WO2021136213A1

WO2021136213A1 - Resource configuration method and device

Info

Publication number: WO2021136213A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/140421
Authority: WO
Inventors: 万俊杰; 于德雷
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2019-12-30
Filing date: 2020-12-28
Publication date: 2021-07-08
Also published as: CN113132268A

Abstract

Provided are a resource configuration method and device, which are used to meet the requirement for providing a deterministic forwarding service in DIP technology, and which improve the resource utilization rate. The method comprises: a controller receiving a request message, wherein the request message is used to instruct the controller to configure time-domain resources for executing a first service; and the controller sending a configuration message to a first node, wherein the configuration message indicates N positions of N time units within a macrocycle, the N time units are the time-domain resources for executing the first service, and bandwidth resources corresponding to the N time units meet the bandwidth requirement of the first service. The controller configures the time-domain resources by using the time units as the granularity, can control the delay of the first node forwarding a message of the first service to be within an index range, and can meet the requirement for providing a deterministic forwarding service in DIP technology. When the configured resources are excessive, the controller can also configure the excessive resources to new services according to the resource occupation of each node, thereby reducing resource waste and improving the resource utilization rate.

Description

Method and equipment for resource allocation

Cross-references to related applications

This application claims the priority of a Chinese patent application filed with the Chinese Patent Office, the application number is 201911404975.X, and the application name is "a method and equipment for resource allocation" on December 30, 2019, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. Applying.

Technical field

This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a method and equipment for resource allocation.

Background technique

In the sixth version of the Internet Protocol (IPv6), in order to meet the needs of differentiated services in new application scenarios (such as artificial intelligence, industrial Internet, Internet of Things, etc.), a deterministic Internet Protocol is proposed (deterministic internet protocol, DIP) technology. DIP technology is designed to provide deterministic forwarding services for businesses. Deterministic forwarding services refer to controlling the delay of node forwarding messages within a certain index range through some technical processing.

At present, when configuring resources for nodes, the controller only needs to ensure that the configured bandwidth resources meet the bandwidth requirements of the service, that is, it only guarantees that the maximum amount of data allowed to be transmitted per unit time meets the actual transmission requirements of the service, but in which time period it is performed Data transmission and how much data is transmitted in a time period are uncertain, which results in different actual bandwidths in different time ranges. For example, if a bandwidth of 1.2 gigabits per second (that is, 1.2G bits/s) is configured, the actual bandwidth in the previous 0.5 second is 2.4G bits/s in actual application, and the data volume of 1.2G bits is transmitted. The actual bandwidth within seconds is 0, and no data transmission is performed. Because the controller only configures the node with bandwidth resources that meet the bandwidth requirements, and in which time period the node forwards the message, which time period does not forward the message, and in which time period the next hop node of the node receives the message , The controller is not certain, so for the controller, the delay of the node forwarding the message is uncertain. Obviously, the current resource allocation method cannot meet the requirements of DIP technology to provide deterministic forwarding services.

Summary of the invention

The embodiments of the present application provide a resource configuration method and device, which are used to meet the requirements of DIP technology to provide deterministic forwarding services and improve resource utilization.

In the first aspect, an embodiment of the present application proposes a resource configuration method. The method includes: the controller receives a request message, the request message is used to instruct the controller to configure the time domain resource for executing the first service, and the controller sends the first service to the first service. The node sends a configuration message indicating the N positions of the N time units in a macrocycle; wherein the N time units are time domain resources for executing the first service, and the N time units The corresponding bandwidth resource satisfies the bandwidth requirement of the first service. One of the N time units is used to indicate the minimum duration for scheduling time domain resources. A macrocycle includes M time units, where M is greater than or equal to The N is an integer, and the N is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

Through the above method, the controller sends a configuration message indicating N positions to the first node in response to the request message, so that the first node will use the time unit as the granularity, and the N positions corresponding to the N positions in a macrocycle The first service is executed in the time unit, and the first service will not be executed in the time unit other than the N time units corresponding to the N positions in the macrocycle, which means that the controller can forward the first node to the first node. The delay of a service message is controlled within a certain index range to meet the requirements of DIP technology to provide deterministic forwarding services. For example, the controller indicates the time corresponding to the second position of the first node in a macrocycle. The first service is executed in the unit, and the time delay for the first node to forward the first service packet can be controlled to 1 time unit. In addition, when M is greater than N, since the first service only occupies N time units in one macrocycle, the remaining (M-N) time units can also be allocated to other services, thereby reducing resource waste and improving resource utilization.

In an optional implementation manner, the controller determines the number N of time units used to execute the first service in a macro cycle according to the request message; the controller according to the first transmission path The time domain resource occupancy status of the node in the node, the N positions of the N time units in a macrocycle are configured for the first node, where the entrance of the first transmission path is the first node, The exit is the second node, and the first service enters the first network via the first node, and leaves the first network via the second node.

Through the above method, the controller first determines the number N of time units for executing the first service. The bandwidth resources corresponding to the N time units meet the bandwidth requirements of the first service. According to the time domain resource occupation of the nodes in the first transmission path In this case, configuring the N time units at N positions in a macrocycle can configure time domain resources for the first node at the granularity of time units, so that the controller can forward the first service packet to the first node The time delay is controlled within a certain index range to meet the requirements of DIP technology to provide deterministic forwarding services.

In an optional implementation manner, the first transmission path includes a third node, and the H positions are positions of the third node corresponding to the N positions in a macrocycle, and the H positions The time unit corresponding to at least one of the positions is occupied by the second service, and the method further includes: the controller adjusts the time domain resource used for executing the second service in the third node, and after the adjustment, The N time units corresponding to the H positions are in an idle state.

Through the above method, the time unit corresponding to at least one of the H positions is occupied by the second service, that is, the third node executes the first service and the second service in the time unit corresponding to the at least one position, resulting in the first The time domain resources of the three nodes conflict. In this case, the controller adjusts the time domain resources used to execute the second service in the third node so that the time units corresponding to the H positions are in an idle state, thereby effectively avoiding node occurrence Time domain resource conflict.

In an optional implementation manner, the controller adjusting the time domain resources used to execute the second service in the third node includes: the controller determining K according to the first macrocycle offset The K positions are the positions of the fourth node corresponding to the H positions in one macrocycle, wherein the second service enters the first network via the fourth node, and the first macro The cycle offset is the time delay for the message to be transmitted from the fourth node to the third node; the controller reconfigures the fourth node according to the time domain resource occupation of the nodes in the second transmission path Q time units are located at Q positions in a macrocycle, where the Q time units are time domain resources for the fourth node to execute the second service, and the Q positions include the division of one macrocycle In locations other than the K locations, the second transmission path is used to transmit the message of the second service.

Through the above method, the controller can accurately determine the K positions in the fourth node corresponding to the H positions in one macro period according to the first macro period offset. In this way, the controller can use the time unit as the granularity to reconfigure the fourth node with Q positions other than the K positions in a macrocycle, and the Q time units corresponding to the Q positions are used to execute the second service. , Which means that the N time units corresponding to the H positions at the third node will be in an idle state, and the third node can use the time units corresponding to different positions to execute the first service and the second service respectively, thereby solving the time domain of the third node The problem of resource conflicts improves resource utilization.

In an optional implementation manner, the method further includes: the controller determines between every two adjacent nodes in the first transmission path according to the bandwidth resource occupancy of the nodes in the first transmission path. A channel for executing the first service is configured between the channels, and the configured channel is used to determine the bandwidth resource corresponding to each time unit, wherein the entrance of the first transmission path is the first node, and the exit is the first node. Two nodes, the first service enters the first network via the first node, and leaves the first network via the second node.

Through the above method, the controller configures a channel for executing the first service between every two adjacent nodes in the first transmission path, which means that the bandwidth of the configured channel meets the bandwidth resource of the first service. The configured channel can be used to determine the bandwidth resource corresponding to each time unit. For example, the controller configures the first channel for the first node and the next hop node of the first node, and the bandwidth of the first channel is 2.4 Gbits/s , The bandwidth corresponding to each time unit at the first node is 2.4 Gbits/s. In this way, the controller can determine N time units that meet the bandwidth requirement of the first service, so that time domain resources can be allocated with the time unit as the granularity.

In an optional implementation manner, the method further includes: the first transmission path includes a fifth node and a sixth node, and the fifth node is a next hop node of the sixth node; the The controller configures a channel between every two adjacent nodes in the first transmission path according to the bandwidth resource occupancy of the nodes in the first transmission path, including: the controller configures a channel between every two adjacent nodes in the first transmission path. According to the bandwidth resource occupancy of the node and the bandwidth requirement of the first service, a channel for executing the first service is configured between the fifth node and the sixth node; or, the controller is based on According to the bandwidth resource occupation situation of the fifth node and the bandwidth requirement of the first service, one of the at least one configured channel between the fifth node and the sixth node is determined to be used for executing the The first business channel.

Through the above method, between two adjacent nodes on the first transmission path, the controller can configure a channel for executing the first service, or it can determine a channel to execute from at least one channel that has been configured between the two nodes. The first business. The controller determines a channel from the configured at least one channel to execute the first service, that is, uses the excess resources in the configured channel to execute the first service, avoids the waste of excess resources, and improves resource utilization.

In an optional implementation manner, the method further includes: the controller receives a first indication message from the seventh node, the first indication message indicating at least one macrocycle offset, wherein the at least Any macrocycle offset in one macrocycle offset is the time delay for the packet to be transmitted from the previous hop node of the seventh node to the seventh node, the seventh node, and the seventh node The last hop node is two nodes in the first network; the controller updates the macroperiod table entry of the seventh node based on the first indication message, and the macroperiod table entry is used to store the at least One macrocycle offset. Through the above method, the controller can obtain the macroperiod offset of each node, and update the macroperiod offset table entry of each node, so that the controller can know the delay between each node, and then can be based on the macroperiod offset The table item determines where or where each node executes services in a macrocycle, and can adjust the time domain resources of each node to avoid time domain resource conflicts and improve resource utilization.

In an optional implementation manner, the configuration message further includes the identifier of the first channel and/or the identifier of the first service, and the first channel is the first node and the connection between the first node and the first node. The bandwidth resource between next hop nodes used to execute the first service.

In an optional implementation manner, the request message includes one or more of the following information: the identifier of the first node, the identifier of the second node, or the bandwidth requirement of the first service.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a resource configuration method, the method includes: a first node receives a configuration message from a controller, the configuration message indicating N positions of N time units in a macrocycle The first node executes the first service in N time units corresponding to the N positions; wherein the N time units are time domain resources for executing the first service, and the N The bandwidth resources corresponding to each time unit meet the bandwidth requirement of the first service. One time unit in the N time units is used to indicate the minimum duration for scheduling time domain resources. A macrocycle includes M time units, where M is An integer greater than or equal to the N, and the N is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

Through the above method, the first node receives the configuration message from the controller. The configuration message is used to indicate the N positions of N time units in a macro cycle. In response, the first node will use the N time units in a macro cycle. The N time units corresponding to the location execute the first service, and the first service will not be executed in time units other than the N time units in a macro cycle. In this way, the controller can forward the first node to the first service. The delay of business messages is controlled within a certain index range, which meets the requirements of DIP technology to provide deterministic forwarding services.

In an optional implementation manner, the method further includes: the first node sends a second indication message to the controller, the second indication message indicating at least one macrocycle offset, so that the The controller updates the macroperiod offset entry of the first node based on the at least one macroperiod offset, where the macroperiod offset entry is used to store the at least one macroperiod offset, wherein the at least Any macrocycle offset in one macrocycle offset is the time delay for the packet to be transmitted from the previous hop node of the first node to the first node.

Through the above method, the first node can send the macrocycle offset to the controller, so that the controller updates the macrocycle offset table entry of the first node, so that the controller can know the delay between the first node and other nodes, Furthermore, based on the macrocycle offset entry, it is possible to determine which position or positions within a macrocycle of the first node perform services, and adjust the time domain resources of the first node to avoid time domain resource conflicts and increase resources. Utilization rate.

