Hardware device for automatic detection and deployment of QoS policies

1 . A hardware device for a communication system, the hardware device comprising:

a processor configured to determine a set of quality of service (QoS) policies based on network data traffic between one or more communication system participants in the communication system; and

a set of programmable registers configured to be programmed with a set of values and configured to be accessible by the processor, wherein the set of values defines at least one of:

one or more QoS policies of the set of QoS policies that are to be enforced;

an order in which the one or more QoS policies of the set of QoS policies are to be enforced; or

a set of thresholds for enforcing the one or more QoS policies that are to be enforced;

wherein the processor is further configured to determine the one or more QoS policies of the set of QoS policies that are to be enforced by de-serializing the network data traffic to determine identifiers for a sender, a receiver, and a topic of frames of the network data traffic and relative sender priorities, relative receiver priorities, and relative topic priorities; and

wherein the processor is further configured to control, based on the set of QoS policies and the set of values, a prioritization and/or an arbitration of frames of the network data traffic, to enforce the one or more QoS policies, wherein the prioritization and/or arbitration is based on two or more arbitration strategies, wherein the two or more arbitration strategies are combinable to be enforced at the same time, and wherein the two or more arbitration strategies correspond to two or more of the relative sender priorities, the relative receiver priorities, or the relative topic priorities.

2 . The hardware device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

detect, based on the network data traffic, whether at least one of the one or more communication system participants is a sending communication system participant; and/or

determine, based on the network data traffic, which of the sending communication system participants is involved in a specific communication of the network data traffic; and/or

detect, based on the network data traffic, whether at least one of the one or more communication system participants is a receiving communication system participant; and/or

determine, based on the network data traffic, which of the receiving communication system participants is involved in the specific communication of the network data traffic; and/or

detect, based on the network data traffic, a topic of the one or more communication system participants; and/or

control the prioritization and/or the arbitration of the frames further based further on:

which sending communication system participant of the sending communication system participants is involved in the specific communication of the network data traffic; and/or

which receiving communication system participant of the receiving communication system participants is involved in the specific communication of the network data traffic; and/or

the topic of the one or more communication system participants.

3 . The hardware device according to claim 1 , further comprising one or more coprocessors configured to:

determine the set of QoS policies based on the network data traffic between the one or more communication system participants in the communication system; and/or

collect prioritization information and time-related information from the frames of the network data traffic; and/or

use the time-related information for at least one of automatic queueing, dequeuing, arbitrating, and processing of ingress frames, and dispatching the ingress frames to one or more egress ports using shared resources of the hardware device; and/or

perform, without software intervention of the processor, the set of QoS policies according to the prioritization and/or the arbitration of the frames of the network data traffic.

4 . The hardware device according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a memory configured to:

store the set of QoS policies; and/or

store information indicating: which of the one or more communication system participants are sending communication system participants, and/or which of the one or more communication system participants are receiving communication system participants, and/or a topic of the one or more communication system participants; and/or

store information on a specific sending communication system participant and/or a specific receiving communication system participant for which a specific QoS policy is requested.

5 . The hardware device according to claim 1 , further comprising:

one or more coprocessors;

wherein the processor is configured to:

extract at run-time the set of QoS policies from the network data traffic; and/or

bind at run-time the extracted set of QoS policies from the network data traffic to a specific sending communication system participant and/or a specific receiving communication system participant; and/or

wherein the one or more coprocessors are configured to:

extract at run-time the set of QoS policies from the network data traffic; and/or

bind at run-time the extracted set of QoS policies from the network data traffic to the specific sending communication system participant and/or the specific receiving communication system participant.

6 . The hardware device according to claim 1 , wherein one or more programmable registers of the set of programmable registers are memory-mapped programmable registers configured to be accessible by the processor and/or by one or more coprocessors included in the hardware device.

7 . The hardware device according to claim 1 ,

wherein one QoS policy of the set of QoS policies is an end-to-end latency QoS policy, wherein the end-to-end latency QoS policy is configured to define an end-to-end latency, wherein the end-to-end latency is a maximum delay time from a data write by a sending communication system participant to a data reception participant and/or a notification of a receiving communication system participant; and/or

wherein the hardware device is configured to assign the end-to-end latency to the frames of the network data traffic.

8 . The hardware device according to claim 1 ,

wherein one QoS policy of the set of QoS policies is a deadline QoS policy, wherein the deadline QoS policy is configured to define a maximum update time after which a receiving communication system participant expects an update of periodic network data traffic coming from a sending communication system participant; and/or

wherein the hardware device is configured to assign the maximum update time to the frames of the network data traffic.

