TSN Packet Forwarding with Unified Flow Constraints to Reduce Jitter
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional Ethernet's best-effort forwarding mechanism fails to meet the latency and packet loss requirements of Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) due to unpredictable network congestion, leading to high jitter and inefficient packet forwarding.
Innovation Solution
A packet forwarding method that combines multiple TSN flows into a single new flow with a new constraint condition, ensuring each flow adheres to its original constraints, reducing jitter and improving resource utilization and efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If best-effort forwarding mechanism is used, then system complexity is low and ease of operation is maintained, but packet jitter increases and forwarding efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments TSN packet flows into different queues based on their constraint conditions (cycle duration, maximum packets per cycle, maximum packet length). Each queue is independently managed with specific gating control lists, allowing differentiated forwarding treatment that ensures reliable packet delivery while maintaining overall system simplicity through modular queue management.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the forwarding parameters by introducing constraint condition-based queue management. Each queue is configured with specific parameters (cycle duration, maximum packets per cycle, maximum packet length) that dynamically control packet forwarding behavior, thereby ensuring delivery consistency without requiring complete redesign of the forwarding mechanism.
2Reliability
If multiple TSN flows are forwarded separately with individual constraint conditions, then packet delivery reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a unified constraint condition that serves multiple TSN flows simultaneously. This universal constraint condition is derived from the individual constraint conditions of N TSN flows and is enforced across all flows through a single gating control mechanism, thereby ensuring reliability without proportionally increasing complexity for each additional flow.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple individual constraint conditions into a single unified constraint condition that governs the forwarding of N TSN flows. By combining the requirements (cycle duration, maximum packets per cycle, maximum packet length) into one unified set of parameters, the system ensures constraint compliance while reducing the number of separate management mechanisms needed.
3Speed
If TSN packet flows are forwarded intensively without scheduling, then forwarding speed is high, but packet jitter increases and resource utilization deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic gating control based on cycle duration constraints. The gating control lists are updated periodically according to the derived cycle duration, allowing packet flows to be forwarded in controlled periodic intervals rather than continuously. This maintains high forwarding rates while ensuring latency uniformity through regular scheduling cycles.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent ensures continuous forwarding action within each cycle by configuring maximum packets per cycle and maximum packet length parameters. This allows the system to maintain high utilization of available bandwidth while ensuring that forwarding occurs in a controlled, continuous manner throughout each cycle rather than in erratic bursts, thereby reducing jitter.
Data Source
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AI summary
This application provides a packet forwarding method, a forwarding device, and a network device. The method includes: receiving N Time-Sensitive Networking TSN packet flows, where each of the N TSN packet flows is corresponding to a constraint condition that defines duration of a single cycle, a maximum quantity of packets that are allowed to be transmitted in a single cycle, and a maximum length of a single packet; and forwarding the N TSN packet flows based on a new constraint condition that defines duration of a single cycle, a maximum quantity of packets that are allowed to be transmitted in a single cycle, and a maximum length of a single packet, where each TSN packet flow is forwarded in a case in which a corresponding constraint condition is complied with, and the new constraint condition is determined based on the constraint condition corresponding to each of the N TSN packet flows. The method in this application helps reduce jitter of a packet during forwarding, and can improve resource utilization and forwarding efficiency of forwarding the packet by a system.