Method and device for determining path delay

Abstract

The invention provides a path delay determination method and device, and relates to the technical field of communication. In the method, a sending end sequentially sends a plurality of messages to an optical switching matrix, an optical controller can control the optical switching matrix to be opened at a first moment, and the optical controller determines a first message (namely a second message) received by the optical switching matrix from the sending end and determines that the first moment can be regarded as a moment when the optical switching matrix receives the second message. In the embodiment of the invention, the optical controller can determine the moment (namely the third moment) when the sending end sends the second message based on the information of the second message, and further determines the difference value between the first moment and the third moment as the path delay between the optical switching matrix and the sending end, thereby providing a way for determining the path delay.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a method and device for determining a path delay. Background Art

[0002] Optical switching (OSW) refers to the exchange of optical signals from the transmitter to different receivers in the optical domain without any optical or electrical conversion. Optical switching and traditional circuit switching are both ways to achieve information exchange. However, the medium of optical switching is optical signals, and the medium of electrical switching is electrical signals. The optical switching matrix is ​​the basis for achieving optical switching. Data from multiple transmitters are exchanged once in a time slice through the optical switching matrix to exchange to different receivers. When the length of the exchanged data is the same, the length of a time slice determines the efficiency of optical switching. The length of a time slice depends on the time when the data arrives at the optical switching matrix the earliest and the time when the data arrives at the optical switching matrix the latest. In other words, the greater the difference in the time when the data from multiple transmitters arrives at the optical switching matrix, the longer the duration of a time slice, and the lower the efficiency of optical switching. Therefore, aligning the time when the data from multiple transmitters arrives at the optical switching matrix is ​​conducive to improving the efficiency of optical switching. To align the time when the data of multiple transmitters arrive at the optical switching matrix, it is necessary to measure the path delay between each of the multiple transmitters and the optical switching matrix, and adjust the time when the data of the multiple transmitters arrive at the optical switching matrix according to the measured path delay, so as to align the time when the data of the multiple transmitters arrive at the optical switching matrix. The path delay between one of the multiple transmitters and the optical switching matrix is ​​the difference between the time when the transmitter sends the data and the time when the optical switching matrix receives the data.

[0003] However, the optical switching matrix is ​​mainly composed of optical switches, and the optical switches cannot record the time when the data arrives at the optical switching matrix, which makes it difficult to measure the path delay between a transmitter and the optical switching matrix. Summary of the invention

[0004] The embodiment of the present application provides a path delay determination method and a device thereof, which are used to provide a method for measuring the path delay between a transmitting end and an optical switching matrix.

[0005] In the first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for determining a path delay. The method can be executed by an optical controller, or implemented by a device having the function of an optical controller. For ease of description, the following is an example of an optical controller executing the method. The method includes: controlling an optical switching matrix to start at a first moment, wherein the first moment is later than a second moment, the second moment is the moment when a first message sent by a transmitter to the optical switching matrix arrives at the optical switching matrix, and the first message is the first message among multiple messages sent sequentially by the transmitter to the optical switching matrix; determining information of the second message, and determining a third moment based on the information of the second message, the second message is the first message received by the optical switching matrix in at least one message, the third moment is the moment when the transmitter sends the second message, and the at least one message is received by the optical switching matrix from the transmitter and belongs to the multiple messages; determining the path delay between the optical switching matrix and the transmitter as the difference between the first moment and the third moment.

[0006] In an embodiment of the present application, the optical controller may regard the moment when the optical switching matrix is ​​started (i.e., the first moment) as the moment when the optical switching matrix receives the second message, and determine the moment when the transmitter sends the second message (i.e., the third moment), and then based on the first moment and the third moment, obtain the path delay between the optical switching matrix and the transmitter, and provide a method for measuring the path delay between the transmitter and the optical switching matrix. Moreover, in this method, there is no need to introduce additional measurement equipment, which reduces the cost of measuring the path delay. Moreover, these devices for determining the path delay in the embodiment of the present application are all devices required for actual application, which is equivalent to the device environment for measuring the path delay being the same as the device environment for applying the path delay, which makes the determined path delay more referenceable, that is, the accuracy of the determined path delay is high. Moreover, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to parallel measurement of the path delay between each of the multiple transmitters and the optical switching matrix. In other words, a measurement process can obtain the path delay corresponding to multiple transmitters, which is conducive to improving the efficiency of measuring the path delay.

[0007] In a possible implementation, the information of the second message includes one of the following: information of the third moment; content of the second message, the content of the second message is used to determine the order of the second message; or, the order of the second message; wherein the order of the second message refers to the order in which the transmitting end sends the second message among the multiple messages. Optionally, the third moment is the sum of the product of the fourth moment and the value of the order of the second message and the first duration, wherein the first duration is the duration required for the transmitting end to send a message, and the fourth moment is the moment when the transmitting end sends the first message, and the fourth moment is obtained from the transmitting end.

[0008] In the above implementation, multiple implementations of the information of the second message are provided, thereby enriching the information of the second message.

[0009] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: controlling the optical switching matrix to forward the at least one message to the receiving end; accordingly, determining the information of the second message includes: receiving the information of the second message fed back by the receiving end.

[0010] In the above implementation, the optical controller may directly receive the information of the second message from the receiving end, which is helpful to reduce the processing amount of the optical controller to determine the information of the second message.

[0011] In one possible implementation, determining the information of the second message includes: based on the relationship between any two adjacent messages among the multiple messages pre-stored, identifying M consecutive messages from the at least one message, where M is an integer greater than 1, and identifying the information of the second message from the M messages.

[0012] In the above implementation, the light controller may determine M messages that meet the relationship in at least one message based on the relationship between the multiple messages, and then identify the second message from the M messages to obtain information about the second message. Exemplarily, the relationship may indicate that the order values ​​of any two adjacent messages in the multiple messages are increasing in sequence, the M messages are M messages whose order values ​​in the at least one message are increasing in sequence, and the second message is the message with the smallest order value in the M messages.

[0013] In the above implementation, the optical controller can determine the second message based on the relationship between the multiple messages and at least one message, so that the method for the optical controller to determine the second message is simpler. In this way, the optical controller can determine the message with the smallest order among the M messages as the second message, so that the method for determining the second message is relatively simple. In addition, under this implementation, the optical controller can directly receive at least one message from the optical switching matrix to implement the second message, without the need for receiving end access, which can relatively reduce the number of data interactions in the optical switching system.

[0014] In a possible implementation, the third moment may be the sum of the fourth moment and the product of the value of the order of the second message and the first duration, wherein the first duration is the duration required for the sender to send a message, and the fourth moment is the moment when the sender sends the first message, and the fourth moment is obtained from the sender.

[0015] In the above implementation, the fourth moment may be directly obtained from the transmitting end, so that the method of determining the third moment is simpler.

[0016] In the second aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a method for determining a path delay, which can be executed by a receiving end, or by a device having a receiving end function. The receiving end is, for example, a network card, and the network card is, for example, an optical network card. For the sake of ease of description, the following description is based on the receiving end executing the method. The method includes: receiving at least one message from an optical switching matrix, and determining information of a second message in the at least one message, wherein the second message is the first message received from the optical switching matrix; sending information of the second message to an optical controller, wherein the information of the second message is used by the optical controller to determine a third moment, and determining that the path delay between the optical switching matrix and the transmitting end is the difference between the first moment and the third moment; wherein the third moment is the moment when the transmitting end sends the second message, the first moment is the moment when the optical switching matrix is ​​turned on, the first moment is later than the second moment, and the second moment is the moment when the first message sent by the transmitting end to the optical switching matrix arrives at the optical switching matrix, and the first message is the first message of multiple messages sent sequentially by the transmitting end to the optical switching matrix.

