Auto-Aware Dynamic Control Policy for Energy Efficiency

• US 20120106363A1
• Filed: 10/29/2010
• Published: 05/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Diab, Wael William
• Granted Patent: US 9,014,018 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/12 Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0833 for reduction of network energy consumption
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• 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

An auto-aware dynamic control policy for energy efficiency. A discovery node in a network can be designed to transmit periodically discovery traffic to a plurality of other network nodes in the network. Responses to the discovery traffic can be used by the discovery node to ascertain real-time activity in the network. Measures of the real-time activity can be used to adjust a control policy in the discovery node.

Claims

1. An energy efficiency method in a discovery node, comprising:

measuring a level of utilization of a network link supported by said discovery node;

controlling, via an energy efficiency control policy operating in said discovery node, an operating state of components in said discovery node that support said network link, said energy efficiency control policy receiving as a first input said measured level of utilization of said network link;

transmitting, from said discover node, discovery traffic to each of a plurality of network nodes;

generating a measure of current network performance for each of said plurality of network nodes based on messages received from said plurality of network nodes in response to said transmitted discovery traffic; and

adjusting an effect of said energy efficiency control policy on said components in said discovery node based on a second input based on said generated measure of current network performance for each of said plurality of network nodes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said measuring comprises measuring a condition of a port, queue, or buffer in said discovery node.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said controlling comprises placing at least part of a physical layer device in a low power state.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said controlling comprises placing at least part of a media access control device in a low power state.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting a message that enables a determination of latency of a network node.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting a message that enables a determination of a responsiveness of a network node.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting a message that enables a determination of an upload or download speed of a network node.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting a message that enables a determination of jitter in latency of a network node.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting at periodic intervals.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting said generated measure of current network performance for each of said plurality of network nodes to one or more switch nodes separate from said discovery node.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said adjusting comprises adjusting a level of aggressiveness of said energy efficiency control policy.

12. An energy efficiency method in a discovery node, comprising:

transmitting, from said discover node, first discovery traffic to each of a first plurality of network nodes, said first discovery traffic being designed to test a level of current network performance of a first type of network traffic;

transmitting, from said discover node, second discovery traffic to each of a second plurality of network nodes, said second discovery traffic being designed to test a level of current network performance of a second type of network traffic different from said first type of network traffic;

generating a first measure of current network performance for each of said first plurality of network nodes based on first messages received from said first plurality of network nodes in response to said transmitted first discovery traffic;

generating a second measure of current network performance for each of said second plurality of network nodes based on second messages received from said second plurality of network nodes in response to said transmitted second discovery traffic; and

adjusting an energy efficiency control policy in said discovery node based on said first and second generated measures of current network performance, said energy efficiency control policy controlling an operating state of components in said discovery node.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting messages designed to measure network performance of transmission of voice over IP data.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting messages designed to measure network performance of transmission of video data.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting messages designed to measure network performance of transmission of data having a particular quality of service level.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein said adjusting comprises adjusting a level of aggressiveness of said energy efficiency control policy.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein said energy efficiency control policy is also based on a measure of a level of utilization of a network link supported by said discovery node.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising determining said level of utilization based a measure of a condition of a port, queue, or buffer in said discovery node.

19. An energy efficiency method in a discovery node, comprising:

controlling, via an energy efficiency control policy operating in said discovery node, an operating state of a physical layer device in said discovery node that supports a network link, said energy efficiency control policy being based at least in part on a level of utilization of said network link; and

adjusting a level of aggressiveness of said energy efficiency control policy based on measures of current network performance of a plurality of nodes in a network in which said discovery node resides, said measures of current network performance being based on messages generated by said plurality of nodes in response to discovery messages designed to test a responsiveness of said plurality of nodes.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising receiving said measures of network performance from a discovery node.