IGMP Router Counter-Based Timing Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing IGMP GMQ process requires a large number of timers to enforce response time limits for a large number of hosts and channels, leading to significant processing resource usage and inefficiency.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system where counters are used instead of timers to track response times for each host and channel combination, with a single timer for all combinations and programmable robustness parameter, allowing for efficient enforcement of response time limits and channel removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a timer is used for each host and channel combination to enforce response time limits, then the response time limit enforcement is accurate and reliable, but the processing resources required become very significant
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the timing function for all host and channel combinations into a single shared timer. Instead of having separate timers for each host-channel pair, one timer service is created that is shared across all combinations, reducing the number of timer objects from potentially thousands to a manageable number while maintaining accurate response time enforcement through counter variables.
Solution Approach 2:
The single timer service is designed to be universal and multi-functional, serving all host and channel combinations simultaneously. The timer can track multiple response times by using counter variables indexed by host and channel identifiers, allowing one timer to perform the function of many individual timers.
2Measurement precision
If a timer is provided for each host and channel combination, then individual response time tracking is precise, but the device complexity increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple individual timers into a single timer service. The complexity of managing thousands of separate timer objects is eliminated by merging them into one timer that uses counter variables to track individual response times for each host and channel combination.
Solution Approach 2:
Counter variables are introduced as intermediary data structures between the single timer and the host-channel combinations. These counters serve as mediators that allow the single timer to track and enforce response times for multiple individual combinations without requiring separate timer objects for each.
3Reliability
If timers are used to track response times for all hosts and channels, then response timeliness is enforced, but the cumulative processing resources required encroach upon other functions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple timer resources into a single shared timer service, dramatically reducing the cumulative processing resource consumption. Instead of allocating separate timer resources for each host and channel combination, the system uses one timer with counter variables to track all combinations, freeing up processing resources for other router functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the fundamental parameter of timer organization from multiple independent timer objects to a single timer object with indexed counter variables. This parameter change transforms the resource consumption model from linear scaling with the number of host-channel combinations to a constant resource usage regardless of the number of combinations.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for performing IGMP at an router, GMQ on homes serviced by the IGMP router or channels. Each channel has a corresponding broadcast group characterized in that a plurality of the counters are provided at the IGMP router. Each counter is associated with the unique host and channel combination and is incremented after a response time interval, which begins when the IGMP router sends a GMQ message to the host, has elapsed and the IGMP router has failed to receive a Join report for the host and channel combination associated with that counter and responsive to a counter being equal to a selected robustness parameter, the host and channel combination associated with the counter is dropped from the broadcast group corresponding to the channel of that host and channel combination.