[0017] In a possible implementation, the information of the second message includes one of the following: information of the third moment; content of the second message, the content of the second message is used to determine the order of the second message; or, the order of the second message; wherein the order of the second message refers to the order in which the sender sends the second message among the multiple messages. The third moment is the sum of the product of the fourth moment and the value of the order of the second message and the first duration, wherein the first duration is the duration required for the sender to send a message, and the fourth moment is the moment when the sender sends the first message, and the fourth moment is obtained from the sender.

[0018] In a possible implementation, the third moment may be the sum of the fourth moment and the product of the value of the order of the second message and the first duration, wherein the first duration is the duration required for the sender to send a message, and the fourth moment is the moment when the sender sends the first message, and the fourth moment is obtained from the sender.

[0019] In a possible implementation, determining the information of the second message in the at least one message includes: based on a pre-stored relationship between any two adjacent messages in the at least one message, identifying M consecutive messages in the at least one message, where M is an integer greater than 1, and identifying the information of the second message from the M messages. Exemplarily, the relationship may indicate that the order values ​​of any two adjacent messages in the at least one message increase in sequence, the M messages are M messages whose order values ​​in the at least one message increase in sequence, and the second message is the message with the smallest order value among the M messages. Optionally, since at least one message belongs to multiple messages, the relationship between any two adjacent messages in the at least one message and the relationship between any two adjacent messages in the multiple messages may be the same.

[0020] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a path delay determination device, which may be the optical controller in the first aspect above, or software or hardware (e.g., a chip) configured in the optical controller, or a device having the same function as the optical controller. The path delay determination device includes corresponding means or modules for executing the first aspect or any possible implementation method. For example, the path delay determination device includes a processing module (sometimes also referred to as a processing unit), and optionally, the path delay determination device also includes a transceiver module (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver unit).

[0021] For example, a processing module is used to control the optical exchange matrix to start at a first moment, wherein the first moment is later than a second moment, the second moment is the moment when a first message sent by a transmitter to the optical exchange matrix arrives at the optical exchange matrix, the first message is the first message among multiple messages sent sequentially by the transmitter to the optical exchange matrix, determine information of the second message, and determine a third moment based on the information of the second message, the second message is the first message received by the optical exchange matrix among at least one message, the third moment is the moment when the transmitter sends the second message, the at least one message is received by the optical exchange matrix from the transmitter and belongs to the multiple messages, and determine that the path delay between the optical exchange matrix and the transmitter is the difference between the first moment and the third moment.

[0022] In a possible implementation, the information of the second message includes one of the following: information of the third moment; content of the second message, the content of the second message is used to determine the order of the second message; or, the order of the second message; wherein the order of the second message refers to the order in which the sender sends the second message among multiple messages. Optionally, the order of the second message refers to the order in which the sender sends the second message among the multiple messages, the third moment is the sum of the product of the fourth moment and the value of the order of the second message and the first duration, wherein the first duration is the duration required for the sender to send a message, the fourth moment is the moment when the sender sends the first message, and the fourth moment is obtained from the sender.

[0023] In a possible implementation manner, the processing module is further used to control the optical switching matrix to forward the at least one message to the receiving end, and the transceiver module is used to receive information of the second message fed back by the receiving end.

[0024] In a possible implementation, the processing module is specifically used to: based on the relationship between any two adjacent messages in the plurality of messages stored in advance, identify M consecutive messages from the at least one message, where M is an integer greater than 1; and identify information of the second message from the M messages. Exemplarily, the relationship may indicate that the order values ​​of any two adjacent messages in the plurality of messages are increasing in sequence, the M messages are M messages whose order values ​​in the at least one message are increasing in sequence, and the second message is the message with the smallest order value among the M messages.

[0025] In a possible implementation, the third moment may be the sum of the fourth moment and the product of the value of the order of the second message and the first duration, wherein the first duration is the duration required for the sender to send a message, and the fourth moment is the moment when the sender sends the first message, and the fourth moment is obtained from the sender.

[0026] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a path delay determination device, which may be the receiving end in the second aspect, or software or hardware (e.g., a chip) configured in the receiving end, or a device having the same function as the receiving end. The path delay determination device includes corresponding means or modules for executing the first aspect or any possible implementation method. For example, the path delay determination device includes a transceiver module (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver unit), and a processing module (sometimes also referred to as a processing unit).

[0027] For example, a transceiver module is used to receive at least one message from an optical exchange matrix under the control of a processing module, and determine information of a second message in the at least one message, wherein the second message is the first message received from the optical exchange matrix, and send information of the second message to an optical controller, wherein the information of the second message is used by the optical controller to determine a third moment, and to determine that the path delay between the optical exchange matrix and the transmitting end is the difference between the first moment and the third moment; wherein the third moment is the moment when the transmitting end sends the second message, the first moment is the moment when the optical exchange matrix is ​​turned on, the first moment is later than the second moment, the second moment is the moment when the first message sent by the transmitting end to the optical exchange matrix arrives at the optical exchange matrix, and the first message is the first message among multiple messages sent sequentially by the transmitting end to the optical exchange matrix.

[0028] In a possible implementation, the information of the second message includes one of the following: information of the third moment; content of the second message, the content of the second message is used to determine the order of the second message; or the order of the second message, wherein the order of the second message refers to the order in which the transmitting end sends the second message among the multiple messages. Optionally, the third moment is the sum of the product of the fourth moment and the value of the order of the second message and the first duration, wherein the first duration is the duration required for the transmitting end to send a message, and the fourth moment is the moment when the transmitting end sends the first message, and the fourth moment is obtained from the transmitting end.

[0029] In a possible implementation, the third moment is the sum of the fourth moment and the product of the value of the order of the second message and the first time length, wherein the first time length is the time length required for the sender to send a message, and the fourth moment is the moment when the sender sends the first message, and the fourth moment is obtained from the sender.

[0030] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: based on the pre-stored relationship between any two adjacent messages in the at least one message, identifying M consecutive messages in the at least one message, where M is an integer greater than 1, and identifying information of the second message from the M messages. Exemplarily, the relationship may indicate that the order values ​​of any two adjacent messages in the at least one message are increasing in sequence, the M messages are M messages whose order values ​​in the at least one message are increasing in sequence, and the second message is the message with the smallest order value among the M messages.

[0031] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an optical switching system (or may be referred to as a path delay determination system), the system comprising a transmitting end, an optical controller, an optical switching matrix, and a receiving end. The transmitting end is used to send multiple messages to the optical switching matrix, and the optical switching matrix is ​​used to receive at least one message from the transmitting end and forward the at least one message to the receiving end. Among them, the optical controller can implement the function of the path delay determination device in the third aspect and any possible implementation manner of the above text, and the receiving end can implement the path delay determination device in the fourth aspect and any possible implementation manner of the above text.

[0032] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a path delay determination device (or equipment), which includes a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is used to receive signals from other devices outside the device and transmit them to the processor or send signals from the processor to other devices outside the device, and the processor can execute code instructions through a logic circuit to implement the above-mentioned first aspect and any possible implementation method, and the second aspect and any possible implementation method.

[0033] In the seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a path delay determination device, the device comprising: a processor and a memory; the memory is used to store one or more computer programs, the one or more computer programs include computer execution instructions, when the device is running, the processor executes the one or more computer programs stored in the memory, so that the device performs the above-mentioned first aspect and any possible implementation method, and the second aspect and any possible implementation method described in any one of the methods.

[0034] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which is used to store a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed, it implements the method described in the above-mentioned first aspect and any possible implementation method, and the second aspect and any possible implementation method.

