Tracing message transmissions between communicating network devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10659328-B2
Application number	US-201916367383-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2019
Priority date	Aug 27, 2013
Publication date	May 19, 2020
Grant date	May 19, 2020

Abstract

A packet of data and a packet-identification value are transmitted to a network device having an identifier. The stored packet-identification value and the identifier are recorded. The stored packet-identification value is then increased and the process repeats. To receive data, an expected identification value is stored in association with the identifier. A packet and a packet-identification value are received from the network device. The identifier and an indication of receipt are stored. If the received value does not match the expected value for the identifier, the received value is stored. If the values match, the stored packet-identification value and identifier are recorded. If the received value exceeds the expected value, the stored packet-identification value, the identifier and the received identifier are recorded. Subsequently, the stored expected value is increased. The process repeats. Network devices and systems are described.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of transmitting data to a network device, the method comprising automatically performing the following steps using a processor:
storing a packet-identification value in a first storage element;
transmitting a packet of data and the stored packet-identification value to the network device, wherein the network device has an identifier;
a tracing step of storing in a second storage element the identifier in association with an indication that the packet was sent;
recording in a third storage element the stored packet-identification value in association with the identifier;
after the recording and tracing steps, increasing the stored packet-identification value; and
repeating the transmitting, tracing, recording, and increasing steps.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further including mapping a network address of the network device to the identifier, wherein the identifier occupies fewer bits than the network address.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the network device has a network address that is either a broadcast address or a unicast address, the method further including determining the identifier of the network device using the network address, so that an identifier corresponding to the broadcast address is different from an identifier corresponding to the unicast address.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the increasing step includes adding unity to the stored packet-identification value.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the increasing step includes adding to the stored packet-identification value a variable stride.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further including, before the transmitting step:
storing a compression table in a memory, wherein the compression table corresponds to results of processing a set of training trace data using a table-driven compression algorithm;
determining a payload of the packet of data by compressing the data in the second storage element using the stored compression table according to the table-driven compression algorithm, wherein the stored compression table is accessed in a read-only manner.

7. A method of receiving data from a network device, the method comprising automatically performing the following steps using a processor:
storing an expected identification value in a first storage element, wherein the network device has an identifier and the expected identification value is stored in association with the identifier;
receiving a packet of data and a packet-identification value from the network device;
storing in a second storage element the identifier in association with an indication that the packet was received and, if the packet-identification value does not match the stored expected identification value associated with the identifier, in association with the received packet-identification value;
a comparing step of:
if the received packet-identification value matches the expected identification value, recording in a third storage element the stored packet-identification value in association with the identifier; and
if the received packet-identification value exceeds the expected identification value, recording in the third storage element the stored packet-identification value in association with the identifier and in association with the received packet-identification value;

subsequently, increasing the stored expected identification value; and
repeating the receiving, storing, comparing, and increasing steps.

8. The method according to claim 7 , further including mapping a network address of the network device to the identifier, wherein the identifier occupies fewer bits than the network address.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the network device has a network address that is either a broadcast address or a unicast address, the method further including determining the identifier of the network device using the network address, so that an identifier corresponding to the broadcast address is different from an identifier corresponding to the unicast address.

10. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the increasing step includes adding unity to the stored packet-identification value.

11. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the increasing step includes adding to the stored expected identification value a variable stride.

12. The method according to claim 7 , further including:
storing a compression table in a memory, wherein the compression table corresponds to results of processing a set of training trace data using a table-driven compression algorithm;
compressing the data in the second storage element using the stored compression table according to the table-driven compression algorithm, wherein the stored compression table is accessed in a read-only manner; and
transmitting the compressed data via a network interface operatively connected to the processor.

13. A network device having a network address and configured to participate in a network including one or more remote network device(s) having respective network addresses, the network device comprising:
a network interface configured to selectively communicate data packet(s) with the remote network device(s);
first, second, and third storage elements; and
a processor adapted to:
record in the first storage element a respective identifier for each of the remote network device(s) with which the network interface communicates at least one data packet, wherein each respective identifier occupies fewer bits than the network address of the respective one of the remote network device(s);
record in the second storage element respective, independent running transmit and receive sequence numbers for each of the remote network device(s) with which the network interface communicates a data packet in association with the respective identifier(s) thereof; and
record in the third storage element record(s) of transmitted data packet(s) and records(s) of received data packet(s), each of the record(s) stored in association with the identifier of the corresponding remote network device, and each record of a received data packet including a packet-identification value of the received data packet if the packet-identification value does not match the corresponding running receive sequence number at the time of receipt.

14. The network device according to claim 13 , wherein the network interface includes a wireless-communications transceiver.

15. The network device according to claim 13 , further including a sensor configured to provide sensor data, wherein the processor is further adapted to transmit representation(s) of the provided sensor data as part of the transmitted data packet(s).

16. The network device according to claim 13 , wherein the sensor is selected from the group consisting of an environment-monitoring sensor, a structural-monitoring sensor, a border-surveillance sensor, and an industrial-machinery-monitoring sensor.

17. The network device according to claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to increase the running transmit sequence number each time the network interface transmits a data packet to one of the remote network device(s).

18. The network device according to claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to update the receive sequence number corresponding to an identifier when the received data packet is received from the respective remote network device and has the packet-identification value is at least the receive sequence number at the time of receipt.

19. A system including a

Assignees

• Purdue Research Foundation

Inventors

• Sundaram Vinaitheerthan
• Eugster Patrick
• Zhang Xiangyu

Classifications

• H04L69/04

  Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC · CPC title

• G06F16/1744

  using compression, e.g. sparse files · CPC title

• G06F11/3636

  by tracing the execution of the program · CPC title

• H04L43/062 Primary

  related to network traffic · CPC title

• H04L69/22

  Parsing or analysis of headers · CPC title