High-Latency Scheduling Server with Fixed FIFO Buffer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems face challenges in accurately synchronizing events across multiple devices connected to networks with high latency, leading to issues in musical performances, computer gaming, financial transactions, and other applications where precise timing is crucial.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a high-latency scheduling server using a fixed-length FIFO buffer to store and average timing offsets, allowing for precise event scheduling by compensating for measured latencies through clock offset values, ensuring synchronized execution of events across devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If events are scheduled using a standard network server, then the system is simple to implement, but latency causes poor synchronization precision across devices
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by measuring network latency before scheduling events, storing timing offsets in a buffer, and pre-calculating compensation values. This allows the system to anticipate and correct for latency issues before they affect event synchronization, thereby improving precision without adding significant time loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by continuously measuring actual latency, comparing it against expected values, and adjusting timing offsets dynamically. The buffer stores historical timing data that provides feedback for optimizing future event scheduling, enabling the system to adapt to varying network conditions and maintain high synchronization precision.
2Measurement precision
If timing offsets are adjusted in real-time to compensate for latency, then synchronization precision improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary component - a buffer that stores timing offsets and acts as a mediator between the network server and event execution. This buffer absorbs the complexity of real-time latency compensation by pre-storing adjusted timing values, simplifying the overall system architecture while maintaining high precision event scheduling.
3Reliability
If a buffer stores timing offsets for compensation, then latency-induced errors are reduced, but memory usage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system optimizes memory usage by dynamically adjusting buffer parameters such as size, retention period, and sampling frequency based on network conditions and event requirements. This allows the system to maintain high execution reliability by storing sufficient timing data while adapting memory allocation to minimize unnecessary resource consumption.
Data Source
AI summary
Events between one or more host devices and one or more client devices that are connected to a same network (e.g., to a same Wi-Fi network) are scheduled. A fixed length first-in first-out (FIFO) buffer stores a fixed quantity of timing offsets that are calculated in real time based on determined latencies associated with event scheduling involving multiple host devices and/or client devices to provide such scheduling.