[0035] In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, implements the method described in the first aspect and any possible implementation manner, and the second aspect and any possible implementation manner.

[0036] Regarding the beneficial effects of any technical solution in the second to ninth aspects above, reference may be made to the beneficial effects discussion of the corresponding technical solution in the first aspect, and the repeated parts will not be listed here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0037] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure of an optical switching system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0038] Figure 2 Provided in the embodiments of this application Figure 1 A deployment schematic diagram of an optical switching system is shown;

[0039] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a method for determining path delay provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0040] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of transmitting multiple messages provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a process for identifying a first message provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of determining a third moment provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the path delay between multiple transmitting ends and the optical switching matrix provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of time slice variation of an optical switching matrix;

[0045] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of a device for determining path delay provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of a device for determining path delay provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0048] In the embodiments of the present application, the number of nouns, unless otherwise specified, means "singular noun or plural noun", that is, "one or more". "At least one" means one or more, and "plural" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. For example, A / B means: A or B. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c means: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0049] In order to provide a method for measuring the path delay between a transmitter and an optical switching matrix, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for determining a path delay, in which the transmitter sends multiple messages to the optical switching matrix in sequence, and the optical controller can control the optical switching matrix to start at the first moment, and the optical controller determines the first message (i.e., the second message) received by the optical switching matrix from the transmitter, and regards the first moment as the moment when the optical switching matrix receives the second message, and the optical controller can determine the moment (i.e., the third moment) when the transmitter sends the second message based on the information of the second message, and then determine the difference between the first moment and the third moment as the path delay between the optical switching matrix and the transmitter. In this way, a method for measuring the path delay between the transmitter and the optical switching matrix is ​​provided.

[0050] The method provided in the embodiment of the present application is applicable to any optical switching system including an optical controller. The structure of the optical switching system is introduced as an example below.

[0051] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure of an optical switching system provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 1 It can also be regarded as a schematic diagram of a scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 1 As shown, the optical switching system includes a transmitting end, a receiving end, an optical controller and an optical switching matrix. Figure 1 In the example, the number of senders and the number of receivers are both 1, but in fact, the number of senders and the number of receivers are not limited.

[0052] The transmitting end can send messages to the optical switching matrix under the control of the optical controller (messages can also be called data, or messages are an example of data). Optionally, the transmitting end includes a control module and an optical module (optical module, OE). Optionally, the optical module can be set on the transmitting end in a detachable manner. The control module in the transmitting end can control the optical module of the transmitting end to transmit messages under the control of the optical controller. The transmitting end can be implemented through a network card, which can also be called a network interface card (network interface card, NIC), and the network card is specifically an optical network card (also called a fiber optic network card). The control module in the transmitting end includes, for example, a fabric interface circuit (FIC). The output of the transmitting end is generally used as the output on the user side, so the FIC in the transmitting end can be called an egress fabric interface circuit (eFIC).

[0053] The optical switching matrix includes a control module and at least one optical switch. Figure 1 In the example, the number of optical switches is 2, and the number of optical switches included in the optical switching matrix is ​​not actually limited. The control module in the optical switching matrix can control different optical switches to close or open under the control of the optical controller to realize different optical channels, so that the optical switching matrix can transmit (or exchange) messages through different optical channels.

[0054] The optical controller may also be called an optical switching controller, which is used to control the optical channel (or optical path, or channel) mapping of the optical switching matrix. The optical channel in the optical switching matrix is ​​used to forward the message from the sending end to the receiving end. Correspondingly, the receiving end receives the message from the sending end through the optical channel in the optical switching matrix. The optical controller may be, for example, a device implemented using an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a programmable logic device (PLD). The above-mentioned PLD may be a complex programmable logical device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a generic array logic (GAL) or any combination thereof.

[0055] The receiving end can be implemented through a network card. The content of the network card can refer to the content discussed above and will not be listed here. The control modules in the receiving end include FIC, for example. The output of the receiving end is generally used as the input of the user side, and the FIC corresponding to the receiving end can be called an ingress fabric interface circuit (iFIC). Optionally, the receiving end includes a control module and an optical module. Optionally, the optical module can be set on the receiving end in a detachable manner. The control module in the receiving end can control the optical module of the receiving end to transmit messages under the control of the optical controller. It should be understood that the sending end and the receiving end can be regarded as a set of relative concepts. In fact, the sending end can also receive messages, and the receiving end can also send messages. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0056] In a possible implementation, the optical switching system may not include a receiving end. That is, the receiving end in the optical switching system is an optional part. Figure 1 In this implementation mode, the optical switching matrix forwards the message from the sending end to the optical controller.

[0057] The following example uses NIC as the sending and receiving end. Figure 1 The optical switching system shown is used as an example. Figure 2 , provided in the embodiments of this application Figure 1 A deployment schematic diagram of an optical switching system is shown. Figure 2 It can also be regarded as a schematic diagram of another scenario provided by the embodiment of the present application. Figure 2 In the figure, the sending end includes four NICs, namely NIC1, NIC2, NIC3 and NIC4, and the number of the sending ends is actually not limited. The receiving end includes four NICs, namely NIC5, NIC6, NIC7 and NIC8, and the number of the receiving ends is actually not limited.

[0058] The optical controller can control the sending end (such as NIC1, NIC2, NIC3 and NIC4) to send messages to the receiving end (such as NIC5, NIC6, NIC7 and NIC8) through the optical switching matrix. Optionally, any NIC from NIC1 to NIC4 can include an optical module and an eFIC, and any NIC from NIC5 to NIC8 can include an optical module and an iFIC.

[0059] Optionally, NIC1 may correspond to any NIC among NIC5 to NIC8, in other words, NIC1 may send a message to any NIC among NIC5 to NIC8 through an optical switching matrix. NIC2 may correspond to any NIC among NIC5 to NIC8, in other words, NIC2 may send a message to any NIC among NIC5 to NIC8 through an optical switching matrix. NIC3 may correspond to any NIC among NIC5 to NIC8, in other words, NIC3 may send a message to any NIC among NIC5 to NIC8 through an optical switching matrix. NIC4 may correspond to any NIC among NIC5 to NIC8, in other words, NIC3 may send a message to any NIC among NIC5 to NIC8 through an optical switching matrix. NIC4 may correspond to any NIC among NIC5 to NIC8, in other words, NIC4 may send a message to any NIC among NIC5 to NIC8 through an optical switching matrix.

[0060] It should be understood that when executing the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the receiving end corresponding to a certain sending end may be relatively fixed. For example, NIC1 may correspond to NIC5, that is, NIC1 may send messages to NIC5 through the optical switching matrix.

[0061] In a possible implementation, a transmitting end can be used as both a transmitting end and a receiving end of other transmitting ends, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. For example, when the transmitting end includes NIC1, NIC2, NIC3 and NIC4, the receiving end may also include NIC1, NIC2, NIC3 and NIC4. NIC1 can send a message to any NIC among NIC2, NIC3 and NIC4 through the optical switching matrix, and any NIC among NIC2, NIC3 and NIC4 can send a message to NIC1.

[0062] It should be understood that the above Figure 1 and Figure 2 This is an example of an optical switching system applicable to the embodiment of the present application, and does not actually limit the optical switching system applicable to the method of the embodiment of the present application. After introducing the optical switching system applicable to the embodiment of the present application by example, the method provided by the embodiment of the present application is introduced below in conjunction with the drawings.

