INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, AND CONTROL METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM THEREFOR

• US 20120210142A1
• Filed: 02/06/2012
• Published: 08/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: ICHIKI, Hiroki, YAMADA, Akiko, IMAI, Satoshi
• Granted Patent: US 8,977,873 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/56 Packet switching systems

Abstract

In an information processing apparatus, a transmitter forwards received data. A significance determination unit determines significance of the received data. Based on the significance of the received data, an operation mode selection unit selects which operation mode to apply. Power management information stored in a memory describes what power management is to be performed in each different operation mode. A control unit performs power management of the transmitter, with reference to the stored power management information corresponding to the selected operation mode.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:

a transmitter that forwards received data;

a memory configured to store power management information that describes what power management is to be performed in each different operation mode; and

a processor configured to perform a procedure comprising;

determining significance of the received data,

selecting which operation mode to apply, based on the significance of the received data, and

performing power management of the transmitter, with reference to the stored power management information corresponding to the selected operation mode.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selecting selects an operation mode corresponding to the highest significance among those of different sets of received data.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the memory further stores information that specifies performance levels at which the transmitter is to operate in different operation modes; and

the performing of power management controls the transmitter in such a way that the transmitter operates at one of the performance levels which corresponds to the selected operation mode.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the selecting selects an operation mode that enables the transmitter to operate at a higher performance level as the significance of the received data is higher.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the information stored in the memory describes the performance level of each operation mode in such a way that a wider performance margin is provided against processing load of forwarding received data as the operation mode corresponds to a higher significance.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the memory further stores information that specifies, for each different operation mode, which circuits are to be stopped when data inflows become extinct; and

the performing of power management stops, upon extinction of the data inflows, the circuits specified in the stored information corresponding to the selected operation mode.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the information stored in the memory specifies more circuits to be stopped, as the operation mode corresponds to a lower significance of received data.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the memory further stores information that associates matching patterns of header information of packets with significance of the packets; and

the determining of significance finds one of the matching patterns that matches with the header information of packets of the received data and determines the significance of the received data which is associated with the matching pattern that is found.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the transmitter treats as a flow a series of data received from a common source and destined for a common destination, and forwards traffic of each flow to one or more paths that have previously been determined therefor; and

the procedure further comprises sending information indicating the determined significance of a flow to other apparatuses on the paths of the flow.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, the procedure further comprising:

measuring per-unit-time traffic volume of each flow of data received from a common source and destined for a common destination; and

storing log records of each flow in the memory, the log records indicating the per-unit-time traffic volume measured during a specified past period;

wherein the selecting selects an operation mode corresponding to the highest significance among those of the flows whose traffic during the specified past period is recorded in the log records.

11. The information processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein:

the memory further stores information that specifies performance levels at which the transmitter is to operate in different operation modes in such a way that a wider performance margin is provided against processing load of forwarding received data as the operation mode corresponds to a higher significance;

the procedure further comprises calculating the processing load of forwarding received data, based on a sum of maximum per-unit-time traffic volumes of the flows; and

the performing of power management controls the transmitter in such a way that the transmitter operates at one of the defined performance levels which provides a performance margin depending on the selected operation mode against the calculated processing load.

12. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the transmitter treats as a flow a series of data received from a common source and destined for a common destination, and forwards traffic of each flow to one or more paths that have previously been determined therefor; and

the procedure further comprises sending information indicating presence of traffic of a flow, to other information processing apparatuses on a path that is operable to deliver the flow, but currently carrying no traffic of the flow.

13. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, the procedure further comprising:

measuring per-unit-time traffic volume of each flow of data received from a common source and destined for a common destination; and

storing log records of each flow in the memory, the log records indicating the per-unit-time traffic volume measured during a specified past period;

wherein the selecting selects an operation mode corresponding to the highest significance among those of the flows whose traffic during the specified past period is recorded in the log records, as well as of the flows whose traffic is indicated as being present by another information processing apparatus.

14. A control method executed by a computer, the control method comprising:

determining significance of received data,

selecting which operation mode to apply, based on the significance of the received data, and

performing power management of a transmitter which forwards the received data, with reference to power management information corresponding to the selected operation mode, the power management information describing what power management is to be performed in each different operation mode.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program, the computer program causing a computer to perform a procedure comprising:

determining significance of received data;

selecting which operation mode to apply, based on the significance of the received data; and

performing power management of a transmitter which forwards the received data, with reference to power management information corresponding to the selected operation mode, the power management information describing what power management is to be performed in each different operation mode.