System for migrating tasks between edge devices of an IoT system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11429456-B2
Application number	US-202016864186-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 1, 2020
Priority date	May 1, 2020
Publication date	Aug 30, 2022
Grant date	Aug 30, 2022

Abstract

Methods and systems are disclosed for migrating tasks between edge devices in an Internet of Things (IoT) system in a manner to generally minimize the total amount of time to execute and migrate the tasks. At least one embodiment includes a computer-implemented method for receiving a task for execution at an edge device; detecting whether a task migration condition exists at the edge device; dividing the task into a plurality of subtasks of equal data size b; and migrating at least some of the subtasks of data size b to a further edge device for execution. At least one embodiment designates 1˜n subtasks of size b for execution by the edge device and n+1˜N subtasks of data size b for execution by the further edge device and optimizes the total time for execution of the subtasks is optimized as a function of n.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for operating an Internet of Things (IoT) system, comprising:
receiving a task for execution at an edge device, the task for execution at the edge device having a data size B;
detecting whether a task migration condition exists at the edge device;
dividing the task into a plurality of subtasks of equal data size, the task of data size B being divided into a plurality N of equal size subtasks b {ab1 ab2, . . . abN};
designating subtasks ab1 through abn for execution at the edge device;
designating subtasks abn+1 through abN for execution at a further edge device;
minimizing a total time T′ (total) for executing ab1 through abn at the edge device and for executing abn+1 through abN at the further edge device as a function of n; and
migrating at least some of the subtasks to the further edge device for execution.

2. The computer-implement method of claim 1 , further comprising:
executing the migrated subtasks at the further edge device to generate a set of process results; and
communicating the set of processed results to the edge device.

3. The computer-implement method of claim 1 , further comprising:
executing the migrated subtasks at the further edge device to generate a set of process results; and
bypassing the edge device to communicate the set of processed results to an IoT device in communication with the edge device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a time T process(x) for executing subtasks ab1 through abn at the edge device;
determining a time T process(y) for executing subtasks abn+1 through abN at the further edge device;
determining a time T mig for communicating abn+1 through abN from the edge device to the further edge device; and
evaluating a sum including T process(x) , T process(y) , and T mig in minimizing the total time T′ (total) .

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein
T process(x) is determined using factors including
T process(x) =( b*n )* C edx /F edx
where
C edx =a number of processing cycles that the edge device will allocate to processing n subtasks of data size b; and

F edx =a clock frequency of the edge device; and

T process(y) is determined using factors including
T process(y) =[ b *( n+ 1˜ N )]* C edy /F edy

where
C edy =a number of processing cycles that the further edge device will allocate to processing (n+1˜N) subtasks of data size b; and

F edy =a clock frequency of further edge device.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein

Tmig
=

∑

n
+
1

N

⁢
abn

R

where R=maximum uplink transfer rate.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein T (total) is determined using a predetermined sequence of values for n until T′ (total) is minimized.

8. An Internet of Things (IoT) system comprising:
one or more information handling systems, wherein the one or more information handling systems include:
a processor;
a data bus coupled to the processor; and
a non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium embodying computer program code, the non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium being coupled to the data bus;
wherein the computer program code included in one or more of the information handling systems is executable by the processor of the information handling system so that the information handling system, alone or in combination with other information handling systems, executes operations comprising:
receiving a task for execution at an edge device, the task for execution at the edge device having a data size B;
detecting whether a task migration condition exists at the edge device;
dividing the task into a plurality of subtasks of equal data size, the task of data size B being divided into a plurality N of equal size subtasks b {ab1, ab2, . . . abN};

designating subtasks ab1 through abn for execution at the edge device;
designating subtasks abn+1 through abN for execution at a further edge device;
minimizing a total time T′ (total) for executing ab1 through abn at the edge device and for executing abn+1 through abN at the further edge device as a function of n; and
migrating at least some of the subtasks to the further edge device for execution.

9. The IoT system of claim 8 , wherein the computer program code is further configured for:
executing the migrated subtasks at the further edge device to generate a set of process results; and
communicating the set of processed results to the edge device.

10. The IoT system of claim 8 , wherein the computer program code is further configured for:
executing the migrated subtasks at the further edge device to generate a set of process results; and
bypassing the edge device to communicate the set of processed results to an IoT device in communication with the edge device.

11. The IoT system of claim 8 , wherein the computer program code is further configured for:
determining a time T process(x) for executing subtasks ab1 through abn at the edge device;
determining a time T process(y) for executing subtasks abn+1 through abN at the further edge device;
determining a time T mig for communicating abn+1 through abN from the edge device to the further edge device; and
evaluating a sum including T process(x) , T process(y) , and T mig in minimizing the total time T′ (total) .

12. The IoT system of claim 11 , wherein
T process(x) is determined using factors including
T process(x) =( b*n )* C edx /F edx
where
C edx =a number of processing cycles that the edge device will allocate to processing n subtasks of data size b; and
F edx =a clock frequency of the edge device; and

T process(y) is determined using factors including
T process(y) [ b *( n+ 1˜ N )]* C edy /F edy

where
C edy =a number of processing cycles that the further edge device will allocate to processing (n+1˜N) subtasks of data size b; and

F edy =a clock frequency of the further edge device.

13. The IoT system of claim 11 , wherein

Tmig
=

∑

n
+
1

N

⁢
abn

R

where R=maximum uplink transfer rate.

14. The IoT system of claim 11 , wherein T process(x) is determined using further factors including an availability of memory at the edge device.

15. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium embodying computer program code, the computer program code comprising computer executable instructions configured for:
receiving a task for execution at an edge device of an Internet of Things (IoT) system, the task for execution at the edge device having a data size B;
detecting whether a task migration condition exists at the edge device;
dividing the task into a plurality of subtasks of equal data size,

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Gupta Shubham
• Basu Rangan
• Sharma Rohan

Classifications

• G06F1/08

  Clock generators with changeable or programmable clock frequency · CPC title

• G16Y30/00

  IoT infrastructure · CPC title

• G06F9/4856

  resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration (G06F9/5088 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G16Y10/75

  Information technology; Communication · CPC title

• G06F2209/509

  Offload · CPC title