[0063] In the accompanying drawings corresponding to the various embodiments of the present application, all steps indicated by dashed lines are optional steps. Figure 1 The sender involved may be Figure 2 Any NIC among NIC1 to NIC4 involved, the optical controller is, for example, Figure 1 or Figure 2 The optical controller involved, the optical switching matrix is ​​for example Figure 1 or Figure 2The optical switching matrix shown in FIG. Figure 1 The receiving end involved may be Figure 2 Any NIC involved in NIC5 to NIC8. If the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are applied to other similar optical switching systems, the names and / or functions of the components may vary, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0064] Please refer to Figure 3 , which is a schematic diagram of a path delay determination method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 3 The steps S301 to S306 are illustrated and these steps are introduced below respectively.

[0065] S301. A transmitting end sends a plurality of messages to an optical switching matrix in sequence.

[0066] Exemplarily, the transmitting end may store multiple messages in the first queue in sequence, and the transmitting end sends the messages in the first queue in sequence, which is equivalent to sending multiple messages in sequence. Optionally, any message in the multiple messages may carry a starting address, and the starting address is, for example, the address of the transmitting end. In order to simplify the description, the first message of the multiple messages sent by the transmitting end is referred to as the first message below. In the embodiment of the present application, the transmitting end sends the first message at the fourth moment, and the first message arrives at the optical switching matrix at the second moment. The fourth moment can be understood as the moment when the transmitting end sends the first message of the multiple messages, and the second moment can be the moment when the first message of the multiple messages sent by the transmitting end arrives at the optical switching matrix.

[0067] Optionally, the number of bits of any message in the multiple messages is the first number of bits, in other words, the number of bits of any two messages in the multiple messages are the same. The first number of bits is a positive integer, and the first number of bits can be represented by m, where m is 4, for example. In this optional implementation, it is assumed that the time required for the sender to send any message in the multiple messages is the first time, and the time required to send any message in the multiple messages is, for example, the time required for the sender to perform a sending action on the any message, specifically, for example, the time required for the sender to send the any message from the first queue. The first time is, for example, 300 nanoseconds (ns).

[0068] For example, see Figure 4 , is a schematic diagram of transmitting multiple messages provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 4As shown, the multiple messages include, for example, message 1, message 2 ... message n-1, message n and message n+1, and the sending end can send message 1, message 2 ... message n-1, message n and message n+1 to the optical switching matrix in sequence. The sending end sends the first message (i.e., message 1, also an example of the first message) among the multiple messages to the optical switching matrix at time T1 (i.e., an example of the fourth moment mentioned above), and by analogy, sends the nth message (i.e., message n) among the multiple messages to the optical switching matrix at time Tn.

[0069] In a possible implementation manner, the sending end may pre-store a relationship between any two adjacent messages among the multiple messages. In other words, the relationship may be used to identify any two adjacent messages among the multiple messages.

[0070] Optionally, the relationship may indicate, for example, that the values ​​of the order of any two adjacent messages in the multiple messages are increased in sequence, wherein the order of a message refers to the order in which the sender sends the message in the multiple messages. The value of the order of any message in the multiple messages may be obtained by performing a preset process on the content of any message, and the preset process is, for example, performing a decimal conversion on the content of the message. Alternatively, the content of any message in the multiple messages itself carries the order of the any message.

[0071] For example, a relationship is that the order values ​​of any two messages are increased in sequence, and the order value of any message is obtained by converting the content of any message into decimal. The multiple messages include message 3 and message 4, the content of message 3 is 0011, the content of message 4 is 0100, the order value of message 3 is 3, and the order value of message 4 is 4, which means that message 3 and message 4 are two adjacent messages in the multiple messages.

[0072] Optionally, the receiving end may pre-store the relationship. The relationship may be negotiated and configured by the sending end and the receiving end, or may be manually configured in the receiving end by a user, or may be configured in the receiving end by a protocol, which is not limited in the present embodiment of the application.

[0073] Alternatively, the optical controller may also pre-store the relationship, which may be configured by negotiation between the transmitter and the optical controller, or may be manually configured in the optical controller by a user, or may be configured in the optical controller by a protocol, or may be received by the optical controller from the transmitter. This embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

[0074] S302: The optical controller controls the optical switching matrix to start at the first moment.

[0075] For example, the optical controller may send a first signal to the control module in the optical exchange matrix, the first signal instructing to start the optical exchange matrix, and the control module in the optical exchange matrix controls the optical exchange matrix to start, specifically, for example, controls the optical switch in the optical exchange matrix to start. The first moment may be pre-stored in the optical controller, for example, the first moment may be manually configured in the optical controller. The first moment is later than the second moment, that is, the optical controller may control the optical exchange matrix to start after the first message arrives at the optical exchange matrix. Since the second moment is later than the fourth moment, the first moment is naturally later than the fourth moment.

[0076] S303: The optical switching matrix receives at least one message from the sending end.

[0077] Exemplarily, the transmitting end starts to send messages to the optical switching matrix from the fourth moment, but the optical switching matrix is ​​turned on at the first moment. Therefore, when the optical switching matrix is ​​not turned on (i.e., between the fourth moment and the first moment), the optical switching matrix does not receive messages from the transmitting end. In other words, between the fourth moment and the first moment, although the transmitting end sends messages to the optical switching matrix, the optical switching matrix does not actually receive these messages. After the optical switching matrix is ​​turned on at the first moment, the optical switching matrix starts to receive messages from the transmitting end. Since the first moment is later than the second moment, the messages that the optical switching matrix can receive from the transmitting end are part of the multiple messages. For the convenience of description, the message received by the optical switching matrix from the transmitting end is referred to as at least one message below.

[0078] It should be understood that the transmitting end sends multiple messages to the optical switching matrix in sequence, so the optical switching matrix also receives the at least one message from the transmitting end in sequence. In other words, the at least one message in the embodiment of the present application can be understood as the message accumulated by the optical switching matrix from the transmitting end. In addition, the messages in the at least one message may all be complete messages, and may also include an incomplete message (i.e., part of the content of a message), which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0079] Please continue to refer to Figure 4 , the sending end starts to send message 1, message 2... message n-1, message n and message n+1 in sequence at time T1 (i.e. an example of the fourth time above), and the optical switching matrix is ​​turned on at time Tswitch (i.e. an example of the first time above). After the optical switching matrix is ​​turned on, the message from the sending end can be received, such as Figure 4 As shown in FIG. 1 , the optical switching matrix does not receive message 1, message 2, ... message n-1 from the sending end, but only receives message n and message n+1 from the sending end, that is, message 1, message 2, ... message n-1 can be regarded as messages that have not passed through the optical switching matrix, and message n and message n+1 can be regarded as messages that have passed through the optical switching matrix. Figure 4In the example, message 1, message 2, ..., message n-1, message n and message n+1 are examples of multiple messages, and message n and message n+1 are examples of at least one message.

[0080] It should be understood that, since at least one message belongs to multiple messages, any two adjacent messages in the multiple messages satisfy the above relationship, and if at least one message is a complete message, any two adjacent messages in the at least one message also satisfy the above relationship. The content of the relationship can refer to the content discussed in S301 above, and will not be repeated here.

[0081] S304: The optical controller determines information of the second message.

[0082] The second message is a message in at least one message, and can be the first message received by the optical switching matrix in at least one message, or can be understood as the first complete message received by the optical switching matrix from the transmitting end. The information of the second message may include any one of the following A1 to A3, which are described below.

[0083] A1. Information of the third moment: The information of the third moment indicates the third moment, which is the moment when the sending end sends the second message.

[0084] A2. Content of the second message. The content of the second message is, for example, bits included in the second message.

[0085] A3. The order of the second message: The order of the second message refers to the order in which the sender sends the second message among multiple messages.

