Method and device for managing priority during the transmission of a message

• US 20050117589A1
• Filed: 08/11/2004
• Published: 06/02/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm Technologies Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Arteris SAS (Arteris Incorporated)
• Inventors: Boucard, Philippe, Douady, Cesar
• Granted Patent: US 7,769,027 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/395.420
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5651 Priority, marking, classes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/19 at layers above the network layer network arrangements for networked applications for scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/50 Queue scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/60 implementing hierarchical scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6215 Individual queue per QOS, rate or priority

Abstract

Method of managing priority during the transmission of a message, in an interconnections network comprising at least one transmission agent which comprises at least one input and at least one output, each input comprising a means of storage organized as a queue of messages. A message priority is assigned during the creation of the message, and a queue priority equal to the maximum of the priorities of the messages of the queue is assigned to at least one queue of messages of an input. A link priority is assigned to a link linking an output of a first transmission agent to an input of a second transmission agent, equal to the maximum of the priorities of the queues of messages of the inputs of said first agent comprising a first message destined for that output of said first agent which is coupled to said link, and the priority of the link is transmitted to that input of said second agent which is coupled to the link.

Claims

1. A method of managing priority during the transmission of a message in an interconnections network, the interconnections network comprising at least one transmission agent which comprises at least one input and at least one output, each input comprising a means of storage of a queue of messages of type first in first out, wherein:

a message priority is assigned during the creation of the message;

a queue priority equal to the maximum of the priorities of the messages of the queue is assigned to at least one queue of messages of an input;

a link priority is assigned to a link linking an output of a first transmission agent to an input of a second transmission agent, equal to the maximum of the priorities of the queues of messages of the inputs of said first agent comprising a first message destined for that output of said first agent which is coupled to said link; and

the priority of the link is transmitted to that input of said second agent which is coupled to the link.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the message, destined for said output, of a queue having the highest queue priority is furthermore transmitted on said output of the transmission agent.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein a resultant priority equal to the maximum of the priority of the link and of the priority of the queue of messages of the input to which the link is coupled is assigned, furthermore, to the queue of the messages of the input of said second agent on which the said link arrives.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein a link priority is furthermore assigned to a link coupled to an output of the second transmission agent, being a resultant priority, equal to the maximum of resultant priorities which result from the priorities of the queues of messages and the priorities of the respective links of said queues of messages of the inputs of said second agent comprising a first message destined for said output of said second agent.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the message, destined for an output, of a queue having the highest resultant priority is furthermore transmitted on said output of a transmission agent.

6. Method according to claim 5, wherein the priority assigned to a message created by an agent is managed dynamically as a function of the throughput of response to the messages dispatched by said agent, so as to optimize the use of the communication throughput available.

15. The method according to claim 4, wherein the message, destined for an output, of a queue having the highest resultant priority is furthermore transmitted on said output of a transmission agent.

7. A system for managing priority during the transmission of a message in an interconnections network, the system comprising at least one transmission agent which comprises at least one input and at least one output, each input comprising a means of storage organized as a queue of messages of type first in first out, wherein:

the message creation agents comprise means for assigning a message priority transmitted with the message; and

at least one queue of messages of an input comprises means for assigning a queue priority equal to the maximum of the priorities of the messages of the queue to the queue of messages;

the system further comprising;

means for assigning a link priority to a link linking an output of a first transmission agent to an input of a second transmission agent, equal to the maximum of the priorities of the queues of messages of the inputs of said first agent comprising a first message destined for the output of said first agent which is coupled to said link; and

means for transmitting the priority of the link to the input of said second agent which is coupled to the link.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein an output of said transmission agent comprises means for transmitting the message, destined for said output, of a queue having the highest queue priority.

9. The system according to claim 8, comprising means for assigning a link priority to a link coupled to an output of the second agent, being a resultant priority, equal to the maximum of resultant priorities which result from the priorities of queues of messages and the priorities of the respective links of said queues of messages of the inputs of said second agent comprising a first message destined for said output of said second agent.

10. The system according to claim 8, wherein an output of said second agent comprises means for transmitting the message, destined for said output, of a queue having the highest resultant priority.

11. The system according to claim 10, furthermore comprising means for assigning to the queue of the messages of the input of said second agent on which said link arrives, a resultant priority equal to the maximum of the priority of the link and of the priority of the queue of messages of the input to which the link is coupled.

12. The system according to claim 11, comprising means for transmitting a link priority being a resultant priority.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein said means of transmission comprise point-to-point linkups each associated with a link for transmitting messages.

14. The system according to claim 12, wherein said means of transmission are able to transmit one of said priorities in a dedicated message.

16. The system according to claim 9, wherein an output of said second agent comprises means for transmitting the message, destined for said output, of a queue having the highest resultant priority.