine that monitors user activity and interaction with the application. This application sends information to the home router about user activity associated with different traffic flows; the home router then prioritizes traffic for flows that correspond to interactive traffic over those that are not. Finally, we introduce a protocol that allows the router and application to communicate. We show that the collective system improves the user experience for interactive applications by providing better performance for traffic associated with applications that a user is interacting with directly.