In an optional implementation manner, the last hop node of the first node is the eighth node, and the at least one macroperiod offset includes a second macroperiod offset; The second instruction message sent by the device includes: the first node receives a third instruction message from the eighth node, the third instruction message indicates a first position, and the first position is generated by the eighth node The position of the time unit of the third indication message within a macro period; the first node determines the second macro period offset according to the first position and the second position, and the second position is The position of the time unit of the eighth node in response to the third indication message within one macrocycle, and the second macrocycle offset is the time delay for the packet to be transmitted from the eighth node to the first node ; The first node sends the second instruction message to the controller.

Through the above method, the first node can determine the transmission delay of the message from the eighth node to the first node through the first position and the second position, and then can send it to the controller with the second macrocycle offset, so that the control When determining the location of the time unit for executing the service in the eighth node or the first node in a macrocycle, the processor can determine that the time unit for another node to execute the service is within a macrocycle based on the second macrocycle offset. The location within the DIP technology meets the requirements of providing deterministic forwarding services in DIP technology.

In an optional implementation manner, the next hop node of the first node is the ninth node, and the method further includes: the first node generates a fourth indication message, and the fourth indication message indicates the Three positions, the third position is the position within one macrocycle of the time unit at which the first node generates the fourth indication message; the first node sends the fourth indication message to the ninth node , The fourth indication message is used to instruct the ninth node to determine a third macroperiod offset according to the third position and the fourth position, and the fourth position is the response of the ninth node to the fourth indication The position of the time unit of the message within one macrocycle, and the third macrocycle offset is the time delay for the message to be transmitted from the first node to the ninth node.

Through the above method, the first node can send a fourth indication message to the next hop node of the first node, so that the next hop node of the first node determines the third macroperiod offset based on the fourth indication message. , The next hop node of the first node can send the third macroperiod offset to the controller, so that the controller updates the macroperiod offset entry of the next hop node of the first node.

In an optional implementation manner, the configuration message further includes the identifier of the first channel and/or the identifier of the first service, and the first channel is used to indicate the first node and the first service. The bandwidth resource between the next hop nodes of the node for executing the first service.

In the third aspect, an embodiment of the present application proposes a controller, which has the function of realizing the behavior of the controller in the foregoing method example of the first aspect. The function can be realized by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or the software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-mentioned functions.

In an optional implementation manner, the structure of the controller includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit, and these units can perform corresponding functions in the foregoing method examples. For details, please refer to the detailed description in the method examples, which will not be repeated here.

In the fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application proposes a network node that has the function of realizing the behavior of the first node in the foregoing method example of the second aspect. The function can be realized by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or the software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-mentioned functions.

In an optional implementation manner, the structure of the network node includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit, and these units can perform corresponding functions in the foregoing method examples. For details, refer to the detailed description in the method examples, and details are not repeated here.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a controller, which includes a processor, a memory, and a transceiver. The memory is used to store a software program, and the processor is used to read the software stored in the memory. The program implements the method provided in the first aspect or any one of the above-mentioned first aspects.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application also provides a network node, the network node includes a processor, a memory, and a transceiver. The memory is used to store a software program, and the processor is used to read the software stored in the memory. Program and implement the method provided by the second aspect or any one of the above-mentioned second aspects.

In a seventh aspect, the embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium is used to store computer instructions, and when the computer instructions run on a computer, the computer executes the first Aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect above.

In an eighth aspect, the embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium is used to store computer instructions, and when the computer instructions run on a computer, the computer executes the second Aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect above.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product containing instructions, the computer program product is used to store computer instructions, when the computer instructions run on a computer, the computer executes the first aspect or The method described in any one of the possible implementation manners of the foregoing first aspect.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product containing instructions, the computer program product is used to store computer instructions, when the computer instructions run on a computer, the computer executes the second aspect or The method described in any possible implementation manner of the above second aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer chip, which is connected to a memory, and the chip is used to read and execute a software program stored in the memory, and execute any one of the foregoing first aspect or the foregoing first aspect. Implement the method described in the mode.

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer chip, which is connected to a memory, and the chip is used to read and execute a software program stored in the memory, and execute any one of the above-mentioned second aspect or the above-mentioned second aspect. Implement the method described in the mode.

In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, which includes a processor, configured to implement the method described in the foregoing first aspect or any one of the possible implementation manners of the foregoing first aspect. The chip system can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices.

In a fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, which includes a processor, configured to implement the method described in the foregoing second aspect or any one of the possible implementation manners of the foregoing second aspect. The chip system can be composed of chips, and can also include chips and other discrete devices.

Description of the drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system provided by an embodiment of this application;

2 is a schematic diagram of a data flow of a resource configuration method provided by an embodiment of the application;

3 is a schematic diagram of a data flow of a bandwidth resource configuration method provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a data flow of a method for adjusting time domain resources according to an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a data flow of a method for determining a macrocycle offset provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 6 is a structural diagram of a node reporting macrocycle offset provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the data flow of another resource configuration method provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 8 is a structural diagram of a controller provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 9 is another structural diagram of a controller provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 10 is a structural diagram of a network node provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 11 is another structural diagram of a network node provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 12 is a structural diagram of a resource configuration provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 13 is a structural diagram of another resource configuration provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 14 is a structural diagram of yet another resource configuration provided by an embodiment of this application.

Detailed ways

In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, some terms involved in the embodiments of the present application are described below.

(1) The time unit is the smallest scheduling unit in the time domain. For example, the length of the time unit is 10 μs, which means that at least all data flows within 10 μs need to be scheduled each time the data flow is scheduled.

(2) Macro cycle. A macro cycle may include M time units. M may be a positive integer preset by the controller. For example, the controller may preset M according to the ability of the node to forward data. For another example, the ability of a node to forward the amount of data is related to the number of gated queues included in the node. If the node includes 4 gated queues, the value of M can be preset to an integer multiple of 4, such as 4, 8, 12 and so on. The positions of the M time units in a macrocycle can be represented by continuous sequence numbers, of course, can also be represented in other ways, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. For example, the sequence numbers of M time units are 0, 1, ..., M-1, respectively. For a node, in each time unit in a macrocycle, the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted is the same, for example, the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted in one time unit is 1.2 Gbits.

(3) The channel is a logical transmission path between two nodes. The controller can configure multiple channels between the two nodes, and the bandwidth of each channel of the multiple channels can be the same or different. The last hop node of the channel refers to the first node through which the message passes among the two nodes at the two ends of the channel. For example, the two nodes at the two ends corresponding to the first channel are the first node and the second node respectively. The first channel is used to execute the first service. If the message of the first service is forwarded to the second node via the first node, then the first The last hop node of a channel is the first node; if the message of the first service is forwarded to the first node via the second node, then the last hop node of the first channel is the second node.

(4) Terminal devices include devices that provide users with voice and/or data connectivity, such as handheld devices with wireless connection functions, or processing devices connected to wireless modems. The terminal equipment may include user equipment (UE), wireless terminal equipment, mobile terminal equipment, subscriber unit (subscriber unit), subscriber station (subscriber station), mobile station (mobile station), mobile station (mobile), remote Station (remote station), access point (access point, AP), remote terminal equipment (remote terminal), access terminal equipment (access terminal), user terminal equipment (user terminal), user agent (user agent), or user Equipment (user device), etc. For example, it may include mobile phones (or “cellular” phones), computers with mobile terminal devices, portable, pocket-sized, handheld, computer-built or vehicle-mounted mobile devices, smart wearable devices, and so on. For example, personal communication service (PCS) phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants, PDA), and other equipment. It also includes restricted devices, such as devices with low power consumption, or devices with limited storage capabilities, or devices with limited computing capabilities. Examples include barcodes, radio frequency identification (RFID), sensors, global positioning system (GPS), laser scanners and other information sensing equipment.

As an example and not a limitation, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable devices can also be called wearable smart devices. It is a general term for the application of wearable technology to intelligently design daily wear and develop wearable devices, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing and shoes. A wearable device is a portable device that is directly worn on the body or integrated into the user's clothes or accessories. Wearable devices are not only a kind of hardware device, but also realize powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. In a broad sense, wearable smart devices include full-featured, large-sized, complete or partial functions that can be achieved without relying on smart phones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, and only focus on a certain type of application function, and need to cooperate with other devices such as smart phones. Use, such as all kinds of smart bracelets, smart helmets, smart jewelry, etc. for physical sign monitoring.

(5) A network device, for example, includes a base station (for example, an access point), which may refer to a device that communicates with a wireless terminal device through one or more cells on an air interface in an access network. The network device can be used to convert received air frames and Internet Protocol (IP) packets into each other, and act as a router between the terminal device and the rest of the access network, where the rest of the access network can include an IP network. The network equipment can also coordinate the attribute management of the air interface. For example, the network equipment may include an evolved base station (NodeB or eNB or e-NodeB, evolutional Node B) in a long term evolution (LTE) system or an evolved LTE system (LTE-Advanced, LTE-A), or It may also include the next generation node B (gNB) in the fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) system of the fifth generation mobile communication technology (fifth generation, 5G) or cloud access network (cloud radio access). The centralized unit (CU) and distributed unit (DU) in the network (CloudRAN) system are not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

(6) The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of this application can be used interchangeably. "Multiple" refers to two or more than two. In view of this, "multiple" may also be understood as "at least two" in the embodiments of the present application. "At least two" can be understood as two or more, for example two, three or more. "At least one" can be understood as one or more, for example, one, two or more. In the same way, the understanding of "multiple" and other descriptions is similar. "And/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating that there can be three types of relationships, for example, A and/or B, which can mean: A alone exists, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/", unless otherwise specified, generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship.

Unless otherwise stated, ordinal numbers such as “first” and “second” mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the order, timing, priority, or importance of multiple objects.

The embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system to which an embodiment of this application is applicable. As shown in the figure, the communication system may include a controller 110 and a network 130 (also referred to as a first network) covered by the controller 110. The network 130 includes a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of links 131, and these nodes include, for example, a node 121, a node 122, a node 123, a node 124, and a node 125. The resources used by each node in the network 130, such as bandwidth resources or time domain resources, may be allocated by the controller 110. The link 131 may be a physical link used to transmit data, such as an optical fiber link, an electronic link, a logical link, or any combination thereof. Each node in the network 130 (for example, node 121, node 122, node 123, node 124, and node 125) supports DIP technology, that is, the network 130 is a deterministic network. It should be understood that the controller 110 can cover many A deterministic network, Figure 1 only exemplarily shows a deterministic network scenario.

The controller 110 may be a virtual machine (VM), a virtual machine monitor, or any device and/or system used to configure resources for the nodes 121 to 125. The controller 110 may be a software module that runs on hardware, for example, may be a software module that operates on behalf of a network provider that owns the network 130. The controller 110 can perform operation, administration, and management (OAM) operations, so that network operators and/or network providers can solve network problems, monitor network performance, perform network maintenance, or allocate network resources, etc. . For example, the controller 110 can monitor and verify the connectivity between the nodes 121 to 125, detect and isolate the connectivity failure of the link 131, configure resources for the nodes 121 to 125, and can also maintain and monitor the nodes 121 to 125 Occupancy of resources, etc.

Any one of the node 121 to the node 125 may be a switch, a router, a bridge, a gateway, and/or any other network device suitable for forwarding data in the network 130.

In one embodiment, the controller 110 is responsible for collecting the entire network topology and parameter information from nodes 121 to 125, controlling the configuration of resources for nodes 121 to 125, maintaining resource configuration information from nodes 121 to 125, and reporting to node 121 Send instructions to node 125.

In an embodiment, the controller 110 is responsible for maintaining the edge node table entries of the network 130, and the edge node table entries include parameter information of all edge nodes in the network 130. Edge nodes include in-edge nodes and out-edge nodes. The incoming edge node is the first node where a message, message, or data enters the network 130. For example, if a message enters the network 130 via the node 121, the node 121 may be the ingress node of the message in the network 130. The outgoing edge node is the last node where a message, message, or data leaves the network 130. For example, if a message leaves the network 130 via the node 123, the node 123 may be the outgoing edge node of the message in the network 130.

