Network Device Beacon Offload for Data Flow Management

Solution Overview

Problem

In network devices, messages between the service plane and forwarding plane components often get lost, and existing control processors consume substantial resources and cause latency in determining whether messages have been received, making it difficult to manage data flows effectively.

Innovation Solution

The method involves a service plane component providing an offload request to a forwarding plane component to bypass the service plane and transmit data flows directly to a destination device, with the forwarding plane component sending beacons to the service plane to provide information about offloaded data flows, allowing the service plane to process and manage these flows without receiving them directly.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If control processors are used to determine whether messages have been received between service plane and forwarding plane components, then message delivery reliability can be improved, but resource consumption increases and latency is introduced

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemessage delivery reliabilityVSAvoidcontrol processor resource consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the message acknowledgment function from the control processor and implements it directly in the forwarding plane component through beacon messages. The forwarding plane component now independently tracks which service plane messages have been received and sends beacon messages to confirm receipt, eliminating the need for control processor intervention in this specific function and reducing control processor resource consumption.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The forwarding plane component serves itself by autonomously determining message receipt status and generating beacon messages to confirm delivery to the service plane. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for external control processor involvement in tracking message delivery, thereby reducing resource consumption while maintaining reliability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

2Reliability

If control processors are used to track message receipt status between service plane and forwarding plane components, then message delivery reliability can be improved, but transmission latency increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemessage delivery reliabilityVSAvoiddata flow transmission latency

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the message acknowledgment function from the control processor and implements it directly in the forwarding plane component through beacon messages. The forwarding plane component now independently tracks which service plane messages have been received and sends beacon messages to confirm receipt, eliminating the need for control processor intervention in this specific function and reducing control processor resource consumption.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The forwarding plane component serves itself by autonomously determining message receipt status and generating beacon messages to confirm delivery to the service plane. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for external control processor involvement in tracking message delivery, thereby reducing resource consumption while maintaining reliability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

3Measurement precision

If service plane components directly receive and process all data flows, then processing accuracy can be maintained, but processing speed and efficiency decrease

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata flow processing accuracyVSAvoiddata flow processing speed

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments data flow processing into two distinct planes: the service plane handles control and management functions with high accuracy requirements, while the forwarding plane handles high-speed data packet forwarding. This segmentation allows each plane to be optimized for its specific function, with the forwarding plane achieving high throughput through hardware acceleration while the service plane maintains processing accuracy for control operations.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces beacon messages as an intermediary mechanism that enables the service plane to accurately track and manage offloaded data flows without directly receiving them. The beacons carry information about offloaded flows, allowing the service plane to maintain processing accuracy through indirect monitoring while the forwarding plane handles actual high-speed data transmission.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS10547549B2Processing data flows based on information provided via beacons

Publication Date: 2020.01.28 JUNIPER NETWORKS INC

AI summary

A first component of a network device may provide an offload request to a second component of the network device to offload a data flow from the first component. The offload request may direct the second component to provide the data flow towards a destination device and bypass the first component. The first component may receive a beacon from the second component. The beacon may identify information regarding one or more data flows offloaded from the first component. The first component may process the one or more data flows based on the information regarding the one or more data flows included in the beacon and without receiving the one or more data flows.