Centralized Synchronizing Device for Distributed Transaction Flow Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
In large distributed systems, the increasing complexity and number of transaction request generators and recipients lead to high hardware and bandwidth requirements for synchronizing transactions, making it challenging to maintain order and control flow without complex handshaking mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A centralized synchronizing device that receives and processes system synchronizing requests, generates and multicasts synchronizing requests to relevant devices, collects responses, and determines when all responses have been received, thereby reducing the need for individual transaction generators to have their own synchronization circuitry and simplifying flow control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If each transaction request generator implements its own synchronization circuitry to generate and distribute synchronizing requests and gather responses, then synchronization capability is provided at each node, but hardware complexity and bandwidth requirements increase significantly in large distributed systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the synchronization functionality from multiple distributed transaction request generators into a single centralized synchronizing device. This central device performs all synchronization operations including generating synchronizing requests, multicasting them to recipient devices, and gathering responses, thereby eliminating the need for each generator to have its own synchronization circuitry and reducing overall hardware complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The centralized synchronizing device acts as an intermediary between transaction request generators and recipient devices. It receives synchronization requests from generators, processes them by generating and distributing appropriate synchronizing requests to recipients, collects responses, and returns results to generators, thereby simplifying the synchronization mechanism while maintaining system-wide coordination
2Ease of operation
If each transaction request generator implements its own synchronization circuitry to track responses from multiple destinations, then synchronization control is maintained, but the circuitry required in each generator becomes increasingly complex with more devices
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex synchronization control functionality from individual transaction request generators and relocates it to a dedicated centralized synchronizing device. This extraction removes the burden of implementing and maintaining complex response tracking circuitry from each generator, while the centralized device is specifically designed to handle these synchronization operations efficiently
Solution Approach 2:
The centralized synchronizing device serves as an intermediary that handles all complex synchronization control operations. It receives simple synchronization requests from generators, performs the complex tasks of generating multiple synchronizing requests, tracking responses from multiple destinations, and determining when all responses are received, then returns results to generators, thereby simplifying their operation
3Stability of the object's composition
If multiple barrier transactions are generated and multicast to follow transaction requests whose progress is being monitored, then ordering of transactions is maintained, but bandwidth requirements increase in large distributed systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the generation and distribution of multiple barrier transactions into a single centralized operation performed by the synchronizing device. Instead of each generator creating and managing multiple barrier requests, the central device consolidates this function, generating the necessary barrier transactions and distributing them efficiently, thereby reducing redundant traffic and bandwidth consumption while maintaining transaction ordering
Data Source
AI summary
A centralised synchronizing device for determining progress of at least a subset of transaction requests that are transmitted through a data processing system. A system synchronizing request is a request generated by one of the plurality of transaction generating devices and queries progress of a subset of the transaction requests. The synchronizing device includes: at least one port to and from the data processing system; a multicast circuitry configured to output a plurality of synchronizing requests for multicast to at least some of the devices within the data processing system where the requests query the progress of the subset of the transaction requests. Gather circuitry collects responses to the requests confirming that the queried progress has occurred at the respective devices. The gather circuitry determines when responses to all of the requests have been received and outputs a response to the system synchronizing request.