Method and apparatus for monitoring a message transmission frequency in a robot operating system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10055265-B2
Application number	US-201715410446-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 19, 2017
Priority date	Sep 6, 2016
Publication date	Aug 21, 2018
Grant date	Aug 21, 2018

Abstract

This discolor discloses a method and apparatus for monitoring a message transmission frequency in a robot operating system. A specific implementation of the method includes: writing to-be-transmitted messages, into a pre-allocated memory; obtaining time points when the to-be-transmitted messages are written into the memory, and recording the time points in a preset time point list; determining a message transmission frequency within a preset time interval based on the time points in the time point list; and comparing the message transmission frequency with a preset message transmission frequency threshold, and generating monitoring information based on a comparing result. This implementation monitors the message transmission frequency of a process to thereby avoid information codes related to monitoring of each application from being added to the application so as to reduce the program debugging cost, and improve the monitoring efficiency.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for monitoring a message transmission frequency in a robot operating system to reduce program debugging cost or improve monitoring efficiency, comprising:
writing to-be-transmitted messages into a pre-allocated memory;
obtaining time points when the to-be-transmitted messages are written into the memory, and recording the time points in a preset time point list;
determining a message transmission frequency within a preset time interval based on the time points in the time point list;
comparing the message transmission frequency with a preset message transmission frequency threshold; and
generating monitoring information based on a comparing result,
wherein the obtaining the time points when the to-be-transmitted messages are written into the memory, and recording the time points in the preset time point list comprises:
invoking a preset notification function to record the time points when the to-be-transmitted messages are written into the memory; and
if the time point list is full, removing an earliest time point in the time point list according to an order of the time points when the to-be-transmitted messages are written into the memory recorded in the time point list, and adding the obtained time point to the time point list.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
loading a preset configuration file, wherein the configuration file is retrieved when a process is started, and the configuration file comprises identification information of the process, the message transmission frequency threshold, and transmission protocol information of the robot operating system.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining the message transmission frequency within the preset time interval based on the time points in the time point list comprises:
counting a number of the time points in the time point list within the preset time interval, and determining the number of the time points as a message transmission number; and
determining the message transmission frequency based on the message transmission number and the time points in the time point list.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the determining the message transmission frequency based on the message transmission number and the time points in the time point list comprises:
retrieving an earliest time point within the preset time interval from the time point list as a first message transmission time point;
retrieving a latest time point within the preset time interval from the time point list as a last message transmission time point; and
calculating the message transmission frequency in an equation of:

f
=

n
-
1

T
n

-

T
1

,

where T1 represents the first message transmission time point, T n represents the last message transmission time point, n represents the message transmission number, wherein n is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2, and f represents the message transmission frequency.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the monitoring information comprises a monitoring level, and
the comparing the message transmission frequency with the preset message transmission frequency threshold, and generating the monitoring information based on the comparing result comprises:
generating the monitoring information at a first monitoring level, if the message transmission frequency is above a first preset message transmission frequency threshold and below a second preset message transmission frequency threshold;
generating the monitoring information at a second monitoring level, if the message transmission frequency is above the second preset message transmission frequency threshold and below a third preset message transmission frequency threshold; and
generating the monitoring information at a third monitoring level, if the message transmission frequency is below the first preset message transmission frequency threshold or above the third preset message transmission frequency threshold; and
determining a message transmission state based on the monitoring information.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
sending the monitoring information to a server supporting the robot operating system.

7. An apparatus for monitoring a message transmission frequency in a robot operating system to reduce program debugging cost or improve monitoring efficiency, comprising:
a writing unit configured to write to-be-transmitted messages into a pre-allocated memory;
an obtaining unit configured to obtain time points when the to-be-transmitted messages are written into the memory, and to record the time points in a preset time point list;
a determining unit configured to determine a message transmission frequency within a preset time interval based on the time points in the time point list; and
a generating unit configured to compare the message transmission frequency with a preset message transmission frequency threshold, and to generate monitoring information based on a comparing result,
wherein the obtaining unit comprises:
an invoking sub-unit configured to invoke a preset notification function to record the time points when the to-be-transmitted messages are written into the memory, and the obtaining unit is further configured to remove an earliest time point in the time point list according to an order of the time points when the to-be-transmitted messages are written into the memory recorded in the time point list, and add the obtained time point to the time point list, if the time point list is full.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 , further comprising:
a loading unit configured to load a preset configuration file, wherein the configuration file is retrieved when processes are started, and the configuration file comprises identification information of the processes, the message transmission frequency threshold, and transmission protocol information of the robot operating system.

9. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the determining unit comprises:
a counting sub-unit configured to count a number of the time points in the time point list within the preset time interval, and to determine the number of time points as a message transmission number; and
a determining sub-unit configured to determine the message transmission frequency based on the message transmission number and the time points in the time point list.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the determining sub-unit is further configured to:
retrieve an earliest time point within the preset time interval from the time point list of as a first message transmission time point; retrieve a latest time point within the preset time interval from the time point list as a last message transmission time point; and calculate the message transmission frequency in an equation of:

f
=

n
-
1

T
n

Assignees

• Beijing Baidu Netcom Sci & Tec

Inventors

• Ma Yu
• Zhang Weide
• He Wei
• Wang Haifeng
• Liang Yibing
• Chen Zhuo

Classifications

• G06F11/3024

  where the computing system component is a central processing unit [CPU] · CPC title

• G06F11/3055

  Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available (error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operations G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16) · CPC title

• G06F9/546 Primary

  Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues · CPC title

• Y10S901/50

  Miscellaneous · CPC title

• G06F11/3006

  where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems (multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50) · CPC title