Packet sending method, network node, and system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12047291-B2
Application number	US-202217865813-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 15, 2022
Priority date	May 11, 2018
Publication date	Jul 23, 2024
Grant date	Jul 23, 2024

Abstract

A packet sending method of a controller includes obtaining a forwarding latency requirement of a service flow and a destination address of the service flow; determining a forwarding path that meets the forwarding latency requirement, and determining a number of a first cycle time in which an ingress node forwards a packet and a number of a second cycle time in which an intermediate node forwards the packet; sending a first entry to the ingress node that includes a sequence number of the packet and the first cycle time number; and sending a second entry to the intermediate node that includes the sequence number of the packet and the second cycle time number.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
obtaining a forwarding latency requirement of a service flow;
determining, based on the forwarding latency requirement, a forwarding path for forwarding the service flow, wherein a first latency of the forwarding path meets the forwarding latency requirement, wherein the forwarding path passes through a first network node and a second network node;
determining a first cycle time number in which the first network node is to forward a packet and a second cycle time number in which the second network node is to forward the packet, wherein the packet is in the service flow;
generating a first entry and a second entry, wherein the first entry comprises a first correspondence between a sequence number of the packet and the first cycle time number, and wherein the second entry comprises a second correspondence between the sequence number and the second cycle time number;
sending the first entry to the first network node to instruct the first network node to forward the packet during a first time period corresponding to the first cycle time number; and
sending the second entry to the second network node to instruct the second network node to forward the packet during a second time period corresponding to the second cycle time number.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
obtaining a first node latency of the first network node and a second node latency of the second network node, wherein the first node latency comprises a first packet processing latency and a first packet sending latency of the first network node, and wherein the second node latency comprises a second packet processing latency and a second packet sending latency of the second network node;
obtaining a link latency of a link on the forwarding path; and
determining the forwarding latency requirement is met when a sum of the first node latency, the second node latency, and the link latency falls within a range.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
obtaining a first duration of a first cycle time of the first network node;
obtaining a second duration of a second cycle time of the second network node;
obtaining a third cycle time number of the first network node and a fourth cycle time number of the second network node that correspond to a current time of the controller;
determining the first cycle time number based on the first duration and the third cycle time number; and
determining the second cycle time number based on the first duration, a second latency of a link from the first network node to the second network node, a second packet processing latency of the second network node, the fourth cycle time number, and the second duration.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a first adjacent segment identifier of the first network node and a second adjacency segment identifier of the second network node;
generating a label stack comprising the first adjacency segment identifier and the second adjacency segment identifier; and
sending the label stack to the first network node to instruct the first network node to forward the packet through the forwarding path.

5. A method, comprising:
obtaining, by the second network node, an entry comprising a correspondence between a sequence number and a cycle time number, wherein the sequence number is a packet sequence number, and wherein the cycle time number is used to instruct the second network node to send, in a time period corresponding to the cycle time number, one or more packets corresponding to the sequence number;
receiving, by the second network node, a first packet from the first network node, wherein the first packet comprises a first sequence number corresponding to the first packet;
obtaining, by the second network node, the entry based on the first sequence number;
obtaining, by the second network node, a first cycle time number corresponding to the first sequence number; and
sending, by the second network node, the first packet to a next-hop network node of the second network node in a time period corresponding to the first cycle time number.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising matching the entry based on the first sequence number.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein obtaining the entry comprising the correspondence between the sequence number and the cycle time number comprises:
receiving, by the second network node, the entry from the first network node; or
receiving, by the second network node, the forwarding entry from a controller.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the sending comprises:
adding, by the second network node, the first packet to a packet queue corresponding to the first cycle time number; and
sending the packet to the next-hop network node of the second network node when the packet queue is a sending queue.

9. A controller comprising:
a memory configured to store instructions; and
a processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions to cause the controller to:
obtain a forwarding latency requirement of a service flow;
determine, based on the forwarding latency requirement, a forwarding path for forwarding the service flow, wherein a first latency of the forwarding path meets the forwarding latency requirement, wherein the forwarding path passes through a first network node and a second network node;
determine a first cycle time number in which the first network node is to forward a packet and a second cycle time number in which the second network node is to forward the packet, wherein the packet is in the service flow;
generate a first entry and a second entry, wherein the first entry comprises a first correspondence between a sequence number of the packet and the first cycle time number, and wherein the second entry comprises a second correspondence between the sequence number and the second cycle time number;
send the first entry to the first network node to instruct the first network node to forward the packet during a first time period corresponding to the first cycle time number; and
send the second entry to the second network node to instruct the second network node to forward the packet during a second time period corresponding to the second cycle time number.

10. The controller of claim 9 , wherein the instructions further cause the controller to:
obtain a first node latency of the first network node and a second node latency of the second network node, wherein the first node latency comprises a first packet processing latency and a first packet sending latency of the first network node, and wherein the second node latency comprises a second packet processing latency and a second packet sending latency of the second network node;
obtain a link latency of a link on the forwarding path; and
determine the forwarding latency requirement is met when a sum of the first node latency, the second node latency, and the link latency falls within a range.

11. The controller of claim 9 , wherein the instructions further cause the controller to:
obtain a first duration of a first cycle time of the first network node;
obtain a second duration of a second cycle time of the second network node;
obtain a third cycle time number of the first network node and a fourth cycle time number of the second network node that correspond to a current time of the controller;
determine the first cycle time number based on the first duration and the third cycle time number; and
determine the second cycle time number based on the first duration, a second latency of a link from the first network node to the second network node, a second packet processing latency of the second network node, the fourth cycle time number,

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Geng Xuesong
• Chen Guoyi

Classifications

• H04L47/28

  in relation to timing considerations · CPC title

• H04L47/24

  Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS · CPC title

• H04L45/70

  Routing based on monitoring results · CPC title

• H04L45/302

  Route determination based on requested QoS · CPC title

• H04L45/74 Primary

  Address processing for routing · CPC title