Method and system for scheduling network communication
First Claim
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1. A method for communicating information in a network having a plurality of nodes, comprising:
- providing a frame for storing information, the frame being identified by a frame type, wherein the frame type in turn identifies a priority level representing one of a plurality of levels of time sensitivity with respect to delivery of the information within the frame;
determining the frame type of the frame;
in response to determining the frame type, scheduling periodic transmission of the frame from a node in the network, wherein scheduling transmission of the frame comprises comparing a frame priority to the priority of a plurality of additional frames; and
transmitting the frame at the scheduled time.
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Abstract
An apparatus for scheduling transmission of a plurality of frames in a network having a plurality of nodes, each frame identified by a type designation, includes a schedule memory and a sequencer. The schedule memory stores a transmission time for each frame type and a list of frames to be transmitted. The sequencer is operable to access the schedule memory and initiate transmission of the frames in the list.
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Citations
34 Claims
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1. A method for communicating information in a network having a plurality of nodes, comprising:
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providing a frame for storing information, the frame being identified by a frame type, wherein the frame type in turn identifies a priority level representing one of a plurality of levels of time sensitivity with respect to delivery of the information within the frame; determining the frame type of the frame; in response to determining the frame type, scheduling periodic transmission of the frame from a node in the network, wherein scheduling transmission of the frame comprises comparing a frame priority to the priority of a plurality of additional frames; and transmitting the frame at the scheduled time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for communicating information in a network having a plurality of nodes, comprising:
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providing a first frame for storing information, the first frame having a first maximum size, and the first frame further being identified by a frame type, wherein the frame type in turn identifies a priority level representing one of a plurality of levels of time sensitivity with respect to delivery of the information within the frame; providing a second frame for storing information, the second frame having a second maximum size, the first size being unequal to the second size, and the second frame further being identified by a frame type, wherein the frame type in turn identifies a priority level representing one of a plurality of levels of time sensitivity with respect to delivery of the information within the frame; determining the first maximum size and the second maximum size and determining the frame types for the first and second frames; in response to determining the first maximum size and the second maximum size and the frame types, scheduling periodic transmission of the first and second frames beginning at respective first and second scheduled times; transmitting the first frame at the first scheduled time; and transmitting the second frame at the second scheduled time. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for communicating information in a network having a plurality of nodes, comprising:
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providing a first frame for storing information and a second frame for storing information, the first and second frames each being identified by a frame type, wherein the frame type in turn identifies a priority level representing one of a plurality of levels of time sensitivity with respect to delivery of the information within the frame, and wherein the frame type for the first frame is different from the frame type for the second frame; determining the frame types of the first and second frames; in response to determining the frame types, scheduling transmission of the first frame at a first rate and scheduling transmission of the second frame at a second frame rate; repeatedly transmitting the first frame to a plurality of nodes in the network at a first rate; and repeatedly transmitting the second frame to a plurality of nodes in the network at a second rate, the first rate being unequal to the second rate. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for initiating transmission of a sequence of related data frames in a network having a plurality of nodes serially interconnected in a loop topology, each frame identified by one of a plurality of type designations, comprising:
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building a transmission queue for frames of each designated type, the queue organized by frame type and containing pointers to the header of each sequence of frames, wherein the frame types identify a priority level representing one of a plurality of levels of time sensitivity with respect to delivery of information within the frame; building a transmission schedule table for transmission times for sequences of frames of each designated type; and transmitting in response to the transmission schedule table a sequence of frames of a first designated type to each of the serially interconnected nodes of the network when an entry exists for a given designated type of frame. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for communicating information stored in a frame in a network having a plurality of nodes, comprising:
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identifying the frame type of a frame, wherein the frame types identify a priority level representing one of a plurality of levels of time sensitivity with respect to delivery of information within the frame; scheduling a time for periodic transmission of the frame from a node in the network in response to identifying the frame type, wherein scheduling a time for transmission of the frame comprises comparing a frame priority to the priority of a plurality of additional frames; and transmitting the frame at the scheduled time. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method for initiating transmission of a plurality of data frames in a network having a plurality of nodes serially interconnected in a loop topology, each frame identified by one of a plurality of type designations, comprising:
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storing frames of data by frame type for later transmission to the plurality of nodes, wherein the frame types for the frames each identify a priority level representing one of a plurality of levels of time sensitivity with respect to delivery of information within the frame, the frame types comprising at least an isochronous frame type designating time delivery sensitive information and an asynchronous frame type designating time delivery insensitive information; storing a transmission schedule table having a first queue for isochronous frames and a second queue for asynchronous frames, wherein the stored transmission schedule table comprises a timer value for each isochronous frame indicating a window for transmission of the isochronous frames, a delta time indicating the frequency of transmission of an isochronous frame, and a sequence size for each isochronous frame; and determining transmission time for a sequence of frames of a first type in response to the stored transmission schedule table to initiate synchronous transmission of frames of the first type to each of the serially interconnected nodes. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29)
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30. A method for initiating transmission of a plurality of data frames in a network having a plurality of nodes serially interconnected in a loop topology, each frame identified by one of a plurality of type designations, comprising:
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storing frames of data by frame type for later sequential transmission to the plurality of serially interconnected nodes, wherein the frame types for the frames each identify a priority level representing one of a plurality of levels of time sensitivity with respect to delivery of information within the frame, the frame types comprising at least an isochronous frame type designating time delivery sensitive information and an asynchronous frame type designating time delivery insensitive information; storing a transmission schedule table having a first queue for isochronous frames, and a second queue for asynchronous frames wherein the transmission schedule table comprises a timer value for each isochronous frame indicating a window for transmission of the isochronous frames, a delta time indicating the frequency of transmission of an isochronous frame, and a sequence size for each isochronous frame; and initiating transmission of a sequence of frames of isochronous frame type at a frame type start time at a predetermined rate during an allocated portion of a sample window to each of the plurality of serially interconnected nodes. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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32. A method for initiating transmission of a plurality of frames in a network having a plurality of serially interconnected nodes, each frame identified by one of a plurality of type designations, comprising:
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storing frames of data by frame type for later sequential transmission to the plurality of serially interconnected nodes, wherein the frame types for the frames each identify a priority level representing one of a plurality of levels of time sensitivity with respect to delivery of information within the frame; storing a transmission schedule table and a queue for each designation type of frame wherein the transmission schedule table comprises a timer value for each frame type indicating a window for transmission of a frame type, a delta time indicating the frequency of transmission of a frame type, and a sequence size for each frame type; determining transmission time for frames in response to the transmission schedule to initiate transmission of data frames; and initiating transmission of a sequence of frames of a first frame type at a frame type start time at a predetermined rate during an allocated portion of a sample window to each of the plurality of serially interconnected nodes. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34)
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Specification