System and Method for Adjusting an Energy Efficient Ethernet Control Policy Using Measured Power Savings

• US 20110029796A1
• Filed: 10/21/2009
• Published: 02/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kwan, Bruce, Matthews, Brad, Agarwal, Puneet
• Granted Patent: US 8,347,121 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/323
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/12 Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/00 Reducing energy consumption in communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A system and method for adjusting an energy efficient Ethernet (EEE) control policy using measured power savings. An EEE-enabled device can be designed to report EEE event data. This reported EEE event data can be used to quantify the actual EEE benefits of the EEE-enabled device, debug the EEE-enabled device, and adjust the EEE control policy.

Claims

1. An energy efficient Ethernet method, comprising:

receiving, from a physical layer device via an electronic communication, information relating to a power saving event in said physical layer device;

determining an amount of power savings for said power saving event using said received information;

determining one or more power saving statistics for a measurement interval based on said determined amount of power savings for a plurality of power saving events in said measurement interval; and

adjusting, based on said determined one or more power saving statistics, a control policy that determines when said physical layer device should enter or exit said power saving state.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving comprises receiving information for a low power idle state.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving comprises receiving information for a subset physical layer device state.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining comprises multiplying a duration of time by a power savings per unit time value that is associated with said power saving event.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining one or more power saving statistics comprises determining a power savings for said measurement interval.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining one or more power saving statistics comprises determining an average power savings for each power saving event in said measurement interval.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said adjusting comprises adjusting a threshold for said control policy.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said adjusting comprises one of adjusting a timer for said control policy, adjusting a threshold for said control policy, adjusting a power saving parameter, and changing a power saving state to be entered.

9. An energy efficient Ethernet method, comprising:

receiving a first indication of a duration of time during which a physical layer device on a port remained in a power saving state;

determining a first amount of power savings for said physical layer device using said first indication of a duration of time;

receiving a second indication of a duration of time during which a second interface device on said port remained in a power saving state;

determining a second amount of power savings for said second interface device using said second indication of a duration of time; and

associating an aggregate amount of power savings, which includes said first and second amount of power savings, with a port event during which said physical layer device and said second interface device were in a power saving state.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said determining comprises multiplying said duration of time by a power savings per unit time value that is associated with said power saving state.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein said receiving a second indication comprises receiving an indication of a duration of time during which a cascaded interface element remained in a power saving state.

12. An energy efficient Ethernet method, comprising:

receiving, from a power saving device via an electronic communication, information relating to a power saving event in said power saving device;

determining one or more power saving statistics for a measurement interval based on power savings determined from said received information for a plurality of power saving events in said measurement interval; and

adjusting, based on said determined one or more power saving statistics, a control policy that determines when said device should enter or exit a power saving state.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said receiving comprises receiving from a physical layer device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said receiving comprises receiving said duration of time for a low power idle state.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein said receiving comprises receiving information related to a subset physical layer device state.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein said determining one or more power saving statistics comprises determining a power savings for said measurement interval.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein said determining one or more power saving statistics comprises determining an average power savings for each power saving event in said measurement interval.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein said adjusting comprises one of adjusting a timer for said control policy, adjusting a threshold for said control policy, adjusting a power saving parameter, and changing a power saving state to be entered.

19. An energy efficient Ethernet device, comprising:

a module having a first and a second state of operation, wherein one of said first and second state of operation is a power saving state;

a first counter that tracks a number of times said module enters into said power saving state during a measurement interval;

a second counter that tracks an amount of time said module is in said power saving state during said measurement interval; and

a transmitter that transmits values of said first counter and said second counter to a device that tracks a power saving performance of said module.