Centralized network configuration entity and time-sensitive network control system comprising same
View Patent ↗A time-sensitive network control system and a centralized network configuration entity for controlling data traffic in the time-sensitive network control system.
1. A central network configurator controlling data traffic scheduling of a time-sensitive network, comprising,
a receiver receiving, from a central user configurator, stream information about a plurality of traffic flows transmitting first data sensitive to time delay in a sub network and second data insensitive to the time delay;
a resource allocator allocating an output port time resource of each switch entity of a plurality of switch entities included in the sub network transferring the first data and the second data using the stream information;
a gate control list generator generating at least one of switch gate control list information for controlling an operation of each switch entity of the plurality of switch entities and transmission entity gate control list information for controlling a data transmission gate of a plurality of transmission entities transmitting the plurality of traffic flows, based on the stream information and the output port time resource; and
a transmitter transmitting the switch gate control list information to each switch entity of the plurality of switch entities and transmitting the transmission entity gate control list information to the central user configurator.
2. The central network configurator of claim 1 which further comprises a plurality of subnetworks,
wherein the traffic flow is transferred from a transmission entity to a reception entity through one or more-sub networks, and
wherein each of the sub networks includes two or more switch entities.
3. The central network configurator of claim 1 , wherein the stream information includes information about a number of the plurality of traffic flows, maximum allowable delay information about the first data per traffic flow, and data frame length information about the first data.
4. The central network configurator of claim 1 , wherein the resource allocator determines a time division scheduling unit format used for a switch entity of the plurality of switch entities to transfer the first data and the second data to another switch entity of the plurality of switch entities, and
wherein the time division scheduling unit format includes a sensitive data transmission section for transmitting the first data, a first insensitive data transmission section for transmitting the second data, a second insensitive data transmission section, and a guard band section,
wherein the output port time resource to transfer the first date and the second data through the time division scheduling unit format.
5. The central network configurator of claim 4 , wherein a length of the time division scheduling unit format is set to not more than a smallest value of maximum allowable delay information about the first data per traffic flow included in the stream information,
wherein a sum of the first insensitive data transmission section and the guard band section is set to be equal to a physical layer delay value from generation of the first data from a transmission entity transmitting the traffic flow to arrival at a queue of an output port of each switch entity of the plurality of switch entities, and
wherein a length of the guard band section is set to a value obtained by dividing a data frame length of the first data included in the stream information by a network link speed.
6. The central network configurator of claim 4 , wherein the sensitive data transmission section includes a plurality of time slots, and
wherein the resource allocator determines a number of the time slots and a time slot allocation interval per traffic flow.
7. The central network configurator of claim 6 , wherein a minimum time slot allocation interval of the time slot allocation interval is set to be equal to a smallest value of maximum allowable delay information about the first data per traffic flow, and
wherein a maximum time slot allocation interval is set to a least common multiple of respective time slot allocation intervals of the traffic flows.
8. The central network configurator of claim 7 , wherein the switch gate control list information and the transmission entity gate control list information are repeated at a hyper period set as the maximum time slot allocation interval.
9. The central network configurator of claim 6 , wherein a length of the time slot is set to a value obtained by dividing a sum of a data frame length of the first data included in the stream information and an interval between two frames by network link speed information, and
wherein a number of the time slots included in one sensitive data transmission section is set to a smallest integer equal to or larger than an average number of time slots allocated for N traffic flows in one time division scheduling unit format.
10. The central network configurator of claim 6 , wherein the resource allocator determines a starting time division scheduling unit format index and a starting time slot index for each of the plurality of traffic flows in ascending order of maximum allowable delay information about the first data for each of the plurality of traffic flows.
11. The central network configurator of claim 10 , wherein in response to if the starting time division scheduling unit format index and the starting time slot index per traffic flow are determined, the resource allocator allocates the time slot by applying the time slot allocation interval per traffic flow.
12. The central network configurator of claim 10 , wherein the first data transmission time of the transmission entity per traffic flow is determined as a previous time obtained by applying a physical layer delay value from generation of the first data from the transmission entity to arrival at a queue of the output port of each switch entity of the plurality of switch entities to a time determined with the starting time division scheduling unit format index and the starting time slot index.
13. The central network configurator of claim 1 , wherein the gate control list generator sets a length of the switch gate control list information and the transmission entity gate control list information to be equal to a maximum time slot allocation interval.
14. A time-sensitive network control system, comprising:
a plurality of transmission entities generating and transmitting first data sensitive to time delay and second data insensitive to the time delay;
a plurality of reception entities receiving the first data and the second data;
a plurality of switch entities for transferring the first data and the second data to a reception entity;
a central user configurator receiving stream information about a plurality of traffic flows from a transmission entity and a reception entity, transferring the stream information to a central network configurator, and transferring transmission entity gate control list information to a transmission entity; and
the central network configurator allocating an output port time resource of each switch entity of the plurality of switch entities based on the stream information and generating at least one of switch gate control list information for controlling an operation of a switch entity and transmission entity gate control list information for controlling a data transmission gate of a transmission entity transmitting the plurality of traffic flows.
15. The time-sensitive network control system of claim 14 , wherein the stream information includes information about a number of the plurality of traffic flows, maximum allowable delay information about the first data per traffic flow, and data frame length information about the first data.
16. The time-sensitive network control system of claim 14 , wherein the central network configurator,
determines a time division scheduling unit format used for a switch entity to transfer the first data and the second data to another switch entity and
determines a starting time division scheduling unit format index and a starting time slot index of the first data for each of the plurality of traffic flows, allocated to a plurality of time slots constituting the time division scheduling unit format.