VLAN Latency Calculation via Link Path Multiplication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Calculating multi-point VLAN latency becomes increasingly complex and difficult as VLANs grow larger, requiring manual tracing of multiple paths and measurement of latency values, which is impractical for large networks with many access switches.
Innovation Solution
A method that initializes a latency counter by multiplying the count of access switches on each side of a link and multiplying by the link's latency value, then dividing by the total number of paths to derive the multi-point VLAN latency measure, simplifying the calculation process and reducing the need for detailed topology information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual path tracing method is used to calculate VLAN latency, then measurement precision is maintained, but device complexity and loss of time increase significantly as VLAN size grows
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the VLAN calculation problem by focusing on individual links rather than complete end-to-end paths. Each link is analyzed independently with its latency contribution calculated separately, then aggregated to form the overall VLAN latency measure. This segmentation transforms an exponentially complex path-tracing problem into a linear link-by-link calculation process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary computational approach using link latency contributions as intermediate values. Instead of directly calculating complete end-to-end path latencies, the method computes intermediate link contributions based on the number of access switches on each side of the link, then combines these intermediates to derive the final VLAN latency measure.
2Measurement precision
If manual path tracing method is used to calculate VLAN latency, then measurement precision is maintained, but loss of time increases significantly as VLAN size grows
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-calculating and storing the number of access switches on each side of every link in the VLAN. This preliminary data preparation enables rapid latency calculation without requiring real-time path tracing, as the switch counts are already available when the latency measure needs to be computed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent skips the time-consuming step of tracing complete end-to-end paths through the VLAN. By using the link-based formula that multiplies access switch counts on either side of a link by the link's latency, the method rushes through the calculation by directly computing the result without following each individual path, thereby dramatically reducing calculation time.
3Measurement precision
If detailed topology information is collected for all paths in VLAN, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and loss of information increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential topology information needed for latency calculation - specifically, the number of access switches on each side of each link. This extraction approach discards unnecessary detailed path information while retaining sufficient data to compute accurate latency measures, thereby reducing the information burden without sacrificing measurement precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for calculating a multi-point VLAN latency measure. The method includes receiving a plurality of links for a VLAN. Each link has a first side and a second side and includes a latency value, a count of access switches on the first side of the link and a count of access switches on the second side of the link. A latency counter is initialized to zero. For each link in the VLAN, the count of access switches on the first side of the link is multiplied by the count of access switches on the second side of the link to derive a count of paths that include the link. The count of paths that include the link is multiplied by the latency value associated with the link to derive a total latency for the link. The latency counter is incremented by the total latency value for the link. Once all of the links have been processed, the latency counter is divided by the number of paths in the VLAN to derive the multi-point VLAN latency measure for the VLAN.