Traffic Shaper with Adaptive Timers and Unified Queue
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing traffic shaping solutions are expensive and inefficient, particularly for managing thousands to millions of user flows, as they require elaborate hardware accelerators and asynchronous timer processing, which is costly and resource-intensive.
Innovation Solution
A traffic shaper that combines policers and adaptive timers to regulate packet output, using a single stage enqueuer and dequeuer for active traffic, reducing timer usage for non-compliant traffic and leveraging packet arrivals for compliance determination, thereby minimizing overhead and enhancing fairness across multiple flows.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional multi-stage traffic shaping with separate enqueuer, dequeuer, and timer components is used, then traffic regulation compliance is achieved, but device complexity and resource consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the enqueuer, dequeuer, and timer components into a unified traffic shaper with a single queue. The policer determines compliance status and the same queue serves both as input buffer and output buffer, eliminating the need for separate enqueuer and dequeuer stages. This merging reduces device complexity while maintaining traffic regulation compliance through the integrated design.
2Productivity
If elaborate hardware accelerators are deployed for traffic shaping, then traffic management capability is enhanced, but cost and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The traffic shaper uses the incoming packet arrivals themselves to trigger compliance checks and timer events. When packets arrive, the policer evaluates them and generates timer events if needed, eliminating the need for separate hardware timer generators. The system serves itself by using its own input traffic to drive its regulation mechanism, reducing hardware resource requirements.
3Measurement precision
If asynchronous timer processing is implemented for each traffic flow, then precise traffic regulation is achieved, but processing overhead and resource usage increase
Solution Approach 1:
A single timer event mechanism serves all traffic flows regulated by the traffic shaper. The policer generates timer events for multiple flows using the same timer infrastructure, and the unified queue handles packets from all flows. This universal timer approach maintains precise regulation for each flow while avoiding the overhead of separate asynchronous timer processing for each flow.
4Reliability
If timer usage is increased to regulate all traffic, then traffic compliance is improved, but system overhead and latency increase
Solution Approach 1:
The policer generates timer events only for non-compliant traffic that requires regulation, rather than using timers for all traffic. Compliant traffic passes through the unified queue without triggering additional timer events. This partial application of timer mechanisms maintains compliance for problematic traffic while minimizing unnecessary timer processing and associated latency for compliant traffic.
Data Source
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AI summary
Apparatuses, methods and storage medium associated with a traffic shaper having one or more policers and adaptive timers are disclosed herein. The traffic shaper is to shape packet traffics of a plurality of regulated traffic generating entities. The policer is to process incoming packets of the regulated traffic generating entities and determine whether to forward or temporarily hold the packets. A buffer is to store the packets to be temporarily held; and the timer task manager is to process timer tasks of the regulated traffic generating entities and determine whether to discard the timer tasks or forward to regulate release of held packets of the regulated traffic generating entities. Other embodiments may be disclosed or claimed.