Network Jitter Shaping via Packet Annotation and Timing Recreation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Network interfaces face challenges in managing burstiness and jitter in packet traffic, leading to potential throttling or discarding of packets, which can result in resource wastage and adverse effects on applications, due to limitations in bandwidth and input constraints.
Innovation Solution
A sophisticated controller annotates packets with time relationship information to manage bandwidth and burst tolerances, and a simpler jitter shaper at the end of the pipeline recreates the original timing to minimize additional latency and buffering needs, ensuring compliance with downstream bandwidth limits.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sophisticated controller annotates packets with time relationship information to manage bandwidth and burst tolerances, then traffic flow compliance with downstream limits is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the jitter shaping function into two separate components: a sophisticated controller at the input that annotates packets with time relationship information, and a simpler shaper at the output that uses these annotations to recreate timing. This segmentation allows the complex control logic to be isolated to one component while keeping the other component simple, resolving the contradiction between reliability and overall device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The sophisticated controller performs preliminary annotation of packets with time relationship information before they enter the pipeline. This preliminary action captures the essential timing requirements upfront, allowing the downstream shaper to simply follow the annotations without needing complex control logic, thus improving compliance while managing complexity.
2Stability of the object's composition
If jitter shaper recreates original timing at the end of pipeline, then post-scheduling burstiness is reduced, but additional latency is introduced
Solution Approach 1:
The jitter shaper creates a copy of the original timing information from the annotations and uses this copied timing data to reshape the packet flow. By copying rather than recalculating timing, the system can restore original timing characteristics without introducing additional processing delays, thus reducing burstiness while minimizing latency.
3Reliability
If network interface manages burstiness to prevent packet discarding, then packet loss is reduced, but buffering requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses feedback from the annotated time relationship information to dynamically adjust packet timing. The annotations provide real-time guidance on when packets should be transmitted to meet downstream bandwidth limits, allowing the interface to manage burstiness with minimal buffering by sending packets at precisely the right moments rather than holding them in large buffers.
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatuses and methods for managing jitter resulting from processing through a network interface pipeline are disclosed. In embodiments, a network traffic scheduler annotates packets to be transmitted over a bandwidth-limited network connection with time relationship information to ensure downstream bandwidth limitations are not violated. Following processing through a network interface pipeline, a jitter shaper inspects the annotated time relationship information and pipeline-imposed delays and, by imposing a variable delay, reestablishes bandwidth-complaint time relationships based upon the annotated time relationship information and configured tolerances.