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US 6,687,651 B2Granted
Real time estimation of equivalent bandwidth utilization
AssigneeFujitsu Network Communications, Inc.
InventorMark A. W. Stewart
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and method for generating via integer calculations a metric for estimating link utilization within a network device having at least one output port. The metric is determined by calculating at least three data rate link parameters for a given sampling period. The data rate link parameters include an error data rate parameter, an average data rate parameter, and a deviation data rate parameter. These parameters are determined using integer values and integer operations and may be used by a link management system for performing load balancing among a plurality of output ports and for determining whether to forward low priority data traffic via a particular output port.
Claims27
An apparatus for estimating link utilization within a network device having at least one output port comprising:
- an integer counter associated with said at least one output port, wherein said integer counter increments in response to a predetermined event associated with said transmission of data from said at least one output port via at least one associated output link;
- and
- sampling logic for periodically sampling said counter to ascertain a quantity of data transmitted from said at least one output port within said respective sampling period;
- calculation logic, said calculation logic operative to ascertain for each sampling period:
- an error value equal to said quantity of data minus a historical mean value corresponding to said mean value of data transmitted from said at least one output port during prior sampling periods;
- a current mean value equal to said historical mean value plus said product of a first predetermined multiplier times said error value;
- and
- a current deviation value equal to a historical deviation plus said product of a second predetermined multiplier multiplied by said difference of said absolute value of said error value minus said historical deviation value, wherein said error value, said current mean value, said historical mean value, and said current deviation value are all integer values.
5 more elements
A method for estimating link utilization within a network device having a plurality of output ports, the method comprising the steps of:
- receiving at a plurality of output ports a plurality of corresponding data streams;
- transmitting said plurality of data streams from the respective output ports;
- incrementing an integer counter associated with each of said plurality of output ports, wherein said integer counters increment in response to a predetermined event associated with said transmission of data from said at least two output ports;
- sampling each of said integer counters to obtain a value indicative of the amount of data transmitted from said respective output ports within said respective sampling period;
- calculating for each of said plurality of output ports a link utilization metric based on at least three link parameters, said link parameters include a current error value, said current error value equal to said value sampled from said respective integer counter minus a historical mean value corresponding to said mean value of data transmitted from said respective output port during prior sampling periods, a current mean value equal to said historical mean value of said respective port plus said product of a first predetermined multiplier times said current error value of said respective port, and said current deviation value equal to a historical deviation value of the respective output port, said historical deviation value being equal to said deviation value of the respective output port during prior sampling periods, plus the product of a second predetermined multiplier multiplied by the difference of the absolute value of said current error value minus said historical deviation value, wherein said current error value, said current mean value, said historical mean value, said historical deviation value and said current deviation value are all integer values;
- and
- forwarding at least one additional data stream to a selected one of said plurality of output ports for transmission from said respective output port based upon said link utilization metric.
4 more elements
A method for estimating link utilization within a network device having an output port comprising the steps of:
- receiving a data stream at an output port;
- transmitting said data stream from said output port;
- incrementing an integer counter associated with said output port, wherein said integer counter increments in response to a predetermined event associated with said transmission of data from said output ports;
- sampling said integer counter to obtain a value indicative of the amount of data transmitted from said output port within said respective sampling period;
- calculating for said output port a link utilization metric based on three link parameters including, a current error value equal to said value sampled from said integer counter minus a historical mean value corresponding to said mean value of the data transmitted from said output port during prior sampling periods, a current mean value, said current mean value equal to said historical mean value of said port plus said product of a first predetermined multiplier times said current error value, and a current deviation value, said current deviation value being equal to a historical deviation value of said output port, said historical deviation value being equal to said deviation value of said output port during prior sampling periods, plus the product of a second predetermined multiplier multiplied by the difference of the absolute value of said current error value minus said historical deviation value, wherein said current error value, said current mean value, said historical mean value, said historical deviation value and said current deviation value are all integer values;
- and
- determining based on said calculated link utilization metric whether an additional lower priority data stream is to be transmitted from said output port.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.