Selective Acknowledgment Protocol for Bus Network Data Transfer

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing communication protocols for bus topology networks face inefficiencies in data transfer, particularly in noisy environments, due to the overhead of requiring acknowledgments (ACKs) from each device for every communication packet, which consumes computing resources without proportional value.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a data transfer protocol that allows devices on a shared bus to report progress on a regular basis without needing to respond to each packet, thereby reducing unnecessary overhead and enabling timely feedback on failed communications.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If devices respond to each communication packet with acknowledgments, then data transfer reliability is improved, but computing resource consumption and overhead increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata transfer reliabilityVSAvoidcomputing resource consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies partial action by requiring acknowledgments only for packets that may have failed transmission, rather than requiring every device to acknowledge every packet. The source device transmits packets and waits for acknowledgments only when needed, reducing the overall acknowledgment overhead while maintaining reliability for critical packets.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Solution Approach 2:

The data transfer process is segmented into discrete packets with selective acknowledgment requirements. Each packet can be independently acknowledged or retransmitted based on whether it was successfully received, allowing the system to handle only the necessary acknowledgments rather than requiring comprehensive acknowledgment for all packets.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

2Reliability

If devices respond to each communication packet, then data integrity is ensured, but data transfer efficiency decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata integrityVSAvoiddata transfer efficiency

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs partial acknowledgments only when data integrity is in question or when packets are lost, rather than requiring every device to send acknowledgments for every packet. This reduces the overhead and improves data transfer efficiency while maintaining data integrity through selective verification.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

3Reliability

If comprehensive acknowledgment protocols are used, then communication reliability is improved, but overhead and complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecommunication reliabilityVSAvoidprotocol overhead

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the essential acknowledgment function from the comprehensive protocol, keeping only the critical acknowledgment and retransmission mechanisms needed for reliability. By removing unnecessary acknowledgment requirements for every packet from all devices, the protocol overhead and complexity are reduced while maintaining communication reliability for important data.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentEP2700193B1System and method for transferring data to a plurality of devices in a network

Publication Date: 2016.07.27 SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC IT CORP

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AI summary

Systems and methods of transmitting data to a plurality of devices are provided. In one example, a system is configured to broadcast data to a group of devices. Each of the group of devices is configured to inspect the message and locally store the content of the message. Further, the group of devices is configured so that a single device of the group responds to each message.