In an embodiment, the controller 110 is responsible for maintaining port information between two nodes in the network 130. For example, the port 1 of the node 121 and the port 1 of the node 122 establish a link 131. For another example, the port 1 of the node 122 and the port 2 of the node 123 establish a link 131.

In one embodiment, the controller 110 is used to define and manage the data flow generated in the data plane of the network 130. The controller 110 maintains a full topology view of the infrastructure of the network 130, calculates the transmission path of the data stream in the network 130, and sends the transmission path information to the nodes 121 through an instruction message (the instruction message may also be a forwarding instruction, etc.) At least two of the nodes 125. The forwarding instruction may include the identification of the next hop node that forwards the data stream. For example, the transmission path of the data stream in the network 130 is the node 121, the node 122, and the node 123. The ingress edge node is the node 121, and the egress edge node is 123. The controller 110 sends the data stream to the node 121 and the node 122 through the control plane interface 132. Send a forwarding instruction to indicate the next hop node. For example, the forwarding instruction sent to the node 121 includes the identifier of the node 122, and the forwarding instruction sent to the node 122 includes the identifier of the node 123. The node 121 to the node 125 may store the information of the transmission path indicated by the forwarding instruction, for example, may be stored in one or more data flow tables or forwarding information base (FIB). Based on the forwarding instruction, each of the nodes 121 to 125 can forward the data stream to the next hop node in the network 130. When any one of the nodes 121 to 125 receives an unknown message or determines that the received message is processed by the controller 110, any one of the nodes 121 to 125 may forward the message to the controller 110 .

In an embodiment, the controller 110 and/or the nodes 121 to 125 may use the IEEE 1588 precision time protocol to synchronize the internal clock to an accuracy of 1 μs to 10 ns.

When configuring resources for a node, the controller 110 receives a request message from a service, and the request message includes the bandwidth requirement of the service, the identifier of the first ingress edge node, and the identifier of the first egress edge node. In response, the controller 110 calculates the transmission path of the service in the network 130 where the entry is the first ingress edge node and the exit is the first egress edge node. According to the bandwidth resource allocation of each node through the first transmission path, the At least one channel is configured for the service on the transmission path, and the bandwidth of each channel in the at least one channel meets the bandwidth requirement of the service. The controller 110 sends forwarding instructions to each node passed by the transmission path through the control plane interface 132, respectively. In addition, the controller 110 also needs to send the channel identifier to each node through the first transmission path through the control plane interface 132. In this way, after the first ingress edge node receives the service message, it forwards the message to the next hop node in the transmission path through the configured channel.

The current resource configuration only needs to ensure that the configured bandwidth resources meet the bandwidth requirements of the business, that is, only ensure that the maximum amount of data allowed to be transmitted per unit time meets the actual transmission needs of the business, but the specific time period for transmission and in a time period The amount of data transferred inside is uncertain. In this way, the actual bandwidth may be different in different time ranges. For example, when the bandwidth of 1.2G bits/s is configured, the actual bandwidth in 0.5 seconds is 2.4G bits/s in actual application, and the data volume of 1.2G bits is transmitted, and the actual bandwidth in the next 0.5 seconds is 0, and no data is performed. transmission. Since the controller only configures bandwidth resources for the node, and in which time period the node forwards the message, during which time period the message is not forwarded, and in which time period the next hop node of the node receives the message, control The controller is not certain, so for the controller, the delay of the node forwarding the message is uncertain. That is to say, in the current resource allocation method, the controller cannot control the amount of data actually transmitted by the node in a period of time within a certain index range, nor can it control the forwarding delay of each node within the certain index range. . Obviously, the current resource allocation method does not meet the requirements of DIP technology to provide deterministic forwarding services. Among them, the time delay for the node to forward the message refers to the time period for the node to forward the message.

In view of this, the embodiment of the present application provides a resource configuration method. Through this method, the controller configures the first node with N time units at N positions in a macrocycle at the granularity of time units, so that the first node will use a fixed N time units to perform the first service, which means The controller can control the delay of forwarding packets of the first node within a certain index range by adjusting the positions of N time units in a macrocycle, so as to meet the requirement of DIP technology to provide deterministic forwarding services.

The embodiment of the present application provides a resource configuration method. Please refer to FIG. 2, which is a flowchart of the method. This method can be applied to the communication system 100 shown in FIG. 1. In the following introduction, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application is applied to the communication system 100 shown in FIG. 1 as an example.

S201: The controller 110 receives a request message, where the request message is used to instruct the controller 110 to configure a time domain resource for executing the first service.

The controller 110 receives the request message. The request message may come from a network device or a terminal device, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

Wherein, the request message includes one or more of the following information: the identification of the first node, the identification of the second node, or the bandwidth requirement of the first service. The first service enters the first network (ie, the network 130) via the first node, and leaves the network 130 via the second node. When the request message only includes the identification of the first node, the identification of the second node, and part of the information in the bandwidth requirement of the first service, the remaining information can be obtained in a preset manner, or configured by the controller 110, etc. The application is not limited. For example, the controller 110 may pre-set the bandwidth requirement of the first service of the device according to the function of the device sending the request message, or preset the identification of the inbound/outbound edge node of the first service of the device in the network 130. For example, the controller 110 may configure the identification of the exit/entry edge node of the first service in the network 130 according to the address information (for example, source address, destination address) of the first service. For another example, the controller 110 may determine the bandwidth requirement of the first service according to the function of the device sending the request message.

S202: The controller 110 determines, according to the request message, the first transmission path in which the entrance is the first node and the exit is the second node.

Wherein, the first transmission path includes i nodes, and i is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

After the controller 110 receives the request message, it first determines the transmission path of the first service in the network 130. For example, the controller 110 may calculate the first transmission path of the first service in the network 130 according to the identity of the first node, the identity of the second node, and the busyness of each node in the network 130. For example, the first node is node 121 and the second node is node 123, and the first transmission path may include node 121, node 122, and node 123. The busyness of a node refers to the number of services performed by the node. The lower the busyness, the less the number of services performed by the node, and the better the quality of the forwarding service provided by the node. The first transmission path may be the optimal transmission path of the first service in the network 130, so that the forwarding delay of the packet of the first service in the network 130 can be reduced. Among them, the optimal transmission path is, for example, the transmission path with the shortest transmission distance, or the transmission path with the least number of passing nodes, or the transmission path with the shortest transmission distance and the least number of passing nodes.

After the first transmission path is determined, the controller 110 may send to each node in the first transmission path the identifier of the last hop node in the first transmission path of the node, or the downstream node in the first transmission path. The identity of the one-hop node, or the identity of the previous hop node in the first transmission path and the identity of the next hop node in the first transmission path. For example, the nodes that the first transmission path passes through include node 121, node 122, and node 123, and controller 110 may send the identification of node 122 to node 121, the identification of node 121 and the identification of node 123 to node 122, and the identification of node 123 to node 123. The identifier of the sending node 121.

The controller 110 may also receive a response message from each node in the first transmission path. The response message may indicate that the node has added the identifier of the node indicated by the controller 110 to the locally stored forwarding table, and the forwarding table of the node records the identifier of the last hop node to which the node forwarded the message in the network 130, And/or the identification of the next hop node.

For ease of introduction, in the following, the first transmission path of the first service in the network 130 is the node 121, the node 122 and the node 123 as an example, that is, the controller 110 determines that the node 121, the node 122, and the node 123 are the first The business provides forwarding services. Among them, the ingress edge node is node 121, and the egress edge node is node 123, that is, the first node is node 121, and the second node is node 123.

S203: The controller 110 may determine the number N of time units used to execute the first service in a macrocycle according to the resource occupancy of the nodes in the first transmission path.

The controller 110 may according to the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted in each time unit (that is, the bandwidth resource corresponding to each time unit) of nodes other than the second node in the first transmission path (ie, node 121 and node 122), The number N of time units required to execute the first service in a macrocycle is determined, and the bandwidth resources corresponding to the N time units meet the bandwidth requirements of the first service.

Among them, one time unit among the N time units is used to indicate the minimum duration for scheduling time domain resources, that is, the time unit is the minimum scheduling unit in the time domain. For example, the length of the time unit is 10 μs, which means that at least all data flows within 10 μs need to be scheduled each time the data flow is scheduled.

A macrocycle may include M time units, and M may be a positive integer preset by the controller 110. For example, the controller 110 may preset M according to the ability of each node in the network 130 to forward the amount of data. For example, the ability of a node to forward the amount of data is related to the number of gated queues included in the node. If each node in the network 130 includes 4 gated queues, M can be preset to an integer multiple of 4. It should be understood that the controller 110 may also preset M to other values, such as 3, 6, 10, and so on. Wherein, N is an integer less than or equal to M and greater than or equal to 1.

The controller 110 may obtain the resource occupancy status of the node according to the resource occupancy table item maintained by the controller 110, and the resource occupancy table entry includes the resource occupancy status of all nodes in the network 130. For a node, the resource occupancy of the node may include the bandwidth resource occupancy of the node, or the time domain resource occupancy of the node, or the bandwidth resource occupancy and time domain resource occupancy of the node. It should be understood that the resource occupancy situation can be maintained in the format of table entries, that is, the format of text can be maintained, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

Among them, the bandwidth resource occupancy of a node may include the number of channels included in the node, the service information performed by the channel, the bandwidth of the channel, or the identification of the two nodes at both ends corresponding to each channel in the channel, etc. One or more. Wherein, the service information may include the bandwidth requirement of the service or the identifier of the service, and the controller 110 may determine the transmission path of the service in the network 130 according to the identifier of the service. For example, the bandwidth resource occupancy of the node 122 in the resource occupancy table entry may include the first channel and the second channel. The first channel is used to perform the first service, and the second channel is used to perform the second service; the first channel is the node 122 The second channel is the channel between node 122 and node 123; the bandwidth of the first channel is 2.4G bits/s, the bandwidth requirement of the first service is 1.4G bits/s, and the bandwidth of the second channel is 1.4G bits/s. The bandwidth is 1.2G bits/s, and the bandwidth requirement of the second service is 1.2G bits/s.

The time domain resource occupancy of a node may include one or more of the business information performed by the node, the number of time units occupied by each service performed by the node, and the bandwidth resources corresponding to each time unit. For example, in the resource occupation table entry, the node 122 uses two time units to execute the first service through the first channel, and uses the two time unit channels to execute the second service on the second channel. The bandwidth corresponding to each time unit that executes the first service is 1.4G bits/s, the bandwidth corresponding to the time unit for executing the second service is 1.2G bits/s.

In a possible implementation manner, the controller 110 may configure a channel for executing the first service between every two adjacent nodes in the first transmission path to obtain (i- 1) A channel, the configured channel is used to determine the maximum amount of data that a node can transmit in each time unit (that is, the bandwidth resource corresponding to the time unit).

For example, after the first transmission path is determined, the controller 110 may determine each phase in the first transmission path according to the bandwidth resource occupancy of nodes other than the second node in the first transmission path and the bandwidth requirement of the first service. A channel for executing the first service is configured between two adjacent nodes to obtain (i-1) channels for executing the first service. For example, the controller 110 configures two channels for the first service according to the bandwidth resource occupancy status of the node 121, the bandwidth resource occupancy status of the node 122, and the bandwidth requirement of the first service. The two channels are the difference between the node 121 and the node 122. And a channel between node 122 and node 123.

Among them, the channel refers to the logical transmission path between two nodes. The bandwidth of each of the (i-1) channels meets the bandwidth requirement of the first service, and the bandwidth of each of the (i-1) channels meets the bandwidth requirement of the first service means that the (i -1) The bandwidth of each of the channels is greater than or equal to the bandwidth requirement of the first service. For example, the bandwidth requirement of the first service is 1Gbits/s, and the bandwidth of the channel configured by the controller 110 between the node 121 and the node 122 can be 1.2Gbits/s, 2.4Gbits/s, or 1G bits/s, etc., as long as it is greater than or equal to 1G bits/s.

