Distributed Watchdog Timer Token Exchange

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional watchdog systems in distributed environments face security risks due to a single point of failure/attack and resource burdens on top-level supervisory functions, which do not effectively monitor the operational status of individual watchdogs.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a distributed watchdog system where each watchdog communicates with its neighbors, sharing activity tokens to detect failures and reset timers, thereby distributing the monitoring burden and enhancing redundancy.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a top-level supervisory function is used to manage all watchdogs, then centralized monitoring is achieved, but security risk increases due to single point of failure/attack

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesystem reliabilityVSAvoidsecurity risk

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent divides the centralized supervisory function into distributed watchdog components that each monitor their own monitored functions and communicate with neighboring watchdogs. This segmentation eliminates the single point of failure at the top-level supervisor by distributing monitoring capabilities across multiple independent watchdog instances throughout the system.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

2Reliability

If a top-level supervisory function monitors all watchdogs, then centralized control is achieved, but resource burden and processing load increase on the supervisor

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemonitoring coverageVSAvoidprocessing burden

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The monitoring workload is segmented and distributed to individual watchdog components, each responsible for monitoring its own monitored function and exchanging status information with neighboring watchdogs. This eliminates the heavy processing burden on a single top-level supervisor by distributing the monitoring tasks across multiple lightweight watchdog instances.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Each watchdog component performs self-monitoring of its associated monitored function and autonomously exchanges status information with neighboring watchdogs. This self-service approach eliminates the need for a resource-intensive top-level supervisor to actively query and manage all watchdogs, as each watchdog independently maintains its own monitoring status.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

3Reliability

If a top-level supervisory function is used, then centralized management is achieved, but the ability to detect watchdog failures is limited

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemonitoring capabilityVSAvoidwatchdog operational status

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a feedback mechanism where watchdog components exchange status information (tokens) with neighboring watchdogs. Each watchdog can detect the operational status of its neighbors through this feedback loop, enabling the system to identify failed watchdogs without requiring a top-level supervisor to actively check each watchdog's operational status.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentUS11579957B1Distributed watchdog timer and active token exchange

Publication Date: 2023.02.14 XILINX INC

AI summary

A system includes a plurality of watchdog components. Each watchdog component is configured to receive a kick signal from its monitored function to determine whether the monitored function is active. Each watchdog component is further configured to receive a respective token from all watchdog components that the each watchdog component is connected to. The respective token determines whether its respective watchdog component has timed out. Each watchdog component is further configured to generate a token responsive to the kick signal and further responsive to the respective token from all watchdog component that the each watchdog component is connected to. Each watchdog component is further configured to transmit the generated token to the all watchdog components that the each watchdog component is connected to.