Network Timestamp Instrumentation for Latency Observation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing communication network technologies lack effective methods for endpoint devices to observe network delays and identify bottlenecks, leading to challenges in managing latency and jitter, particularly in low-latency networks where standard instrumentation solutions are inadequate and often result in overdesigning, which increases costs without providing sufficient packet-level observability.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of network instrumentation using timestamps inserted into data frames at switches and endpoint devices, allowing for the determination of timeliness information and enabling policy enforcement based on packet travel times, without requiring parsing of the payload and maintaining low latency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If standard instrumentation solutions are used to observe network delays, then packet-level observability is provided, but the network is overconstrained and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential timing information (timestamps) from the network packets without extracting or modifying the actual payload data. This allows endpoint devices to observe network delays and identify bottlenecks while avoiding the need for complex instrumentation that would overconstrain the network. The timing information is obtained through lightweight timestamp insertion and extraction mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces timestamps as an intermediary mechanism that enables observability without direct interference with network traffic. Instead of instrumenting every packet flow directly (which would overconstrain the network), timestamps serve as a mediator that carries timing information alongside packets, allowing endpoint devices to analyze delays without modifying the actual data transmission paths.
2Loss of information
If timestamps are inserted into data frames at every hop, then comprehensive delay observation is achieved, but processing latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by inserting timestamps at specific hops (boundary devices and selected intermediate devices) before the packets reach endpoint devices. This allows timing information to be captured in advance without requiring timestamps to be inserted at every single hop, thereby reducing processing latency while still enabling comprehensive delay observation through the collected timestamp data.
Data Source
AI summary
A device for instrumentation and traffic disposition of a network using one or more time-stamps may include a receiving port to receive a data packet. A device configuration module may be configured to determine whether the device is a boundary device located on a boundary of an instrumented sub-network of the network. If the determination is made that device is the boundary device, a frame processing module may insert a first time-stamp at a first offset from a frame checksum (FCS) field in a data frame associated with the data packet. Otherwise, a corresponding time-stamp may be inserted at a second offset from the FCS field. The one or more time-stamps may enable a receiving endpoint device of the network to determine timeliness information associated with the data packet.