Since the controller 110 can configure multiple channels between two nodes, and the bandwidth resource of the channel configured by the controller 110 for the service is often greater than the bandwidth requirement of the service, the controller 110 has two adjacent channels in the first transmission path. When a channel for executing the first service is configured between two nodes, one way is to directly configure a channel between the two adjacent nodes to execute the first service, and the other way is to configure a channel between the two adjacent nodes to execute the first service. Among at least one channel that has been configured between two adjacent nodes, one of the channels is determined to be used for executing the first service.

This means that the (i-1) channels used to perform the first service include k channels as newly configured channels and (ik-1) channels as configured channels. The (ik-1) channels The channels are (i-1) channels other than the k newly configured channels. Wherein, when the controller 110 configures multiple channels between two nodes, each channel of the multiple channels can be used to execute different services, and the nodes can execute different services through different channels at the same time. For example, the controller 110 configures a first channel and a second channel between the node 121 and the node 122. The first channel can be used to perform the first service, the second channel can be used to perform the second service, and the node can be in a macro cycle. In the two time units with internal sequence numbers of 0 and 1, the first service is executed through the first channel and the second service is executed through the second channel. k is an integer greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to (i-1).

It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the configured channel refers to the bandwidth resource that the controller 110 configures for other services. The current bandwidth resource of the channel may be occupied by the other service or unavailable. Occupied by the other services, correspondingly, the time domain resources corresponding to the channel may be in an idle state, may be partially occupied, or may be fully occupied, and the other services refer to services other than the first service. For example, the controller 110 configures a first channel for the node 121 to execute a second service. When the controller 110 configures a channel for the first service, the first channel is a configured channel, and the node 121 can use a macro All the time units in the cycle execute the second service through the first channel, or the node 121 can use part of the time units in a macro cycle to execute the second service through the first channel, or the node 121 does not execute the second service. The newly configured channel (also referred to as a new channel) refers to the bandwidth resource configured by the controller 110 for the first service.

Based on the above two channel configuration methods, the composition of the (i-1) channels has the following three situations:

Case 1: Each of the (i-1) channels is a newly configured channel, and the time domain resource corresponding to the newly configured channel is in an idle state, which means that the previous hop node of the newly configured channel can pass through the newly configured channel. The configured channel uses any at least one time unit in a macrocycle to execute the first service. Among them, the last hop node of the channel refers to the first node through which the message passes among the two nodes at the two ends of the channel. For example, the two nodes at the two ends corresponding to the first channel are the first node and the second node, and the first channel is used to execute the first service. If the message of the first service is forwarded to the second node via the first node, then The last hop node of the first channel is the first node.

For example, when the priority of the first service is higher, the controller 110 may configure (i-1) new channels for the first service, and the (i-1) new channels are only used to execute the first service, that is, , The (i-1) new channels are dedicated channels for the first service in the first transmission path, which avoids the interference of transmitting other services, and the node can use any at least one time unit in a macrocycle to execute the first The business has high flexibility and can ensure the provision of good forwarding services for the first business.

For another example, when no channels are configured between all two adjacent nodes in i nodes, or the bandwidth of each channel in the configured channels between all two adjacent nodes in i nodes does not satisfy the first When the bandwidth of a service is required, or, some of the i nodes have no channel configured between two adjacent nodes, and the bandwidth of each channel in the configured channels between the remaining two adjacent nodes does not meet the first When the bandwidth of a service is required, the controller 110 may configure (i-1) new channels for the first service.

Optionally, the bandwidth of each channel of the new configuration can be the same. In this way, the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted by i nodes in a time unit is equal. For example, the time length of each time unit is 10μs, the controller 110 newly configures the first channel with a bandwidth of 1.2Gbits/s between the node 121 and the node 122, and the newly configured bandwidth between the node 122 and the node 123 is 1.2 In the second channel of Gbits/s, the node 121 can transmit a maximum of 1.5 kB of data in each time unit through the first channel, and the node 122 can transmit a maximum of 1.5 kB of data in each time unit through the second channel.

In the above case 1, k is equal to (i-1), and the controller 110 configures (i-1) new channels for the first service, and the bandwidth of each channel meets the bandwidth requirements of the first service, and the newly configured The last hop node of the channel can use any at least one time unit in a macrocycle to execute the first service through the newly configured channel, which has high flexibility and can provide good forwarding services for the first service.

Case 2: Some of the (i-1) channels are newly configured channels, and the remaining part of the channels are configured channels. Among them, each of the newly configured channels and each of the configured channels meet the bandwidth requirement of the first service. This means that the controller 110 configures a new channel for executing the first service between two partially adjacent nodes among the i nodes, and the remaining two adjacent nodes among the i nodes are at least In a channel, a channel is determined to be used to execute the first service.

When there is at least one configured channel between two adjacent nodes, the controller 110 may newly configure a channel for executing the first service between the two adjacent nodes, or may select from the at least one configured channel. Among the configured channels, one of the channels is determined to be used to execute the first service.

The following takes the controller 110 determining the channel for executing the first service between the node 121 and the node 122 as an example, and whether to configure a new channel between two adjacent nodes to execute the first service, or from the configured channel In the channels, determine a channel to execute the first service for a detailed description. Among them, the message of the first service is forwarded by the node 121 to the node 122. For the specific process, please refer to Figure 3, which is a flowchart of a resource configuration method.

S301: The controller 110 obtains the bandwidth resource occupation status of the node 121.

The controller 110 may obtain the bandwidth resource occupancy status of the node 121 according to the resource occupancy table entries maintained by the controller 110.

S302: The controller 110 determines whether there is a configured channel between the node 121 and the node 122 according to the bandwidth resource occupancy of the node 121. If there is a configured channel between the node 121 and the node 122, execute S303; if there is no configured channel between the node 121 and the node 122, then execute S305.

For example, the bandwidth resource occupancy of node 121 only includes the first channel, and the identifiers of the two nodes at the two ends corresponding to the first channel are the identifier of node 121 and the identifier of node 124 respectively, and the controller 110 may determine whether the node 121 and the node 122 are There is no configured channel between.

For another example, the bandwidth resource occupancy of node 121 includes the first channel and the second channel. The identifiers of the two nodes at the two ends corresponding to the first channel are the identifier of node 121 and the identifier of node 124, respectively. The identifiers of the two nodes are the identifier of the node 121 and the identifier of the node 122 respectively, and the controller 110 may determine that there is a configured channel between the node 121 and the node 122, that is, the second channel.

S303: The controller 110 determines whether the bandwidth of at least one channel among the configured channels between the node 121 and the node 122 meets the bandwidth requirement of the first service according to the bandwidth requirement of the first service and the bandwidth resource occupancy of the node 121. If the bandwidth of at least one of the channels configured between the node 121 and the node 122 meets the bandwidth requirement of the first service, execute S304; if the bandwidth of all the configured channels between the node 121 and the node 122 does not meet the bandwidth requirement of the first service For the bandwidth requirement of a service, S305 is executed.

For example, the bandwidth requirement of the first service is 1.2Gbits/s, the configured channel between node 121 and node 122 includes the first channel and the second channel, the bandwidth of the first channel is 1Gbits/s, and the bandwidth of the second channel is 1Gbits/s. The bandwidth is 1.2 Gbits/s, and the controller 110 may determine that the bandwidth of the first channel does not meet the bandwidth requirement of the first service, and the bandwidth of the second channel meets the bandwidth requirement of the first service.

S304: The controller 110 determines a channel from the configured channels between the node 121 and the node 122 for executing the first service.

If there are multiple configured channels between the node 121 and the node 122 that can be used to execute the first service, the controller 110 may determine from the multiple configured channels that the channel with the largest bandwidth is used to execute the first service; Alternatively, the controller 110 may determine from the plurality of configured channels that the channel with the smallest bandwidth is used to execute the first service; or, the controller 110 may determine any one of the plurality of configured channels Used to execute the first service; this embodiment of the application does not limit this.

S305: The controller 110 configures a new channel between the node 121 and the node 122 for executing the first service.

Through the procedures shown in S301 to S308, the controller 110 can determine whether to configure a new channel between two adjacent nodes to execute the first service, or to determine from at least one channel that has been configured between the two nodes One of the channels is used to execute the first service.

In the above case 2, k is an integer greater than 0 and less than (i-1), the controller 110 configures k new channels and (i-1-k) configured channels for the first service, and the (i- 1-k) Each channel of the configured channels meets the bandwidth requirement of the first service, which means that the excess resources in the configured channels are reasonably used, which avoids resource waste and improves resource utilization.

Case 3: All channels in (i-1) channels are configured channels. Among them, each of the configured channels meets the bandwidth requirement of the first service. This means that between any two adjacent nodes among the i nodes, the controller 110 determines a configured channel from at least one configured channel between the two nodes to perform the first service.

For example, at least one configured channel exists between each adjacent two nodes in the i nodes, and the bandwidth of at least one channel in the at least one configured channel meets the bandwidth requirement of the first service, the controller 110 It can be determined that one configured channel between every two adjacent nodes in the i nodes is used to execute the first service, that is, (i-1) configured channels are used to execute the first service.

In case 3 above, k is equal to 0, and the controller 110 determines (i-1) configured channels for executing the first service, and the bandwidth of each of the channels meets the bandwidth requirement of the first service. Since the (i-1) channels used to perform the first service are configured channels, it means that the (i-1) channels not only need to perform the first service but also need to perform other services, so that a large amount of excess resources are obtained. Reasonable utilization avoids waste of resources and improves resource utilization.

After determining (i-1) channels, the controller 110 may send one or more of the following information to each node in the first transmission path: the identification of the channel that executes the first service, and execute the first The bandwidth of the service channel, or the identity of the first service, etc. Further, the controller 110 may also receive a response message from each node in the first transmission path. The response message may indicate that the node has stored one or more of the identification of the channel for executing the first service indicated by the controller 110, the bandwidth of the channel for executing the first service, or the identification of the first service.

In a possible implementation manner, the controller 110 may determine the time unit for executing the first service in a macro cycle according to the bandwidth of each of the (i-1) channels and the bandwidth requirement of the first service. The number N.

When the bandwidth of each of the (i-1) channels is the same, it means that the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted by i nodes in a time unit is equal (also called the bandwidth corresponding to each time unit is equal), then The controller 110 may determine the bandwidth corresponding to a time unit according to the bandwidth of the channel, and then determine the number N of time units used to execute the first service in a macrocycle according to the bandwidth corresponding to a time unit and the bandwidth requirement of the first service. . For example, a macrocycle includes 10 time units, and the time length of each time unit is 10μs. The bandwidth of each channel in (i-1) channels is 1.2Gbits/s, which means that each The bandwidth corresponding to the time unit is 1.2G bits/s. For example, the bandwidth requirement of the first service is 0.6 Gbits/s, and the controller 110 may determine that there are 5 time unit data for executing the first service in one macrocycle.

When the bandwidth of at least one of the (i-1) channels is different from the bandwidth of the remaining channels, it means that the maximum amount of data that i nodes can transmit in a time unit is not equal, and the controller 110 can determine ( i-1) The smallest bandwidth among the (i-1) bandwidths corresponding to the channels. Then, the controller 110 may determine the number N of time units used to execute the first service in a macro cycle according to the minimum bandwidth and the bandwidth requirement of the first service. For example, a macrocycle includes 10 time units, the time length of each time unit is 10 μs, the bandwidth of the first channel between node 121 and node 122 is 1.2 Gbits/S, and node 121 can transmit within one time unit The maximum amount of data is 1.5kB, the bandwidth of the second channel between node 122 and node 123 is 2.4Gbits/S, the maximum amount of data that node 122 can transmit in a time unit is 3kB, the first channel and the second channel The minimum bandwidth in the channel is 1.2Gbits/S, and the bandwidth requirement of the first service is 0.6Gbits/S. The controller 110 can determine according to the minimum bandwidth that the time unit data used to execute the first service in a macrocycle is 5 A.

