Sender Device Pause System for Network Traffic Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In information handling systems, high traffic situations can lead to inefficient communication due to link-based pauses caused by differences in maximum transmission rates between components, resulting in unnecessary halting of data transmission for all components, even when some can handle the data flow efficiently.
Innovation Solution
A network communication pause system that includes a management controller to monitor data traffic and send pause frames to sender devices that exceed thresholds, allowing other components to continue receiving data while the overloaded component catches up.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If link-based pause is used to control data transmission rate, then the overloaded component can process data, but all other components must halt data transmission even when they can handle the data flow
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the pause control mechanism by introducing per-sender pause counters instead of a global pause counter. Each sender device has its own counter (e.g., pause counter 204 for sender A, pause counter 206 for sender B), allowing selective pausing of individual senders while other senders continue transmission. This resolves the contradiction by enabling targeted rate control without blanket halting of all traffic.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by making pause control sender-specific rather than universal. The network interface device monitors and controls pause frames on a per-sender basis, allowing differential treatment of different data sources. This enables the overloaded component to receive controlled amounts of data from each sender individually, maintaining overall system productivity while ensuring reliable processing for the overloaded component.
2Device complexity
If a single pause counter is used for all senders, then the system is simple to manage, but it cannot differentiate between senders with different data handling capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the single pause counter into multiple sender-specific pause counters. Each counter tracks pause frames generated for a particular sender device independently. This segmentation provides the adaptability to control each sender's data rate individually while maintaining relatively simple counter increment/decrement logic, thus balancing complexity and versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic pause control where the pause counter values are continuously updated based on receiver capacity and sender behavior. The system dynamically adjusts pause frame generation per sender based on real-time conditions, allowing the pause mechanism to adapt to different senders' data handling capabilities without requiring complex pre-configuration for each sender.
3Reliability
If pause frames are sent to stop all data transmission, then the overloaded component can catch up, but other components experience unnecessary transmission halts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the pause control to affect only the specific sender that is causing the overload. By maintaining separate pause counters for different senders and generating pause frames targeted at individual senders, the system ensures that only the offending sender's transmission is halted. Other senders continue uninterrupted, eliminating unnecessary transmission losses while still providing reliable processing for the overloaded component.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces the network interface device as an intermediary between senders and the receiver. This intermediary monitors incoming data rates, generates targeted pause frames to specific senders when needed, and manages per-sender pause counters. The intermediary enables selective control that prevents unnecessary interruptions to other senders while ensuring the overloaded receiver gets adequate processing time.
Data Source
AI summary
A network communication pause system includes a network interface device and a management controller. The management controller is operable to monitor first data traffic that is received by the network interface device over a network and that is associated with a sender Media Access Control (MAC) address and a receiver MAC address. If the management controller determines that the first data traffic has exceeded a threshold, a pause frame that includes the sender MAC address is sent over the network through the network interface device to a sender device associated with the sender MAC address. The pause frame may include an operations code that causes intermediate devices coupled between the management controller and the sender device to forward the pause frame to the sender device, and a pause time for which the sender device will pause the sending of data traffic to the receiver MAC address.