Penalty Based Arbitration for Fair Bandwidth Distribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing arbitration schemes, such as the Deficit Weighted Round Robin (DWRR) algorithm, fail to account for bandwidth wastage due to inequities in transmission speeds among ports, leading to unfair bandwidth consumption and potential packet loss, as slow ports can occupy the transmission path for extended periods, causing bubbles and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A modified DWRR algorithm that penalizes slow ports by reducing their budget for idle cycles, ensuring they accumulate sufficient data before rejoining the selection process, thereby minimizing wastage and maintaining fair bandwidth distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If DWRR algorithm is used to arbitrate between ports, then bandwidth distribution is maintained, but bandwidth wastage occurs due to slow ports occupying transmission path for extended periods
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the arbiter monitors the actual transmission time of each port and compares it against the allocated budget. When a port exceeds its allocated time (indicating slow transmission speed), the system penalizes the port by reducing its future budget allocations. This feedback loop ensures that bandwidth wastage due to slow ports is continuously corrected while maintaining fair distribution for fast ports.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent dynamically changes the budget parameter allocated to each port based on its transmission performance. Fast ports receive full or increased budgets, while slow ports receive reduced budgets after penalties. This parameter adjustment allows the system to adapt to varying transmission speeds and eliminate bandwidth wastage without compromising the fairness of the arbitration scheme.
2Reliability
If ports are allowed to transmit continuously until packet completion, then transmission completeness is ensured, but bubbles and packet loss occur due to slow ports blocking faster ports
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic arbitration rounds where each port is given a time slot to transmit. Instead of continuous transmission, the system uses periodic cycles to check budget status and select the next transmitting port. This periodic action prevents slow ports from permanently blocking the transmission path while ensuring that all ports get fair chances to transmit their packets completely.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic budget adjustment where the arbiter modifies the budget allocation in real-time based on actual transmission performance. When a port is identified as slow, its budget is dynamically reduced for subsequent rounds. This dynamic mechanism allows the system to maintain transmission efficiency by preventing slow ports from repeatedly occupying the transmission path, while still ensuring complete packet transmission through multiple rounds if necessary.
3Device complexity
If budget allocation is performed without considering idle cycles, then arbitration simplicity is maintained, but bandwidth consumption becomes unfair among ports with different transmission speeds
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary budget allocation before each arbitration round based on the current state of all ports. The arbiter calculates and assigns budgets that account for previous transmission performance and idle cycles. This preliminary action ensures that ports with poor performance histories receive reduced budgets, preventing them from consuming excessive bandwidth in future rounds while maintaining a relatively simple arbitration process.
Data Source
AI summary
A plurality of resource requesters may be configured to consume a resource to perform a task. Each of the plurality of resource requesters can be allocated a resource budget to consume the resource to perform the task. An arbiter can select one of the plurality of resource requesters to consume the resource based on an arbitration scheme. When a resource requester is selected, the amount of resource consumed by the resource requester can be deducted from its resource budget. When the resource requester is idle for a number of cycles when selected, the corresponding resource budget can be further reduced to account for the actual amount of resource consumed and wasted by the resource requester, which can provide fairness in resource consumption over few rounds of arbitration.