S204: The controller 110 configures N positions of the N time units in a macrocycle for the first node.

After the controller 110 determines the number N of time units used to execute the first service, the node 121 (that is, the first node) is configured with N time units at N positions in one macrocycle.

If each of the (i-1) channels is a new channel, and the time domain resources corresponding to the new channel are all in an idle state, the controller 110 may configure the N time units for the first node in one macrocycle Any N positions of. For example, there are three time units in a macrocycle, and the number of time units for performing the first service is two, and the controller 110 configures the first node with the first time unit (sequence number is 0) and the first time unit in a macrocycle. Two time units of two time units (serial number 1) perform the first service, or configure the first time unit (serial number 0) and the third time unit (serial number 2) in a macro cycle The first service is performed by the two time units of, or the second time unit (sequence number 1) and the third time unit (sequence number 2) in a macrocycle are configured to perform the first service.

In this case, the controller 110 may configure the same bandwidth for each of the (i-1) channels, so that the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted by the i nodes in one time unit is the same. For example, the time length of each time unit is 10 μs, and the controller 110 newly configures the first channel with a bandwidth of 1.2G bits/s between node 121 and node 122, and newly configures a bandwidth of 1.2G between node 122 and node 123 The second channel of bits/s. The node 121 can transmit a maximum of 1.5 kB of data in each time unit through the first channel, and the node 122 can transmit a maximum of 1.5 kB of data in each time unit through the second channel.

If at least one of the (i-1) channels is a configured channel, which means that part of the time domain resources of the previous hop node of at least one channel is occupied, and there may be a time domain resource conflict, the controller 110 may The node 121 is first configured with N time units at N positions in a macrocycle, and then based on the time domain resource occupancy of nodes other than node 123 (ie, the second node) in the first transmission path, and the macrocycle deviation Move, adjust the time domain resource allocation situation of at least one node, so that the time domain resource used for executing the first service of the at least one node in a macro cycle is in an idle state.

Among them, the time domain resource conflict refers to that one channel needs to be used to execute at least one service within a time unit, or one channel needs to be used to execute at least one service within a time unit, and the bandwidth resource in the one time unit does not satisfy the at least one service. The total bandwidth requirements of the business. For example, the bandwidth resource occupancy of node 121 includes the first channel and the second channel. Both the bandwidth of the first channel and the bandwidth of the second channel meet the bandwidth requirements of the first service. The node 121 uses the first channel to use a macrocycle sequence The two time units numbered 0 and 1 perform the second service, the node 121 uses the two time units numbered 3 and 4 in a macrocycle to perform the third service through the second channel, and the controller 110 configures one for node 121 The two time units with

sequence numbers

1 and 2 in the macrocycle execute the first service. For the first channel, the node 121 needs to execute the first service and the second service at the same time in the time unit with the sequence number 1 in one macrocycle. Therefore, the first channel has a time domain resource conflict; for the second channel, the node 121 executes the first service and the third service in the time units corresponding to two different positions in a macrocycle, so when the second channel does not exist Domain resource conflict. For another example, the bandwidth resource occupancy of node 121 includes the first channel and the second channel, the bandwidth requirement of the first service is 1.2G bits/s, the bandwidth requirement of the second service is 1G bits/s, and the bandwidth of the first channel is 1.2G bits/s, the bandwidth of the second channel is 2.4G bits/s; for the first channel, the bandwidth corresponding to one time unit is 1.2G bits/s, which obviously does not meet the total bandwidth of the first service and the second service Demand, the first channel has a time domain resource conflict; for the second channel, the corresponding bandwidth in a time unit is 2.4 Gbits/s, which obviously meets the total bandwidth requirements of the first service and the second service, then the second There is no time domain resource conflict in the channel.

Hereinafter, taking the time domain resource conflict when the node 122 uses the first channel to execute the first service as an example, how to adjust the time domain resource of the node 122 to resolve the time domain resource conflict will be described in detail. The first channel is one of the configured channels between the node 122 and the node 123. The controller 110 configures the node 121 to execute the first service at the time unit corresponding to N positions in a macrocycle, and the node 122 The first service is executed in H time units corresponding to H time units in a macrocycle, and the time unit corresponding to at least one of the H positions is occupied by the second service, or at least one of the H positions The time unit corresponding to a location has been allocated to the second service, the size of H is equal to the size of N, and the serial numbers of H time units may be different from the serial numbers of N time units. Please refer to Figure 4 for the specific process, which is a flowchart of a resource configuration method.

S401: The controller 110 obtains the time domain resource occupation status of the node 122 to determine the identifier of the second service and the number Q of time units used by the node 122 to execute the second service.

The controller 110 can obtain the time domain resource occupancy status of the node 122 according to the resource occupancy table items maintained by the controller 110, so that the controller 110 can determine the identity of the second service, and the node 122 needs a macrocycle to execute the second service Q time units within, Q is a positive integer greater than 1.

S402: The controller 110 determines a second transmission path for executing the second service according to the identifier of the second service.

The second transmission path includes a node 122 and a node 124, and the second service enters the network 130 via the node 124.

S403: The controller 110 determines K positions according to the first macrocycle offset, where the K positions are positions of the node 124 corresponding to the H positions in one macrocycle.

The controller 110 may obtain the first macroperiod offset according to the macroperiod offset entry, and the macroperiod offset entry is used to store the transmission delay of the packet in the network 130 between two nodes. The first macrocycle offset is the time delay for the message to be transmitted from the node 124 to the node 122 along the second transmission path. For example, in the second transmission path, the node 122 is the next hop node of the node 124, and the controller 110 obtains the macroperiod offset entry of the node 122, and determines the time delay of the packet transmission from the node 122 to the node 124, which is The first macrocycle offset. For another example, the message of the second service is forwarded by the node 124 to the node 125, and then forwarded by the node 125 to the node 122, and the controller 110 respectively according to the macroperiod offset entry of the node 125 and the macroperiod offset entry of the node 122 , Determine the transmission delay between the node 124 and the node 125, and the transmission delay between the node 125 and the node 122, the first macrocycle offset is the transmission delay between the node 124 and the node 125, and the node 125 The sum of the transmission delays with the node 122.

S404: The controller 110 reconfigures the Q positions of the Q time units in a macro period for the node 124 according to the resource occupation of the nodes in the second transmission path, and the Q positions include K positions in a macro period. Outside the location.

The controller 110 reconfigures the Q locations of Q time units in a macrocycle for the node 124 according to the bandwidth resource occupancy status and/or the time domain resource occupancy status of the nodes in the second transmission path, and the Q locations include Positions other than K positions in a macrocycle.

S405: The controller 110 sends a reconfiguration message to the node 124, where the reconfiguration message indicates Q positions.

After the node 124 receives the reconfiguration message, in response, it will execute the second service in Q time units corresponding to the Q positions. In this way, since the Q positions are excluding the K positions in a macrocycle Therefore, the K time units corresponding to the K positions are in the idle state, and at node 122, the K positions correspond to the H positions, so the H time units corresponding to the H positions are also in the idle state, and the solution The time domain resource conflict problem of node 122 is solved.

Through the processes shown in S401 to S405, the controller 110 avoids or resolves time-domain resource conflicts at nodes, so that excess bandwidth resources can be reasonably used, and resource waste is reduced, thereby providing resource utilization.

It should be noted that in the step shown in S404, the controller 110 determines that by adjusting the time domain resources used by the node 124 to execute the second service according to the resource occupancy of the nodes in the second transmission path, the K positions cannot be set. The corresponding K time units are all in the idle state, which means that the H time units corresponding to the H positions in a macro cycle cannot be made to be in the idle state. Then the controller 110 can be configured from the node 122 and the node 123. A channel other than the first channel is determined to perform the first service among the channels. Further, if all configured channels between the node 122 and the node 123 have time domain resource conflicts, and it is unavoidable, the controller 110 may configure a channel for executing the first service between the node 122 and the node 123.

It should be noted that the process shown in FIG. 4 adjusts the positions of Q time units in the node 124 in a macro cycle for the controller 110 to achieve the purpose of adjusting the time domain resources used by the node 122 to execute the second service, thereby The node 122 uses the time units corresponding to different positions to execute the first service and the second service respectively through the first channel. In another example, the controller 110 can adjust the positions of the N time units in the node 121 within a macrocycle to achieve the purpose of adjusting the time domain resources used by the node 122 to execute the first service, so that the node 122 can pass the first service. One channel uses time units corresponding to different locations to execute the first service and the second service respectively.

For example, as shown in Figure 12, M=6, the sequence numbers corresponding to the 6 time units in a macrocycle are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively. The second service passes through node 121, node 122, and node 125. The third service passes through node 124, node 122, and node 123. For the second service, the node 121 is within 3 time units of the first time unit, the second time unit, and the third time unit (that is, the sequence numbers are 0, 1, and 2 respectively) in a macrocycle , Send a message of the second service to node 122 through the first channel between node 121 and node 122; the macrocycle offset between node 121 and node 122 is 3 time units, node 122 receives the second service After the message, in three time units of the fourth time unit, the fifth time unit and the sixth time unit (that is, the sequence numbers are 3, 4, and 5 respectively) in a macrocycle, pass through node 122 The second channel with the node 125 sends the message of the second service to the node 125. For the third service, the node 124 is within 3 time units of the first time unit, the fifth time unit, and the sixth time unit (that is, the sequence numbers are 0, 4, and 5 respectively) in a macrocycle , The third service packet is sent to the node 122 through the third channel between the node 124 and the node 122, the macrocycle offset between the node 124 and the node 122 is 1 time unit, and the node 122 receives the third service After the message, the first time unit, the second time unit, and the sixth time unit in a macrocycle (that is, the sequence numbers are 0, 1, and 5, respectively. It should be understood that the sequence number of node 122 is The message sent in the time unit of 0 is the message sent by the node 124 in the time unit of the sequence number 5 in the previous macrocycle) within 3 time units, passing between the node 122 and the node 123 The fourth channel of the sender sends a message of the third service to the node 123.

The controller 110 receives a request message for instructing to configure time domain sub-resources for the first service, which enters the network 130 through the node 121 and leaves the network 130 through 123. A channel has been configured between node 121 and node 122, that is, the first channel, and a channel has been configured between node 122 and node 123, that is, the second channel. Assuming that two time units in a macrocycle are required to execute the first service , And the node 121 and the node 122 respectively have 3 time units in an idle state in a macro cycle, so it can be considered to select a configured channel to perform the first service.

In one embodiment, since the node 121 uses the 3 time units with

sequence numbers

0, 1, and 2 to perform the second service, and the 3 time units with

sequence numbers

3, 4, and 5 are in an idle state, the controller 110 It can be determined that node 121 uses 2 time units with

sequence numbers

3 and 4 to perform the first service, or uses 2 time units with

sequence numbers

3 and 5 to perform the first service, or uses 2 time units with

sequence numbers

4 and 5 The time unit executes the first business. Suppose that the controller 110 determines that the node 121 uses 2 time units with

sequence numbers

3 and 4 to perform the first service, that is, configures the fourth time unit and the fifth time unit in a macrocycle for the node 121 to perform the first service . Since the macrocycle offset between node 121 and node 122 is 2 time units, node 122 needs to use 2 time units with

sequence numbers

5 and 0 to perform the first service, but the sequence numbers of node 122 are 5, 0 The 2 time units of the has been configured for the third service, that is, the node 122 needs to use the 2 time units with

sequence numbers

5 and 0 to forward the packets of the first service and the packets of the third service at the same time, and there is a time domain Resource conflict.