[0086] There are multiple ways for the optical controller to determine the information of the second message, for example, refer to the following method 1 and method 2, which are described below respectively.

[0087] Method 1: The optical controller receives information of the second message from the receiving end.

[0088] Method 1 is applicable to the case where the optical switching system includes a receiving end. In method 1, S304 may include S304a and S304b. Among them, S304a is: the optical switching matrix forwards at least one message to the receiving end. Correspondingly, the receiving end receives at least one message from the optical switching matrix. S304b is: the receiving end sends information of the second message to the optical controller. Correspondingly, the optical controller receives information of the second message from the receiving end. In method 1, the content of the information of the second message is different, and the way in which the optical controller determines the information of the second message is also different, which are introduced below.

[0089] B1. The information of the second message includes the content of A1 above (ie, the information at the third moment).

[0090] Exemplarily, the receiving end may sequentially receive at least one message from the optical switching matrix, and the receiving end may identify a second message from the at least one message, and determine a third moment based on the content of the second message to obtain information of the third moment.

[0091] The optical switching matrix can forward the messages received from the transmitting end to the receiving end in sequence. The second message is the first message received by the optical switching matrix from the transmitting end, and correspondingly, the second message is also the first message received by the receiving end from the optical switching matrix. Therefore, the receiving end can determine the first received message among the at least one message as the first message.

[0092] If the receiving end receives only messages from one sending end, the receiving end may regard the received messages as at least one message. If the receiving end receives messages from multiple sending ends, and in the case where multiple messages carry the address of the sending end, the receiving end may parse the messages received from the optical switching matrix and determine the message carrying the address of the sending end as at least one message.

[0093] Optionally, the receiving end may identify M consecutive messages from at least one message based on the relationship between any two adjacent messages in the multiple messages, where M is an integer greater than 1, and determine the first received message among the M messages as the second message.

[0094] Exemplarily, taking the value of the order of the message as the decimal conversion result of the content of the message as an example, the receiving end may adopt a continuous sliding window method to identify M consecutive messages.

[0095] For example, the receiving end performs sliding processing on the messages received from the optical switching matrix with K windows according to the preset step size. During the sliding process, the receiving end identifies the decimal conversion result of the content of the message in each window of the K windows. When the receiving end determines that the decimal conversion results of the contents of M messages are increasing in sequence, the M messages are determined to be continuous messages, and the first received message among the M messages is determined as the second message, or the message with the smallest value of the order of the contents of the M messages is determined as the second message. K is an integer greater than 1, and the length of each window in the K windows can be the length of a message (for example, the number of bits included in a message). The preset step size can be understood as the sliding length of the K windows each time they slide. The preset step size can be pre-configured in the receiving end. The preset step size is, for example, 1 bit, that is, 1 bit is slid each time.

[0096] Please refer to Figure 5 , is a schematic diagram of a process for identifying a second message provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 5 In the example, the content of at least one message received by the receiving end from the optical switching matrix is ​​specifically: 1110011010001010, and the value of K is 3, that is, the K windows include 3 windows (such as Figure 5 Take window a, window b and window c in the K windows as an example, and the length of any window in the K windows is 4 bits.

[0097] like Figure 5 As shown, based on window a, window b and window c, sliding on the message received from the optical switching matrix, the content of the message corresponding to window a is: 1110, and the decimal conversion result of the content of the message (that is, the value of the order of the message) is 14; the content of the message corresponding to window b is: 0110, and the decimal conversion result of the content of the message (that is, the value of the order of the message) is 6; the content of the message corresponding to window c is: 1000, and the decimal conversion result of the content of the message (that is, the value of the order of the message) is 8.

[0098] The receiving end determines that the decimal conversion results of the contents of the messages in which the three windows are located are not increasing in sequence, so the receiving end can perform the first slide on window a, window b and window c, that is, slide window a, window b and window c to the right by 1 bit. In this case, the content of the message corresponding to window a is: 1100, and the decimal conversion result of the content of the message (that is, the value of the order of the message) is 6; the content of the message corresponding to window b is: 1101, and the decimal conversion result of the content of the message (that is, the value of the order of the message) is 13; the content of the message corresponding to window c is: 0001, and the decimal conversion result of the content of the message (that is, the value of the order of the message) is 1.

[0099] The receiving end determines that the decimal conversion results of the contents of the messages in these three windows are not increasing in sequence, so the receiving end can perform a second slide on window a, window b, and window c, that is, continue to slide window a, window b, and window c to the right by 1 bit. In this case, the content of the message corresponding to window a is: 1001, and the decimal conversion result of the content of the message (that is, the value of the order of the message) is 9; the content of the message corresponding to window b is: 1010, and the decimal conversion result of the content of the message (that is, the value of the order of the message) is 6; the content of the message corresponding to window c is: 0010, and the decimal conversion result of the content of the message (that is, the value of the order of the message) is 2.

[0100] The receiving end determines that the decimal conversion results of the contents of the messages where the three windows are located are not increasing in sequence, so the receiving end can perform a third slide on window a, window b and window c, that is, continue to slide window a, window b and window c to the right by 1 bit. In this case, the content of the message corresponding to window a is: 0011, and the decimal conversion result of the content of the message (i.e., the value of the order of the message) is 3; the content of the message corresponding to window b is: 0100, and the decimal conversion result of the content of the message (i.e., the value of the order of the message) is 4; the content of the message corresponding to window c is: 0101, and the decimal conversion result of the content of the message (i.e., the value of the order of the message) is 5. Since the values ​​of the order of the messages where the three windows are located are increasing in sequence, the receiving end can determine that: 001101000101 is the content of three consecutive messages, and determine 0011, which has the smallest order value among the three consecutive messages, as the second message.

[0101] After identifying the second message, the receiving end may determine the value of the order of the second message based on the content of the second message. For example, the receiving end may determine the decimal conversion result of the content of the second message as the value of the order of the second message. Alternatively, in the case where the content of the second message carries the order of the second message, the receiving end may directly parse the second message to obtain the value of the order of the second message.

[0102] The receiving end may determine the third moment according to the value of the order of the second message. For example, the receiving end may determine the third moment based on the value of the order of the second message, the fourth moment and the first duration. The first duration is the duration required for the transmitting end to send any message among the multiple messages. The fourth moment may be the moment when the transmitting end sends the first message among the multiple messages, and may be obtained by the receiving end from the transmitting end. For example, the receiving end may obtain the fourth moment from the transmitting end through the optical controller.

[0103] For example, please refer to Figure 6 , is a schematic diagram of the principle of calculating the third moment provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 6 As shown, the time (i.e., an example of the fourth time) when the transmitting end sends the first message (such as message 1, which is an example of the first message) is T1, wherein each message includes m bits, so the time when the transmitting end sends the second message is the sum of the fourth time and the product of the order of the second message and the first time length. For example, a calculation formula for the third time may conform to the following formula (1).

[0104] T n =T1+n*s1 (1)

[0105] Among them, T nrepresents the third time, T1 represents the fourth time, n represents the value of the order of the second message, and s1 represents the first duration. The first duration can also be expressed as m*s2, where m is the number of bits included in a message (such as the first number of bits), and s2 is the duration required for the sender to transmit one bit.

[0106] In another possible implementation, the receiving end may obtain the third moment from the transmitting end based on the value of the order of the second message. The receiving end may send a first request message to the transmitting end. Accordingly, the transmitting end receives the first request message from the receiving end. The receiving end may also send the first request message to the transmitting end through the optical controller. The first request message is used to request information of the second message (such as information of the third moment). For example, the first request message may include the value of the order of the second message. After receiving the first request message, the transmitting end may determine the second message and send the information of the third moment to the receiving end. The transmitting end may record the information of the third moment when sending the second message, or the transmitting end may determine the third moment based on the fourth moment, the value of the order of the second message and the first duration. The embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this.

