Priority packet processing

• US 9,225,581 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2013
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yousefi, Nariman, Kim, Yongbum, Walley, John, Chen, Sherman (Xuemin), Diab, Wael William, Ilyadis, Nicholas
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Brenda H
• Application Number:
  US14/039,382
• Publication Number:
  US 20140036922A1
• Time in Patent Office: 823 Days
• Field of Search: 370/349, 370/389, 370/230, 370/235, 370/395.21, 370/395.4, 370/395.42, 370/363, 370/368, 370/374, 370/378, 370/395.7, 370/412, 370/428, 370/429
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/00 Electric propulsion with power supplied within the vehicle with power supply from force of nature, e.g. sun or wind, B60L8/00; for monorail vehicles, suspension vehicles or rack railways B60L13/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/023 for transmission of signals between vehicle parts or subsystems
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/03 for supply of electrical power to vehicle subsystems or for circuit arrangements for charging batteries H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0315 using multiplexing techniques multiplexing for transmission of signals G08C15/00; multiplexing for electrical communication in general H04J
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 19/03 characterised by material, e.g. composite B60R19/18 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/266 Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4022 using switching circuits, e.g. switching matrix, connection or expansion network G06F13/4009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/76 Arrangements for rearranging, permuting or selecting data according to predetermined rules, independently of the content of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0866 the electronic data carrier being a digital video recorder in combination with video camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/16 Anti-collision systems road vehicle drive control systems for predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision otherwise than by control of a particular sub-unit B60W30/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3822 specially adapted for use in vehicles H04B1/3827 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/10 Current supply arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/46 Interconnection of networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/56 Packet switching systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6275 : based on priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/76 : using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation requested by the user or requested by the network in response to changing network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/821 : Prioritising resource allocation or reservation requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 : Routing or path finding in a switch fabric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 : specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 : Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 : Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/102 : characterised by the element, parameter or selection affected or controlled by the adaptive coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 : for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 : for receiving images from a single remote source
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 : Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/08 : Load balancing or load distribution transferring a connection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 : for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 : for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 : for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 : Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 : using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/56 : based on priority criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 : Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/18 : Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

A network node in a vehicular network processes packets based on a prioritization scheme. The prioritization scheme uses packet type, priority, source, destination, or other information to determine a priority of the packets. Packets can be stored in one of multiple queues organized according to packet type, or other criteria. In some cases, only one queue is used. The packets are time stamped when put into a queue, and a time to live is calculated based on the timestamp. The time to live, as well as other factors such as packet type, packet priority, packet source, and packet destination can be used to adjust a packet'"'"'s priority within the queue. Packets are transmitted from the queues in priority order. In some cases, the network node can identify a top-priority packet, and transmit the top priority packet without first storing the packet in the queue.

Claims

1. A method for operating a network module within a vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving a first packet by the network module from a vehicle communication network;

interpreting a timestamp of the first packet to determine whether the first packet is a top-priority packet;

in response to a determination that the first packet is a top-priority packet, altering priority of the first packet based on the timestamp; and

transmitting the first packet using a top-priority bypass mechanism to the vehicle communication network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a second packet has a lower priority than the first packet; and

in response to determining that the second packet has a lower priority than the first packet, altering transmission of the second packet.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising, in response to determining that the second packet does not have a lower priority than the first packet, waiting to transmit the first packet until the second packet has been transmitted.

4. The method of claim 1:

wherein a vehicle network field of the first packet includes information identifying a packet type of the first packet; and

further comprising determining whether the first packet is a top-priority packet based, at least in part, on the packet type of the first packet.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a time to live of the first packet based, at least in part, on the timestamp of the packet; and

altering the priority of the first packet based on the time to live of the first packet.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, based on content of the first packet, a source of the first packet and a destination of the first packet; and

altering the priority of the first packet based on the source of the first packet and the destination of the first packet.

7. A method for operating a network module within a vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving a packet by the network module from a vehicle communication network;

interpreting a vehicle network field of the packet to determine a prioritization indication and a packet type;

determining a timestamp of the packet;

altering priority of the packet based on the timestamp and the prioritization indication; and

queuing the packet for transmission to the vehicle communication network using a top-priority bypass mechanism.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising altering the timestamp of the packet.

9. The method of claim 7:

wherein the prioritization indication includes a packet type; and

further comprising placing the packet in a selected queue of a plurality of queues based on the packet type.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining a source and a destination of the packet; and

positioning the packet within the queue based on the source of the packet and the destination of the packet.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining a source and a destination of the packet; and

selecting the packet for transmission from the queue based on the source of the packet and the destination of the packet.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining a time to live of the packet; and

reprioritizing the packet within the queue based on the time to live of the packet.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining a time to live of the packet; and

positioning the packet within the queue based on the time to live of the packet.

14. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

identifying a top-priority packet based on content of the vehicle network field; and

transmitting the top-priority packet via a path that bypasses the queue.

15. A method for operating a network module within a vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving a packet by the network module from a vehicle communication network;

determining a packet type of the packet;

determining, based on content of the packet, a source and a destination of the packet;

selecting a queue from a plurality of queues based on the packet type;

determining a prioritization indication of the packet based on a vehicle network field of the packet;

determining a timestamp of the packet;

altering priority of the packet based on the timestamp and the prioritization indication; and

positioning the packet within the selected queue in accordance with a top-priority bypass mechanism.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising positioning the packet within the selected queue based upon a timestamp of the packet.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising selecting a packet for transmission from the selected queue based on a source and a destination of the packet.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining a time to live of the packet; and

reprioritizing the packet within the selected queue based on the time to live of the packet.

19. The method of claim 15,

wherein the selected queue is used to store packets having a priority higher than a non-selected queue of the plurality of queues;

and

further comprising transmitting all packets stored in the selected queue prior to transmitting any packets stored in the non-selected queue.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

identifying a top-priority packet based on content of the vehicle network field; and

transmitting the top-priority packet via a path that bypasses the selected queue.