The node 122 needs to use 2 time units with

sequence numbers

5 and 0 to execute the first service. The macrocycle offset between the node 124 and the node 122 is 1 time unit, and the node 122 is used to execute the first service 2 times When the unit corresponds to the node 124, the sequence numbers of the two time units are 4 and 5. The node 124 has 3 time units in an idle state, and the controller 110 may configure the node 124 with 3 time units other than the

sequence numbers

4 and 5 to perform the third service. Specifically, the controller 110 may configure the node 124 with three time units with

sequence numbers

1, 2, and 3 to perform the third service, or configure the three time units with

sequence numbers

1, 2, and 0 to perform the third service, or Configure 3 time units with

serial numbers

1, 3, and 0 to perform the third service, or configure 3 time units with

serial numbers

2, 3, and 0 to perform the third service. The four configuration modes can all ensure that the two time units used by the node 122 to execute the first service are in an idle state. If the controller 110 configures the node 124 with three time units with

sequence numbers

1, 2, and 3 to perform the third service, the controller 110 sends a reconfiguration message to the node 124 so that the node 124 uses the sequence number as The 3 time units of 1, 2, and 3 execute the third service. Correspondingly, the node 122 uses 3 time units with

sequence numbers

2, 3, and 4 to execute the third service, and uses 2 time units with

sequence numbers

5 and 0 to execute the first service, as shown in FIG. 13.

In another embodiment, the three sequence numbers of the node 122 with

sequence numbers

5, 0, and 1 are occupied by the third service, and the three time units with sequence numbers of 2, 3, and 4 are in an idle state, and the controller 110 may Determine that node 122 uses 2 time units with

sequence numbers

2 and 3 to perform the first service, or uses 2 time units with

sequence numbers

2 and 4 to perform the first service, or uses 2 time units with

sequence numbers

3 and 4 The unit performs the first business. Suppose that the controller 110 determines that the node 122 uses 2 time units with

sequence numbers

2 and 3 to perform the first service. Since the macrocycle offset between the node 121 and the node 122 is 2 time units, the controller 110 needs to be the node 121 configures the first time unit and the second time unit in a macrocycle to perform the first service, that is, node 121 uses two time units with

sequence numbers

0 and 1 to perform the first service, and node 121 has a sequence number of 0 The 2 time units of, 1 have been configured for the second service, that is, the node 121 needs to use the 2 time units with

sequence numbers

0 and 1 to execute the first service and the second service at the same time, and there is a time domain resource conflict.

The controller 110 needs to configure two time units with

sequence numbers

0 and 1 for the node 121 to execute the first service, the macrocycle offset between the node 121 and the node 122 is 3 time units, and the node 121 is used to execute the first service When the two time units of, correspond to node 122, the sequence numbers of the two time units are 3 and 4. Since the node 122 has 3 time units in an idle state, the controller 110 may configure the node 122 with 3 time units other than the

sequence numbers

3 and 4 to perform the second service. The controller 110 can configure the node 122 with 3 time units with

serial numbers

5, 0, 1 to perform the second service, or configure the 3 time units with

serial numbers

5, 0, 2 to perform the second service, or configure the serial number Perform the second service for the 3 time units of 5, 1, and 2, or configure the 3 time units with sequence numbers of 0, 1, and 2 to execute the second service. The four configuration modes can all ensure that the two time units used by the node 121 to execute the first service are in an idle state. If node 122 uses 3 time units with

sequence numbers

5, 0, and 1 to perform the second service, and the sequence numbers corresponding to node 121 are 2, 3, and 4, controller 110 sends a reconfiguration message to node 121 to In the next macrocycle, the node 121 uses 3 time units with

sequence numbers

2, 3, and 4 to execute the second service. Correspondingly, the node 122 uses 3 time units with

sequence numbers

5, 0, and 1 to execute the second service, and uses 2 time units with

sequence numbers

2 and 3 to execute the first service, as shown in FIG. 14.

S205: The controller 110 sends a configuration message to the first node, where the configuration message indicates the N positions of the N time units in one macrocycle.

Wherein, the configuration message also indicates the identity of the first channel and/or the identity of the first service, where the first channel is used to indicate the bandwidth resource between the first node and the next hop node of the first node for executing the first service .

In the above-mentioned embodiment of the present application, the controller 110 configures the first node with N time units in a macrocycle with the time unit as the granularity, so that the first node will execute the first service in a fixed N time units. This means that the controller 110 can control the delay for the first node to forward the first service packet within a certain index range. According to the N time units configured for the first node and the macroperiod offset table entry, the controller 110 can grasp the forwarding delay of the first service message at each node, that is, when each node forwards the message The delay is deterministic for the controller 110 and meets the requirement of the DIP technology to provide deterministic forwarding services. Among them, the macrocycle offset table entry includes the macrocycle offsets of all nodes in the network 130.

In addition, the maximum number of packets allowed to be transmitted in each time unit in a macrocycle is determined, that is, the controller 110 can strictly control the size of the packets forwarded per unit time within a range. When bandwidth resources are surplus, the controller 110 may adjust the transmission delay between nodes in the macroperiod offset table entry, the time domain resource occupancy between each node, and the bandwidth resource occupancy between each node. Excess bandwidth resources are allocated to new services, thereby reducing resource waste and improving resource utilization.

In an implementation manner, the controller 110 may receive a control instruction from an administrator, and the control instruction is used to adjust the time domain resource occupancy of each node in the network 130 to improve resource utilization.

Please refer to FIG. 5, which is a schematic flowchart of a method for determining a macrocycle offset according to an embodiment of this application. This method can be applied to the communication system 100 shown in FIG. 1. In the following introduction, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application is applied to the communication system 100 shown in FIG. 1 as an example.

S501: The third node generates a first indication message, and sends a second indication message to the fourth node.

The third node and the fourth node are any two nodes in the network 130, and the sixth node is the next hop node of the seventh node.

The third node may automatically generate the first indication message according to the set frequency, or may be controlled by the controller 110, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. For example, the first indication message is generated after the third node receives the control message sent by the controller 110.

S502: The third section sends the first indication message to the fourth node.

The first indication message indicates the first position, so that the fourth node determines the second macrocycle offset. The first position is the position in a macrocycle of the time unit at which the third node generates the first indication message. The position may be a sequence number. Then the third node carries the first position into the first indication message and sends it to the fourth node.

Wherein, the time unit for generating the first indication message refers to the time unit where the timestamp for generating the first indication message is located, for example, the timestamp for generating the first indication message is within a time unit with a sequence number of 1 in a macrocycle , The time unit for generating the first indication message refers to the time unit with the sequence number 1. The second macrocycle offset is used to indicate the time delay for the message to be transmitted from the third node to the fourth node.

In specific implementation, the first position may be determined by the time stamp of the internal chip included in the third node generating the first indication message and the time stamp of starting the internal chip, where the internal chip is used to determine the macrocycle offset or generate The first indication message. The internal chip may be a field programmable gate array (FPGA) chip or other gated queue chips, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

In one embodiment, the first position satisfies the following formula:

X=[floor((t ₁ -t ₀ )/T)+1]mod T (1)

Among them, floor(·) represents rounding down, mod represents remainder operation, T represents macrocycle, X represents the first position, t ₁ represents the timestamp of the first indication message generated by the internal chip, and t ₀ represents the start of the third node The timestamp of the internal chip.

In an implementation manner, the first indication message is carried in an internal gateway protocol message or in a user datagram protocol message.

S503: The fourth node receives the first indication message, and determines the second macrocycle offset according to the first indication message.

After receiving the first indication message, the fourth node, in response, determines the second macroperiod offset according to the first position and the second position. The second position is the time unit for the fourth node to respond to the first indication message in one macroperiod. In the location.

In a specific implementation, the second position may be determined by the timestamp when the internal chip of the fourth node receives the first indication message and the timestamp when the internal chip is started.

In one embodiment, the fourth sequence number satisfies the following formula:

Y=[floor((t ₂ +L _max +Tt ₃ )/T)+1]mod T (2)

Among them, floor(·) represents rounding down, mod represents remainder operation, T represents macrocycle; Y represents the second position, t ₂ represents the timestamp of the first indication message received by the internal chip, and L _max represents the delay constant , T ₃ represents the timestamp when the fourth node starts the internal chip.

After the second position is determined, the fourth node determines the second macroperiod offset according to the difference between the first position and the second position.

In one embodiment, the second macrocycle offset satisfies the following formula:

Macro_Delta=(Y-X+T)mod T (3)

Among them, floor(·) represents rounding down, mod represents the remainder operation, T represents the macrocycle, X represents the first position, Y represents the second position, and Macro_Delta represents the second macrocycle offset.

After the fourth node determines the second macrocycle offset with the third node, it sends the macrocycle offset information to the controller 110. The macrocycle offset information includes the third macrocycle offset and the identifier of the third node. Or one or more of the identifications of the fourth node. The controller 110 receives the macrocycle offset information, and maintains or updates the macrocycle offset table entry of the fourth node. Wherein, the macrocycle offset table entry stores the macrocycle offset of each node in the network 130.

Through the data flow shown in FIG. 5, the controller 110 can collect the transmission delay between the nodes in the network 130. In this way, when the resource is configured, the controller 110 can offset the entries according to the macrocycle and reasonably Nodes perform resource configuration to avoid time domain resource conflicts and improve resource utilization.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the nodes passed by the channel include node 121, node 122 and node 123, where the ingress edge node is node 121 and the egress edge node is 123. The node 121 forwards the message to the node 122, the node 122 forwards the message to the node 123 after receiving the message, and the node 123 transmits the message to other networks 130 after receiving the message. Before configuring time domain resources, node 122 determines the macrocycle offset from node 121 to node 122 and reports it to controller 110; node 123 determines the macrocycle offset from node 122 to node 123 and reports it to the controller.器110.

In the foregoing embodiment of the present application, the third node sends the first indication message indicating the first position to the fourth node. After receiving the first indication message, the fourth node determines from the third node according to the first position and the second position. The transmission delay between the node and the fourth node, that is, the second macrocycle offset, and then the fourth node sends the second macrocycle offset to the controller 110. In this way, the controller 110 can collect the macrocycle offset of each node in the network 130, and can more accurately determine the time domain resource occupancy of each node in the network 130. When configuring resources for each node, it can be based on each node. The macro-cycle offset of the system reasonably configures time-domain resources for each node, avoids time-domain resource conflicts, and improves resource utilization.

The embodiment of the present application provides another resource configuration method. Please refer to FIG. 7, which is a schematic flowchart of the method. This method can be applied to the communication system 100 shown in FIG. 1. In the following introduction, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application is applied to the communication system 100 shown in FIG. 1 as an example.

S701: The first node receives a configuration message from the controller 110, the configuration message indicating N positions of N time units in one macrocycle.

The first node receives the configuration message from the controller 110, and in response, the first node will execute the first service in N time units corresponding to N positions in a macrocycle.

The first node may also receive a first forwarding instruction from the controller 110, where the first forwarding instruction is used to indicate the identity of the fifth node. The fifth node is the next hop node of the first node on the first transmission path. Further, after adding the fifth node to the forwarding table, the first node sends a first forwarding response message to the controller 110.

In an implementation manner, the first node generates the second indication information, the second indication information includes a first sequence number, and the first sequence number is a unit of time when the first node generates the second indication information. The sequence number in the macrocycle. The first node sends the second indication information to the fifth node, where the second indication information is used to instruct the fifth node to determine a second macroperiod according to the first sequence number and the second sequence number Offset, the second sequence number is the sequence number in a macro cycle of the time unit of the fifth node in response to the second indication information, and the second macro cycle offset is used to indicate that the packet moves from the first node Transmission delay to the fifth node.

S702: The first node executes the first service in N time units corresponding to N positions.

In a possible implementation manner, the first node may execute the process executed by the third node in FIG. 5 and/or may execute the process executed by the fourth node in FIG. 5. That is, the first node may generate the first position, and instruct the next hop node of the first node to determine the transmission delay between the first node and the next hop node of the first node through the first indication message, and may also receive A first indication message from the last hop node of the first node, based on the first indication message, determine the transmission delay between the first node and the last hop node of the first node, and report the transmission delay as a control器110. For the specific implementation process, refer to the process shown in FIG. 5, which will not be repeated here.

