Traffic Sink Interface for Seamless Transport Connection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Temporary disconnections in physical links between computing devices, such as due to movement out of range or congestion, cause applications to pause or stop, leading to a negative user experience by breaking transport connections.
Innovation Solution
An electronic device incorporates a traffic redirect module that creates a traffic sink interface at the transport layer, allowing data to be sent without errors even when the physical link is disconnected, by redirecting data through a traffic sink interface with similar characteristics to the removed network interface, and reinstalls policies when the link reconnects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If the processor removes the network interface when the physical link disconnects, then memory is released, but the transport connection is broken causing application pause or stop
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a traffic sink interface as an intermediary component between the transport layer and the physical link. When the physical link disconnects, the traffic sink interface acts as a mediator that absorbs incoming traffic and maintains the transport connection state, preventing the connection from being broken while allowing memory to be released from the removed network interface.
2Reliability
If the processor maintains the network interface when the physical link disconnects, then the transport connection is preserved, but memory is wasted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the traffic sink interface as a separate, lightweight component from the full network interface. This extracted interface provides only the necessary function of absorbing traffic and maintaining connection state without the overhead of a complete network interface, thus preserving the transport connection while minimizing memory consumption.
3Device complexity
If applications pause or stop during physical link disconnection, then error handling is simplified, but user experience deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the harmful effect of physical link disconnection into a beneficial outcome by using the traffic sink interface to absorb the disconnection event. Instead of allowing the disconnection to break the transport connection and disrupt applications, the traffic sink interface absorbs the shock, transforming the harmful disconnection into a manageable state that maintains service continuity and improves user experience.
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic device includes a traffic redirect module that creates a traffic sink interface that enables data to be sent to it, without generating an error if an underlying physical link does not exist. To send data over a physical link, a processor of the electronic device creates a network interface to connect to another electronic device using a transport connection over the physical link. If the physical link disconnects, then the processor removes the network interface, and the traffic redirect module redirects data to be sent to the other electronic device to use the traffic sink interface, without indicating that the physical link has disconnected. When the physical link reconnects, or a new physical link to the other electronic device is established, the processor creates a new network interface to connect to the other electronic device using the transport connection over the reconnected or new physical link.