[0107] After receiving the information of the third moment, the receiving end may send the third moment determined above as information of the second message to the optical controller.

[0108] B2, the information of the second message is the information shown in A2 above (i.e., the content of the second message). The content of the second message is, for example, the bits included in the second message. The way in which the receiving end identifies the content of the second message can refer to the second message identifying the content of the second message in B1 above. For example, the receiving end can identify M messages from at least one message, and identify the second message from the M messages. The repeated parts are not listed again. After the receiving end identifies the content of the second message, the content of the second message can be sent to the optical controller as the information of the second message.

[0109] For example, the receiving end identifies M consecutive messages from at least one message: 001101000101, determines 0011 with the smallest order value among the three consecutive messages as the second message, and then sends the bit 0011 contained in the second message to the optical controller.

[0110] B3. The information of the second message is the information shown in A3 above (ie, the order of the second message). The order of the second message refers to the order in which the sender sends the second message among multiple messages.

[0111] The receiving end may refer to the above method B1 to identify the second message, thereby determining the order of the second message based on the content of the second message. For example, the receiving end may perform decimal conversion on the content of the second message to obtain the order of the second message. Alternatively, the receiving end analyzes the content of the second message to obtain the order of the second message.

[0112] For example, the receiving end refers to the content discussed in the previous B1, that is, recognizes that the second message is 0011, determines that the order of the second message is 3, and then sends the order of the second message (ie, 3) to the optical controller.

[0113] The above is an introduction to the way in which the receiving end determines the information of the second message, and in fact does not limit the way in which the receiving end determines the information of the second message.

[0114] Mode 2: The optical controller determines the information of the second message based on at least one message. In this mode, S304 may specifically include the contents of S304c and S304d. Among them, S304c is that the optical switching matrix sends at least one message to the optical controller. Correspondingly, the optical controller receives at least one message from the optical switching matrix. S304d is that the optical controller determines the information of the second message based on at least one message.

[0115] The information of the second message is different, and the manner in which the optical controller determines the information of the second message is also different, which are respectively introduced below.

[0116] C1. The information of the second message includes the content shown in A1 above (ie, the information at the third moment).

[0117] The optical controller can identify M consecutive messages from at least one message, and determine the second message from the M messages, thereby obtaining the content of the second message. The way in which the optical controller identifies the M messages can refer to the way in which the receiving end identifies the content of the M messages in the above B1 method, and the repeated parts are not repeated. The optical controller can determine the first received message among the M messages as the second message, or can also determine the message with the smallest order value among the M messages as the second message.

[0118] In a possible implementation, the receiving end may perform an operation on the fourth moment, the order of the second message, and the first duration based on the above formula (1) to determine the third moment. The first duration is the duration required for the sending end to send any message among the multiple messages. The fourth moment may be the moment when the sending end sends the first message among the multiple messages, and may be obtained by the receiving end from the sending end.

[0119] In another possible implementation, the optical controller may obtain the third moment from the transmitting end based on the value of the order of the second message. The optical controller sends a second request message to the transmitting end. Correspondingly, the receiving end receives the second request message from the optical controller. The second request message is used to request information of the second message (such as information of the third moment). For example, the second request message may include the value of the order of the second message. After receiving the first request message, the transmitting end may directly send the information of the third moment to the optical controller. The method for the transmitting end to obtain the third moment may refer to the method B1 above, in which the receiving end obtains the content of the third moment based on formula (1), which will not be repeated here. Alternatively, the transmitting end may record the information of the third moment when sending the second message.

[0120] C2, the information of the second message is the information shown in A2 above (i.e., the content of the second message). The content of the second message is, for example, the bits included in the second message. The light controller can identify the content of the second message in the manner discussed in C1 above, and the repetitions are not listed here.

[0121] C3. The information of the second message is the information shown in A3 above (ie, the order of the second message).

[0122] The receiving end can refer to the above-mentioned C1 method to identify the second message, and thus determine the order of the second message based on the content of the second message. For example, the optical controller can perform decimal conversion on the content of the second message to obtain the order of the second message, or analyze the content of the second message to obtain the order of the second message.

[0123] The above S304a-S304b and S304c-S304d are two ways for the optical controller to determine the information of the second message. When the optical controller uses one of the ways to determine the information of the second message, there is no need to perform the steps corresponding to the other way. Therefore, S304a-S304b and S304c-S304d are optional steps. Figure 3 Indicated by dotted line.

[0124] S305: The optical controller determines a third time according to information of the second message.

[0125] The information of the second message is different, and the way in which the optical controller determines the third moment based on the information of the second message is also different, which are explained below respectively.

[0126] D1, the information of the second message includes the content of A1 (ie, the information of the third moment). In this case, the light controller can directly determine the third moment according to the information of the second message.

[0127] D2. The information of the second message is the information shown in A2 above (ie, the content of the second message).

[0128] Under D2, the optical controller can directly send the content of the second message to the transmitter based on the content of the second message, and receive the information of the third moment from the transmitter. Alternatively, the optical controller can determine the order of the second message based on the content of the second message, and then send the order of the second message to the transmitter, and receive the information of the third moment from the transmitter. Alternatively, the optical controller can determine the order of the second message based on the content of the second message, and receive the information of the fourth moment from the transmitter, and then the transmitter can determine the third moment according to the order of the second message, the fourth moment and the first duration, wherein the specific content of determining the third moment can refer to the content of determining the third moment by the receiving end in the previous text, for example, the third moment can be calculated by referring to the formula (1) in the previous text.

[0129] D3. The information of the second message is the information shown in A3 above (ie, the order of the second message).

[0130] Under D3, the way in which the optical controller determines the third time based on the order of the second message can refer to the content discussed in C1 above, and the repeated parts will not be repeated here.

[0131] S306: The optical controller determines the difference between the first moment and the third moment as the path delay.

[0132] After determining the third moment, the optical controller can directly determine the difference between the first moment and the third moment as the path delay. Path delay refers to the path delay between the optical switching matrix and the transmitter, or can be understood as the time required for the message to be transmitted from the transmitter to the optical switching matrix.

[0133] Continue to refer to Figure 4 For example, the light controller can set the difference between Tn (i.e., an example of the first moment) and Tswicth (i.e., an example of the third moment) (in Figure 4 Δt) is determined as the path delay.

[0134] Above Figure 3 The method for determining the path delay between the transmitter and the optical switching matrix is ​​used as an example for introduction. In fact, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to determine the path delay between multiple transmitters and the optical switching matrix in parallel. The method for determining the path delay between any transmitter and the optical switching matrix can refer to the above Figure 3 The contents discussed are not repeated here. For example, multiple sending ends can be Figure 2 At least two NICs among NIC1 to NIC4 are involved.

[0135] In a possible implementation, after the optical controller determines the path delay between each of the multiple transmitters and the optical switching matrix (that is, equivalent to obtaining multiple path delays), the time when some or all of the multiple transmitters send messages to the optical switching matrix can be adjusted according to the multiple path delays, so that the time when the messages of the multiple transmitters arrive at the optical switching matrix is ​​aligned (also called entry alignment). Alignment can be understood as the same or similar time. For example, the optical controller can use the first transmitter among the multiple transmitters as a reference to adjust the time when other transmitters among the multiple transmitters except the first transmitter send messages to the optical switching matrix. The first transmitter is, for example, a transmitter with the largest path delay among the multiple transmitters.