In the foregoing embodiment of the present application, the first node receives the configuration message sent by the controller 110, and the configuration message indicates the N positions of the N time units in one macrocycle. In response, the first node will use the N time units corresponding to the fixed N positions to execute the first service, instead of using the time units corresponding to the positions other than the N positions in a macrocycle Executing the first service means that the first node executes the first service within a certain time range and meets the requirements of DIP technology to provide deterministic forwarding services.

The following describes the device provided by the embodiment of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Based on the same technical idea as the method embodiment, the embodiment of the present application also provides a controller, as shown in FIG. 8, the controller includes a transceiver unit 801 and a processing unit 802; the processing unit 802 is configured to pass through the transceiver unit 801 receives a request message, the request message is used to instruct the controller to configure time domain resources for executing the first service, and send a configuration message to the first node through the transceiver unit 801, the configuration message indicates N time units N locations in a macrocycle; wherein the N time units are time domain resources for executing the first service, and the bandwidth resources corresponding to the N time units meet the bandwidth requirements of the first service , One of the N time units is used to indicate the minimum duration for scheduling time domain resources, a macrocycle includes M time units, where M is an integer greater than or equal to N, and N is greater than Or an integer equal to 1.

In the above-mentioned embodiment of the present application, the controller sends a configuration message indicating N locations to the first node in response to the request message. In this way, the first node will use the time unit as the granularity, and the location of the N locations in a macrocycle is The first service is executed in the corresponding N time units, and the first service will not be executed in the time units other than the N time units corresponding to the N positions in the macrocycle, which means that the controller can perform the first service The time delay for a node to forward the first service message is controlled within a certain index range, which meets the requirement of the DIP technology to provide deterministic forwarding services.

In an optional implementation manner, the processing unit 802 is specifically configured to: according to the request message, determine the number N of time units used to execute the first service in a macro cycle; For the time domain resource occupancy of the nodes in the transmission path, the N positions of the N time units in a macrocycle are configured for the first node, wherein the entry of the first transmission path is the first The node and the exit are the second node, and the first service enters the first network via the first node, and leaves the first network via the second node.

In an optional implementation manner, the first transmission path includes a third node, and the H positions are positions of the third node corresponding to the N positions in a macrocycle, and the H positions The time unit corresponding to at least one of the locations is occupied by the second service, the size of the H is equal to the size of the N, and the processing unit 802 is further configured to: the controller adjusts the use of the third node After the time domain resources for executing the second service are adjusted, the H time units corresponding to the H positions are in an idle state.

In an optional implementation manner, the processing unit 802 is specifically configured to: determine K positions according to the first macrocycle offset, where the K positions are the fourth node's relationship with the first macrocycle within one macrocycle. Locations corresponding to H locations, where the second service enters the first network via the fourth node, and the first macrocycle offset is the amount of data transmitted from the fourth node to the third node Delay, the size of K is equal to the size of H; according to the time domain resource occupancy of the nodes in the second transmission path, the fourth node is reconfigured with Q time units in one macrocycle. Positions, wherein the Q time units are time domain resources for the fourth node to perform the second service, the Q positions include positions other than the K positions in a macrocycle, and the The second transmission path is used to transmit the message of the second service.

In an optional implementation manner, the processing unit 802 is specifically configured to: according to the bandwidth resource occupancy status of the nodes in the first transmission path, between every two adjacent nodes in the first transmission path A channel for executing the first service is configured between the channels, and the configured channel is used to determine the bandwidth resource corresponding to each time unit, wherein the entrance of the first transmission path is the first node, and the exit is the first node. Two nodes, the first service enters the first network via the first node, and leaves the first network via the second node.

In an optional implementation manner, the first transmission path includes a fifth node and a sixth node, and the fifth node is a next hop node of the sixth node; the processing unit 802 specifically uses In: according to the bandwidth resource occupancy of the fifth node and the bandwidth requirement of the first service, configure a channel for executing the first service between the fifth node and the sixth node; Or, according to the bandwidth resource occupancy of the fifth node and the bandwidth requirement of the first service, from the at least one configured channel between the fifth node and the sixth node, determine one for The channel for executing the first service.

In an optional implementation manner, the transceiving unit 801 is further configured to: receive a first indication message from the seventh node, the first indication message indicating at least one macrocycle offset, wherein the at least Any macrocycle offset in one macrocycle offset is the time delay for the packet to be transmitted from the previous hop node of the seventh node to the seventh node, the seventh node, and the seventh node The last hop node of is two nodes in the first network; the processing unit 802 is further configured to: update the macroperiod table entry of the seventh node based on the first indication message, the macroperiod table entry For storing the at least one macrocycle offset.

The functional units in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in a processor in a software or hardware manner, each functional unit may also exist alone physically, or two or more functional units may be integrated into a module. The integrated functional unit can be implemented in the form of hardware or software.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a device. As shown in FIG. 9, the device may be a controller, including a processor 901, and the physical hardware corresponding to the processing unit 802 may be the processor 901. The controller may further include a transceiver 904, and the physical hardware corresponding to the foregoing transceiver unit 801 may be the transceiver 904. The processor 901 may be a central processing unit (English: central processing unit, CPU for short), or a digital processing processor (DSP), or the like. It also includes a memory 902, which is used to store a program executed by the processor 901. The memory 902 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk (English: hard disk drive, abbreviation: HDD) or a solid-state drive (English: solid-state drive, abbreviation: SSD), etc., or may be a volatile memory (English: volatile memory), such as random access memory (English: random-access memory, abbreviation: RAM). The memory 902 may also be any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto.

The processor 901 is configured to execute program codes stored in the memory 902, and specifically call program instructions stored in the memory 902. Specifically, the processor 901 receives the request message of the first service through the transceiver 904, so the transceiver 904 is used as a specific execution unit to receive the request message and pass it to the processor 901, so that the processor 901 configures N for the first node The time unit is in N positions within a macrocycle.

The specific connection medium between the foregoing processor 901 and the memory 902 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. In the embodiment of the present application, the processor 901 and the memory 902 in FIG. 9 are connected by a bus 903. The bus is represented by a thick line in FIG. Is limited. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and so on. For ease of representation, only one thick line is used in FIG. 9, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

Based on the same technical idea as the method embodiment, the embodiment of the present application also provides a network node. As shown in FIG. 10, the network node is a first node, and the first node includes a transceiver unit 1001 and a processing unit 1002; 1001, configured to receive a configuration message from the controller, where the configuration message indicates that N time units are used to receive resource configuration instructions from the controller at N positions in a macrocycle; the processing unit 1002 is configured to The first service is executed in N time units corresponding to N positions; wherein the N time units are time domain resources for executing the first service, and the bandwidth resources corresponding to the N time units satisfy the first The bandwidth requirement of a service, one of the N time units is used to indicate the minimum duration of scheduling time domain resources, a macrocycle includes M time units, and the M is an integer greater than or equal to the N, The N is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

In the foregoing embodiment of the present application, the first node receives the configuration message, and in response, uses the N time units corresponding to the N positions in a macrocycle to execute the first service in order to meet the requirement of providing deterministic forwarding services in DIP technology. Claim.

In an optional implementation manner, the transceiver unit 1001 is configured to: send a second indication message to the controller, the second indication message indicating at least one macrocycle offset, so that the controller is based on The at least one macrocycle offset updates the macrocycle offset entry of the first node, and the macrocycle offset entry is used to store the at least one macrocycle offset, wherein the at least one macrocycle offset Any macrocycle offset in the offset is the time delay for the message to be transmitted from the previous hop node of the first node to the first node.

In an optional implementation manner, the last hop node of the first node is the eighth node, the at least one macroperiod offset includes a second macroperiod offset, and the transceiving unit 1001 is further configured to : Receiving a third indication message from the eighth node, where the third indication message indicates a first position, and the first position is the time unit at which the eighth node generates the third indication message in a macro cycle The processing unit 1002 is specifically configured to determine the second macroperiod offset according to the first position and the second position, the second position being the eighth node in response to the The position of the time unit of the third indication message within one macrocycle, and the second macrocycle offset is the time delay for the packet to be transmitted from the eighth node to the first node.

In an optional implementation manner, the next hop node of the first node is the ninth node, and the processing unit 1002 is specifically configured to: generate a fourth indication message, where the fourth indication message indicates the third Position, the third position is the position within a macrocycle of the time unit at which the first node generates the fourth indication message; the transceiving unit 1001 is specifically configured to: send the ninth node A fourth indication message, where the fourth indication message is used to instruct the ninth node to determine a third macrocycle offset according to the third position and the fourth position, and the fourth position is the response of the ninth node The position of the time unit of the fourth indication message in one macrocycle, and the third macrocycle offset is the time delay for the message to be transmitted from the first node to the ninth node.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a device. As shown in FIG. 11, the device may be a network node and includes a processor 1101. The physical hardware corresponding to the processing unit 1002 may be the processor 1101. The network node may further include a transceiver 1104, and the physical hardware corresponding to the above-mentioned transceiver unit 1001 may be the transceiver 1104. The processor 1101 may be a central processing unit (English: central processing unit, CPU for short), or a digital processing unit (DSP), or the like. It also includes a memory 1102, which is used to store a program executed by the processor 1101. The memory 1102 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk (English: hard disk drive, abbreviation: HDD) or a solid-state drive (English: solid-state drive, abbreviation: SSD), etc., and may also be a volatile memory (English: volatile memory), such as random access memory (English: random-access memory, abbreviation: RAM). The memory 1102 may also be any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto.

The processor 1101 is configured to execute program codes stored in the memory 1102, and specifically call program instructions stored in the memory 1102. Specifically, the processor 1101 receives a configuration message from the controller through the transceiver 1104, and the configuration message is used to instruct the processor 1101 to execute the first service in N time units corresponding to N positions in a macrocycle. The processor 1101 executes the first service by using N time units corresponding to N positions in a macrocycle according to the configuration message. The processor 1101 executes the first service at the granularity of time unit, so that the delay for the transceiver 1104 to forward the packet of the first service is deterministic, and meets the requirement of providing deterministic forwarding service in the DIP technology.

The specific connection medium between the foregoing processor 1101 and the memory 1102 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. In the embodiment of the present application, the processor 1101 and the memory 1102 in FIG. 11 are connected by a bus 1103. The bus is represented by a thick line in FIG. Is limited. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and so on. For ease of representation, only one thick line is used to represent in FIG. 11, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of the present application can be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, this application may adopt the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware. Moreover, this application may adopt the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program codes.

This application is described with reference to flowcharts and/or block diagrams of methods, equipment (devices), and computer program products according to the embodiments of this application. It should be understood that each process and/or block in the flowchart and/or block diagram, and the combination of processes and/or blocks in the flowchart and/or block diagram can be realized by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to the processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing equipment to generate a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing equipment are generated It is a device that realizes the functions specified in one process or multiple processes in the flowchart and/or one block or multiple blocks in the block diagram.

These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can guide a computer or other programmable data processing equipment to work in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory form an instruction device, and the instruction device is implemented in the process Figure a process or multiple processes and/or a block diagram of the functions specified in a block or multiple blocks.

Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the embodiments of the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments of the present application. In this way, if these modifications and variations of the embodiments of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalent technologies, the present application also intends to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

A resource allocation method, characterized in that the method includes:

The controller receives a request message, where the request message is used to instruct the controller to configure time domain resources for executing the first service;

The controller sends a configuration message to the first node, where the configuration message indicates N positions of N time units in one macrocycle;

Wherein, the N time units are time domain resources for executing the first service, and the bandwidth resources corresponding to the N time units meet the bandwidth requirements of the first service, one of the N time units The time unit is used to indicate the minimum duration of scheduling time domain resources. A macrocycle includes M time units, where M is an integer greater than or equal to the N, and the N is an integer greater than or equal to 1.
The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

The controller determines the number N of time units used to execute the first service in a macro cycle according to the request message;

The controller configures, for the first node, N positions of the N time units in a macrocycle according to the time domain resource occupancy of the nodes in the first transmission path, wherein the first transmission path The entrance of is the first node, and the exit is the second node. The first service enters the first network via the first node and leaves the first network via the second node.
The method according to claim 2, wherein the first transmission path includes a third node, and the H positions are positions of the third node corresponding to the N positions in a macrocycle, and If a time unit corresponding to at least one of the H positions is occupied by a second service, the size of H is equal to the size of N, and the method further includes:

The controller adjusts the time domain resources used for executing the second service in the third node, and after adjustment, the H time units corresponding to the H positions are in an idle state.
The method according to claim 3, wherein the controller adjusting the time domain resource used for executing the second service in the third node comprises:

The controller determines K positions according to the first macrocycle offset, where the K positions are the positions of the fourth node corresponding to the H positions in one macrocycle, and the second service passes through all the positions. The fourth node enters the first network, the first macrocycle offset is the time delay for the packet to be transmitted from the fourth node to the third node, and the size of K is equal to the size of H;

The controller reconfigures Q positions of Q time units in one macrocycle for the fourth node according to the time domain resource occupancy of the nodes in the second transmission path, where the Q time units are The fourth node executes the time domain resources of the second service, the Q positions include positions other than the K positions in a macrocycle, and the second transmission path is used to transmit the second Business messages.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the method further comprises:

The controller configures a channel for executing the first service between every two adjacent nodes in the first transmission path according to the bandwidth resource occupancy of the nodes in the first transmission path, where: The entrance of the first transmission path is the first node and the exit is the second node, and the first service enters the first network via the first node and leaves the first network via the second node.
The method according to claim 5, wherein the first transmission path includes a fifth node and a sixth node, and the fifth node is a next hop node of the sixth node;

The controller configures a channel between every two adjacent nodes in the first transmission path according to the bandwidth resource occupancy of the nodes in the first transmission path, including:

The controller configures a device for executing the first service between the fifth node and the sixth node according to the bandwidth resource occupancy of the fifth node and the bandwidth requirement of the first service. Channel; or,

The controller determines one channel from at least one configured channel between the fifth node and the sixth node according to the bandwidth resource occupancy of the fifth node and the bandwidth requirement of the first service A channel used to execute the first service.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the method further comprises:

The controller receives a first indication message from the seventh node, the first indication message indicating at least one macrocycle offset, wherein any macrocycle offset in the at least one macrocycle offset is a message The time delay for transmission from the last hop node of the seventh node to the seventh node, where the seventh node and the last hop node of the seventh node are two nodes in the first network;

The controller updates a macroperiod table entry of the seventh node based on the first indication message, where the macroperiod table entry is used to store the at least one macroperiod offset.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the configuration message further includes an identifier of a first channel and/or an identifier of a first service, and the first channel is the first The node and the bandwidth resource used to execute the first service between the node and the next hop node of the first node.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the request message includes one or more of the following information: the identity of the first node, the identity of the second node, or The bandwidth requirement of the first service.
A resource allocation method, characterized in that the method includes:

The first node receives a configuration message from the controller, the configuration message indicating N positions of N time units in one macrocycle;

The first node executes the first service in N time units corresponding to the N positions;

Wherein, the N time units are time domain resources for executing the first service, and the bandwidth resources corresponding to the N time units meet the bandwidth requirements of the first service, and one time unit in the N time units It is used to indicate the minimum duration for scheduling time domain resources. A macrocycle includes M time units, where M is an integer greater than or equal to the N, and the N is an integer greater than or equal to 1.
The method of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

The first node sends a second indication message to the controller, where the second indication message indicates at least one macrocycle offset, so that the controller updates the first macrocycle offset based on the at least one macrocycle offset. A macrocycle offset entry of the node, where the macrocycle offset entry is used to store the at least one macrocycle offset, wherein any macrocycle offset in the at least one macrocycle offset is a message The transmission delay from the last hop node of the first node to the first node.
The method according to claim 11, wherein the last hop node of the first node is the eighth node, the at least one macroperiod offset includes a second macroperiod offset, and the method further comprises:

The first node receives a third indication message from the eighth node, the third indication message indicates a first position, and the first position is the time unit in which the eighth node generates the third indication message Position within a macrocycle;

The first node determines the second macroperiod offset according to the first position and the second position, and the second position is the time unit at which the eighth node responds to the third indication message. The position within the macrocycle, the second macrocycle offset is the time delay for the packet to be transmitted from the eighth node to the first node.
The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the next hop node of the first node is a ninth node, and the method further comprises:

The first node generates a fourth indication message, the fourth indication message indicates a third position, and the third position is the position within a macrocycle of the time unit at which the first node generates the fourth indication message ；

The first node sends the fourth indication message to the ninth node, where the fourth indication message is used to instruct the ninth node to determine a third macroperiod offset according to the third position and the fourth position The fourth position is the position within one macrocycle of the time unit of the ninth node in response to the fourth indication message, and the third macrocycle offset is the transmission of the message from the first node to the The delay of the ninth node is described.
The method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, wherein the configuration message further includes an identifier of a first channel and/or an identifier of a first service, and the first channel is used to indicate the Bandwidth resources used for executing the first service between the first node and the next hop node of the first node.
A controller, characterized in that the controller includes: a transceiver unit and a processing unit;

The processor unit is configured to receive a request message through the transceiver unit, where the request message is used to instruct the controller to configure a time domain resource for executing the first service; and send a request message to the first node through the transceiver unit Sending a configuration message, the configuration message indicating N positions of N time units in one macrocycle;

Wherein, the N time units are time domain resources for executing the first service, and the bandwidth resources corresponding to the N time units meet the bandwidth requirements of the first service, one of the N time units The time unit is used to indicate the minimum duration of scheduling time domain resources. A macrocycle includes M time units, where M is an integer greater than or equal to the N, and the N is an integer greater than or equal to 1.
The controller according to claim 15, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to:

According to the request message, determine the number N of time units used to execute the first service in one macrocycle;

According to the time domain resource occupancy of the nodes in the first transmission path, the first node is configured with N positions of the N time units in a macrocycle, wherein the entry of the first transmission path is all The first node and the exit are second nodes, and the first service enters the first network via the first node, and leaves the first network via the second node.
The controller according to claim 16, wherein the first transmission path includes a third node, and the H positions are positions of the third node corresponding to the N positions in a macrocycle, and The time unit corresponding to at least one of the H positions is occupied by the second service, the size of H is equal to the size of N, and the processing unit is further configured to:

The controller adjusts the time domain resources used for executing the second service in the third node, and after adjustment, the H time units corresponding to the H positions are in an idle state.
The controller according to claim 17, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to:

According to the first macrocycle offset, determine K positions, where the K positions are the positions of the fourth node corresponding to the H positions in one macrocycle, where the second service passes through the fourth node Entering the first network, the first macrocycle offset is the time delay for the message to be transmitted from the fourth node to the third node, and the size of K is equal to the size of H;

According to the time domain resource occupancy of the nodes in the second transmission path, reconfigure the Q positions of the Q time units in one macrocycle for the fourth node, where the Q time units are the fourth Time domain resources for the node to execute the second service, the Q positions include positions other than the K positions in a macrocycle, and the second transmission path is used to transmit packets of the second service .
The controller according to any one of claims 15 to 18, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to:

According to the bandwidth resource occupancy of the nodes in the first transmission path, a channel for executing the first service is configured between every two adjacent nodes in the first transmission path, wherein the first The entrance of the transmission path is the first node, and the exit is the second node. The first service enters the first network via the first node and leaves the first network via the second node.
The controller according to claim 19, wherein the first transmission path includes a fifth node and a sixth node, and the fifth node is a next hop node of the sixth node;

The processing unit is specifically used for:

According to the bandwidth resource occupancy of the fifth node and the bandwidth requirement of the first service, configure a channel for executing the first service between the fifth node and the sixth node; or,

According to the bandwidth resource occupancy of the fifth node and the bandwidth requirement of the first service, from the at least one configured channel between the fifth node and the sixth node, determine one for performing all The channel of the first service.
The controller according to any one of claims 15 to 20, wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to:

Receive a first indication message from the seventh node, where the first indication message indicates at least one macroperiod offset, wherein any one of the at least one macroperiod offset is the The transmission delay from the last hop node of the seven nodes to the seventh node, and the seventh node and the last hop node of the seventh node are two nodes in the first network;

The processing unit is also used for:

The macroperiod table entry of the seventh node is updated based on the first indication message, where the macroperiod table entry is used to store the at least one macroperiod offset.
The controller according to any one of claims 15 to 21, wherein the configuration message further includes an identifier of a first channel and/or an identifier of a first service, and the first channel is the first channel. A node and a bandwidth resource used for executing the first service between a node and a next hop node of the first node.
The controller according to any one of claims 15-22, wherein the request message includes one or more of the following information: an identifier of the first node, an identifier of the second node Or the bandwidth requirement of the first service.
A network node, characterized in that it comprises:

The transceiver unit is configured to receive a configuration message from the controller, the configuration message indicating N positions of N time units in a macrocycle;

A processing unit, configured to execute the first service in N time units corresponding to the N positions;

Wherein, the N time units are time domain resources for executing the first service, and the bandwidth resources corresponding to the N time units meet the bandwidth requirements of the first service, and one time unit in the N time units It is used to indicate the minimum duration for scheduling time domain resources. A macrocycle includes M time units, where M is an integer greater than or equal to the N, and the N is an integer greater than or equal to 1.
The network node according to claim 24, wherein the transceiver unit is configured to:

Send a second indication message to the controller, where the second indication message indicates at least one macrocycle offset, so that the controller updates the macrocycle offset of the first node based on the at least one macrocycle offset Shift entry, the macroperiod offset entry is used to store the at least one macroperiod offset, wherein any macroperiod offset in the at least one macroperiod offset is the The transmission delay of the last hop of the node to the first node.
The network node according to claim 25, wherein the last hop node of the first node is an eighth node, the at least one macroperiod offset includes a second macroperiod offset, and the transceiver unit, Also used for:

Receiving a third indication message from the eighth node, where the third indication message indicates a first position, and the first position is a time unit for the eighth node to generate the third indication message within one macrocycle s position;

The processing unit is specifically used for:

Determine the second macroperiod offset according to the first position and the second position, where the second position is the position within one macroperiod of the time unit of the eighth node in response to the third indication message , The second macrocycle offset is a time delay for a packet to be transmitted from the eighth node to the first node.
The network node according to any one of claims 24 to 26, wherein the next hop node of the first node is a ninth node, and the processing unit is specifically configured to:

Generating a fourth indication message, where the fourth indication message indicates a third position, and the third position is a position within a macrocycle of a time unit at which the first node generates the fourth indication message;

The transceiver unit is specifically configured to:

The fourth indication message is sent to the ninth node, where the fourth indication message is used to instruct the ninth node to determine a third macroperiod offset according to the third position and the fourth position, and the fourth The position is the position within one macrocycle of the time unit at which the ninth node responds to the fourth indication message, and the third macrocycle offset is the amount of time a packet is transmitted from the first node to the ninth node Time delay.
The network node according to any one of claims 24 to 27, wherein the configuration message further includes the identifier of the first channel and/or the identifier of the first service, and the first channel is used to indicate the Bandwidth resources used for executing the first service between the first node and the next hop node of the first node.
A device for resource allocation, characterized by comprising at least one processor; the at least one processor is used to run a computer program or instruction so that the device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.
A resource configuration device, characterized by comprising at least one processor; the at least one processor is used to run a computer program or instruction, so that the device executes the method according to any one of claims 10 to 14.
A computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium is used to store computer instructions, and when the computer instructions are executed on a computer, the computer can execute any of claims 1 to 9 The method described in one item.
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, the computer-readable storage medium is used to store computer instructions, and when the computer instructions are executed on a computer, the computer executes any of claims 10 to 14 The method described in one item.