9 . The hardware device according to claim 1 ,

wherein one QoS policy of the set of QoS policies is a lifespan QoS policy, wherein the lifespan QoS policy is configured to define a maximum validity time after which a validity of written data expires; and/or

wherein the hardware device is configured to assign the maximum validity time to the frames of the network data traffic.

10 . The hardware device according to claim 1 ,

wherein one QoS policy of the set of QoS policies is a liveliness QoS policy, wherein the liveliness QoS policy is configured to determine whether the one or more communication system participants are active by receiving from the one or more communication system participants cyclic messages and/or event-triggered repetitive messages, wherein the cyclic messages and/or the event-triggered repetitive messages comprise an alive counter that is updated in each of the cyclic messages and/or the event-triggered repetitive messages, and wherein the update of the alive counter is interpreted as a sign of liveliness by the processor.

11 . The hardware device according to claim 1 ,

wherein one QoS policy of the set of QoS policies is a transport priority QoS policy, wherein the transport priority QoS policy is configured to define a transport priority which indicates a priority of the network data traffic; and/or

wherein the hardware device is configured to assign the transport priority to the frames of the network data traffic.

12 . The hardware device according to claim 1 , wherein the hardware device is configured to assign a requested end-to-end latency and/or a requested maximum update time and/or a requested maximum validity time deadline and/or a liveliness/alive counter check and/or a requested transport priority to the frames of the network data traffic upon request from a communication system participant.

13 . The hardware device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to control, based on two or more QoS policies at once, the prioritization and/or the arbitration of the frames of the network data traffic, to enforce the one or more QoS policies.

14 . The hardware device according to claim 1 , wherein the network data traffic from the one or more communication system participants in the communication system operates by a communication protocol.

15 . The hardware device according to claim 14 , wherein the communication protocol is a Data Distribution Service (DDS) communication protocol.

16 . The hardware device according to claim 1 , further comprising:

one or more coprocessors;

wherein the processor and/or the one or more coprocessors are configured to adjust on the fly a prioritization strategy and/or the one or more arbitration strategies for each set of frames based on real-time timing information of each frame updated at execution time.

17 . The hardware device according to claim 16 ,

wherein the prioritization strategy and/or the one or more arbitration strategies are configurable through the set of programmable registers; or

wherein the prioritization strategy and/or the one or more arbitration strategies are dynamically adjusted, on the fly, based on environmental conditions of the network data traffic.

18 . A communication system comprising two or more communication system participants,

wherein at least two of the two or more communication system participants are control units comprising the hardware device according claim 1 ;

wherein the control units are configured to communicate via the respective hardware devices; and

wherein the respective hardware devices are configured to control, based on the set of QoS policies and the set of values, the prioritization and/or the arbitration of the frames of the network data traffic, to enforce the one or more QoS policies.

19 . The communication system according to claim 18 ,

wherein the two or more communication system participants are configured to communicate by a communication protocol; and

wherein the communication protocol is based on one or more of the following communication protocols: Controller Area Network (CAN), CAN Flexible Data Rate, CAN XL, Local Interconnect Network, FlexRay, Media Oriented System Transport, Ethernet, Mobile Industry Processor Interface, Camera Serial Interface 2, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), or Bluetooth.

20 . A method for a hardware device for a communication system, the method being performed by the hardware device and comprising:

determining a set of quality of service (QoS) policies by a processor of the hardware device based on network data traffic between one or more communication system participants in the communication system;

obtaining a set of values from a set of programmable registers of the hardware device, wherein the set of values defines at least one of: one or more QoS policies of the set of QoS policies that are to be enforced, an order in which the one or more QoS policies of the set of QoS policies are to be enforced, and/or a set of thresholds for enforcing the one or more QoS policies that are to be enforced, wherein the one or more QoS policies of the set of QoS policies that are to be enforced are determined by de-serializing the network data traffic to determine identifiers for a sender, a receiver, and a topic of frames of the network data traffic and relative sender priorities, relative receiver priorities, and relative topic priorities; and

controlling, by the processor based on the set of QoS policies and the set of values, a prioritization and/or an arbitration of frames of the network data traffic, to enforce the one or more QoS policies, wherein the prioritization and/or arbitration is based on two or more arbitration strategies, wherein the two or more arbitration strategies are combinable to be enforced at the same time, and wherein the two or more arbitration strategies correspond to two or more of the relative sender priorities, the relative receiver priorities, or the relative topic priorities.