[0136] For example, if (T other_delay -T delay1 ) is less than 0, then the optical controller can control other transmitters to advance |T other_delay -T delay1 |Send a message to the optical switching matrix. If (T other_delay -T delay1 ) is equal to 0, then the optical controller does not need to check the time when other sending ends send messages to the optical switching matrix. other_delay -T delay1 ) is greater than 0, then the optical controller can control the delay of other transmitters |T other_delay -T delay1 |Send a message to the optical switching matrix. Where |T other_delay -T delay1 | indicates T other_delay With T delay1 The absolute value of the difference.

[0137] Among them, T other_delay represents the path delay between other transmitters and the optical switching matrix, T delay1 Represents the path delay between the first transmitting end and the optical switching matrix.

[0138] Figure 7 A schematic diagram illustrating the path delay between multiple transmitters and an optical switching matrix. Figure 7 As shown, the multiple transmitters include transmitter 1, transmitter 2, transmitter 3 and transmitter 4, and the path delays between transmitter 1, transmitter 2, transmitter 3 and transmitter 4 and the optical switching matrix are respectively: T delay1 , T delay2 , T delay3 and T delay4 .

[0139] For example, T delay1 Greater than delay2 , T delay3 and T delay4In this example, the optical controller can control the transmitter 2 to delay the transmission of |T compared to the transmitter 1. delay2 -T delay1 |, the optical controller can control the transmitter 3 to delay the transmission compared to the transmitter 1 |T delay3 -T delay1 |, the optical controller can control the transmitter 4 to delay the transmission compared to the transmitter 1 |T delay4 -T delay1 |, so that the messages from sender 1, sender 2, sender 3 and sender 4 can arrive at the optical switching matrix at almost the same time.

[0140] Or, T delay1 Less than delay2 , T delay3 and T delay4 In this example, the optical controller can control the transmitter 2 to send |T earlier than the transmitter 1. delay2 -T delay1 |, the optical controller can control the transmitter 3 to send |T earlier than the transmitter 1 delay3 -T delay1 |, the optical controller can control the transmitter 4 to send |T earlier than the transmitter 1 delay4 -T delay1 |, so that the messages from sender 1, sender 2, sender 3 and sender 4 can arrive at the optical switching matrix at almost the same time.

[0141] Figure 8 A schematic diagram illustrating a method of adjusting and aligning the time slices before and after the moment when the sending end sends a message. Figure 8 (1) shows the time slices when the time when the sender 1, the sender 2, the sender 3 and the sender 4 send messages to the optical switching matrix is ​​not aligned (referred to as no alignment). Figure 8 (2) shows the time slices when aligning the time when sender 1, sender 2, sender 3 and sender 4 send messages to the optical switching matrix (referred to as alignment). It can be seen that compared with the time slices without alignment, the time slices in the aligned case are smaller, which is beneficial to improving the optical switching efficiency of the optical switching matrix.

[0142] The present application embodiment provides a path delay determination device. Fig. 9 , is a schematic diagram of a path delay determination device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The path delay determination device 900 can be used to implement the functions of any optical controller or receiving end described above, and accordingly, can also implement the steps performed by the optical controller or receiving end described above.

[0143] like Fig. 9As shown, the path delay determination device 900 includes a processing module 910 and a transceiver module 920. The processing module 910 and the transceiver module 920 can be implemented by software or hardware. Exemplarily, the implementation of the processing module 910 is described below by taking the processing module 910 as an example. Similarly, the implementation of the processing module 910 can refer to the implementation of the transceiver module 920.

[0144] As an example of a software functional unit, the processing module 910 may include code running on a computing instance. Among them, the computing instance may include at least one of a physical host (computing device), a virtual machine, and a container. Further, the above-mentioned computing instance may be one or more. For example, the processing module 910 may include code running on multiple hosts / virtual machines / containers. It should be noted that the multiple hosts / virtual machines / containers used to run the code may be distributed in the same region (region) or in different regions. Furthermore, the multiple hosts / virtual machines / containers used to run the code may be distributed in the same availability zone (AZ) or in different AZs, each AZ including a data center or multiple data centers with close geographical locations. Among them, usually a region may include multiple AZs.

[0145] Similarly, multiple hosts / virtual machines / containers used to run the code can be distributed in the same virtual private cloud (VPC) or in multiple VPCs. Usually, a VPC is set up in a region. For cross-region communication between two VPCs in the same region and between VPCs in different regions, a communication gateway needs to be set up in each VPC to achieve interconnection between VPCs through the communication gateway.

[0146] As an example of a hardware functional unit, the processing module 910 may be a device implemented by an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a programmable logic device (PLD). The PLD may be a complex programmable logical device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a generic array logic (GAL) or any combination thereof.

[0147] The multiple computing devices included in the processing module 910 can be distributed in the same region or in different regions. The multiple computing devices included in the processing module 910 can be distributed in the same AZ or in different AZs. Similarly, the multiple computing devices included in the processing module 910 can be distributed in the same VPC or in multiple VPCs. The multiple computing devices can be any combination of computing devices such as servers, ASICs, PLDs, CPLDs, FPGAs, and GALs.

[0148] In one embodiment, the path delay determination device 900 can be used to implement the above Figure 3 The functions of the light controller involved. Figure 3 The steps performed by the light controller involved. Exemplarily, the processing module 910 can implement the steps S302 and S304-S306. Optionally, the transceiver module 920 can be used to perform the step S304c.

[0149] In another embodiment, the path delay determination device 900 can be used to implement the above Figure 3 The functions of the receiving end involved. Correspondingly, the above Figure 3 The steps performed by the receiving end involved. Exemplarily, the transceiver module 920 can implement the above steps S304a and S304b under the control of the processing module 910.

[0150] Among them, the above-mentioned Figure 3 The various steps can be referred to in the previous article Figure 3 The contents of each step involved will not be repeated here.

[0151] The present application embodiment provides a path delay determination device (or equipment). Fig.10 , is a schematic diagram of the structure of a path delay determination device 1000 provided in an embodiment of the present application. Fig.10 As shown, the path delay determination device 1000 includes a processor 1010 and a communication interface 1020. Optionally, the path delay determination device 1000 also includes a memory 1030. Fig.10 Indicated by a dotted frame.

[0152] The processor 1010, the communication interface 1020 and the memory 1030 can communicate with each other via a bus. The path delay determination device 1000 can be an optical controller or a receiving end. It should be understood that the embodiment of the present application does not limit the number of processors and memories in the path delay determination device 1000.

[0153] The bus can be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, Fig.10 The bus is represented by only one line, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus. The bus may include a path for transmitting information between various components of the path delay determination device 1000 (for example, the processor 1010, the communication interface 1020, and the memory 1030).

[0154] The processor 1010 may include any one or more of a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a microprocessor (MP), or a digital signal processor (DSP). The communication interface 1020 uses, for example, but not limited to, a transceiver module such as a network interface card or a transceiver.

[0155] The memory 1030 may include a volatile memory, such as a random access memory (RAM). The memory 1030 may also include a non-volatile memory, such as a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory, a hard disk drive (HDD), or a solid state drive (SSD).

[0156] In one possible embodiment, the path delay determination device 1000 may be any of the above optical controllers, or implement the functions of any of the above optical controllers. In another possible embodiment, the path delay determination device 1000 may be any of the above transmitting ends, or implement the functions of any of the above transmitting ends.

[0157] Exemplarily, the memory 1030 stores executable program codes, and the processor 1010 executes the executable program codes to respectively implement the aforementioned Fig. 9 The functions of the processing module 910 in the above text can be realized by the communication interface 1020. Fig. 9The functions of the transceiver module 920 in the processing module 910 and the transceiver module 920 are implemented to realize any of the path delay determination methods described above. That is, the memory 1030 stores instructions for executing any of the path delay determination methods. The functions of the processing module 910 and the transceiver module 920 can be referred to in the above Fig. 9 The content of the discussion.

[0158] Alternatively, the memory 1030 stores executable codes, and the processor 1010 executes the executable codes to respectively implement the aforementioned Fig. 9 The functions of the processing module 910 in the above text can be realized by the communication interface 1020. Fig. 9 The function of the transceiver module 920 in the embodiment of the present invention is implemented to realize any of the above path delay determination methods. That is, the memory 1030 stores instructions for executing any of the above path delay determination methods.

[0159] The embodiment of the present application provides an optical switching system, which includes an optical controller and may also include a transmitting end. The optical controller is, for example, Figure 3 The light controller involved, accordingly, the light controller can realize the above Figure 3 The functions of the light controller involved, or the execution Figure 3 The steps performed by the optical controller. The sending end is, for example, Figure 3 The sending end involved, accordingly, the sending end can implement the above Figure 3 The functions involved in sending, or executing Figure 3 The steps performed by the sender in .

[0160] Optionally, the optical switching system further includes a transmitting end and an optical switching matrix. Figure 3 The sending end involved, accordingly, the sending end can implement the above Figure 3 The functions involved in sending, or executing Figure 3 The steps performed by the sending end in the optical switching matrix are as follows: Figure 3 The optical switching matrix involved. For example, the optical switching matrix is Figure 3 The optical switching matrix involved, accordingly, the optical switching matrix can realize the above Figure 3 The functions of the optical switching matrix involved, or the execution Figure 3 Steps performed by the optical switching matrix.

[0161] An embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which is used to store a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed, any of the above-mentioned path delay determination methods is implemented. For example, Figure 3The method for determining the path delay involved. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be stored by a computing device or a data storage device such as a data center that includes one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid-state hard disk).

[0162] The embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product including instructions, which, when executed on a computer, implements any of the above-mentioned methods for determining path delay, for example, Figure 3 The path delay determination method involved. The computer program product may be a software or program product containing instructions that can be run on a computing device or stored in any available medium.

[0163] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by hardware, or by a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, an erasable programmable read-only memory, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, a register, a hard disk, a mobile hard disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be a component of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a base station or a terminal. Of course, the processor and the storage medium can also be present in a base station or a terminal as discrete components.

[0164] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instruction is loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is executed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device or other programmable device. The computer program or instruction may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer program or instruction may be transmitted from one website site, computer, server or data center to another website site, computer, server or data center by wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape; it may also be an optical medium, for example, a digital video disc; it may also be a semiconductor medium, for example, a solid-state hard disk. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or nonvolatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile types of storage media.

[0165] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or provided for in any logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between the different embodiments are consistent and may be referenced to each other, and the technical features in the different embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0166] It is understood that the various numbers involved in the embodiments of the present application are only for the convenience of description and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the sequence number of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic.

Claims

1. A method for determining path delay, characterized in that: include: Controlling the optical switching matrix to start at a first moment, wherein the first moment is later than a second moment, the second moment is the moment when a first message sent by a transmitter to the optical switching matrix arrives at the optical switching matrix, and the first message is the first message among multiple messages sent sequentially by the transmitter to the optical switching matrix; Determine information of a second message, and determine a third moment according to the information of the second message, wherein the second message is a first message received by the optical switching matrix in at least one message, and the third moment is a moment when the transmitting end sends the second message, and the at least one message is received by the optical switching matrix from the transmitting end and belongs to the multiple messages; The path delay between the optical switching matrix and the transmitting end is determined as the difference between the first moment and the third moment.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The information of the second message includes one of the following: Information about the third moment; content of the second message, wherein the content of the second message is used to determine the order of the second message; or, the order of the second messages; The order of the second message refers to the order in which the sender sends the second message among the multiple messages, and the third moment is the sum of the fourth moment and the product of the value of the order of the second message and the first time length, wherein the first time length is the time length required for the sender to send a message, and the fourth moment is the moment when the sender sends the first message, and the fourth moment is obtained from the sender.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Controlling the optical switching matrix to forward the at least one message to a receiving end; Determine the information of the second message, including: Receive information of the second message fed back by the receiving end.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: Determining information of the second message includes: Based on the relationship between any two adjacent messages in the plurality of pre-stored messages, identifying M consecutive messages from the at least one message, where M is an integer greater than 1; From the M messages, identify information of the second message.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The relationship indicates that the order values ​​of any two adjacent messages in the multiple messages are increased in sequence, and the M messages are M messages whose order values ​​in the at least one message are increased in sequence; The second message is a message with the smallest order value among the M messages.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The third moment is the sum of the fourth moment and the product of the value of the order of the second message and the first time length, wherein the first time length is the time length required for the sender to send a message, and the fourth moment is the moment when the sender sends the first message, and the fourth moment is obtained from the sender.

7. A method for determining path delay, characterized in that: include: receiving at least one message from an optical switching matrix, and determining information of a second message in the at least one message, wherein the second message is a first message received from the optical switching matrix; Sending information of the second message to the optical controller, where the information of the second message is used by the optical controller to determine a third moment, and to determine that the path delay between the optical switching matrix and the transmitting end is the difference between the first moment and the third moment; Among them, the third moment is the moment when the transmitting end sends the second message, the first moment is the moment when the optical exchange matrix is ​​turned on, the first moment is later than the second moment, the second moment is the moment when the first message sent by the transmitting end to the optical exchange matrix arrives at the optical exchange matrix, and the first message is the first message among multiple messages sent sequentially by the transmitting end to the optical exchange matrix.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The information of the second message includes one of the following: Information about the third moment; content of the second message, wherein the content of the second message is used to determine the order of the second message; or, the order of the second messages; The order of the second message refers to the order in which the sender sends the second message among the multiple messages, and the third moment is the sum of the fourth moment and the product of the value of the order of the second message and the first time length, wherein the first time length is the time length required for the sender to send a message, and the fourth moment is the moment when the sender sends the first message, and the fourth moment is obtained from the sender.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The third moment is the sum of the fourth moment and the product of the value of the order of the second message and the first time length, wherein the first time length is the time length required for the sender to send a message, and the fourth moment is the moment when the sender sends the first message, and the fourth moment is obtained from the sender.

10. The method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that: Determining information of a second message in the at least one message includes: Based on the relationship between any two adjacent messages in the at least one pre-stored message, identify M consecutive messages in the at least one message, where M is an integer greater than 1; From the M messages, identify information of the second message.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The relationship indicates that the order values ​​of any two adjacent messages in the at least one message are increased in sequence, and the M messages are M messages whose order values ​​in the at least one message are increased in sequence; The second message is a message with the smallest order value among the M messages.

12. A path delay determination device, characterized in that: include: A module for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6; or, A module for executing the method according to any one of claims 7 to 11.

13. An optical switching system, characterized in that: include: Transmitter, optical controller, optical switching matrix and receiver, where: The transmitting end is used to send multiple messages to the optical switching matrix; The optical switching matrix is ​​used to forward the at least one message received from the transmitting end to the receiving end; The light controller is used to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6; The receiving end is used to execute the method as described in any one of claims 7-11.

14. A path delay determination device, characterized in that: include: A processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is used to receive a signal from another device outside the device and transmit it to the processor, or to send a signal from the processor to another device outside the device, and the processor implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 or the method according to any one of claims 7 to 11 by executing code instructions.

15. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The storage medium stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 or the method according to any one of claims 7 to 11 is implemented.

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