Multiple route real-time channels in packet-switched networks

A real-time channel is a communication mechanism commonly used to guarantee timely delivery of messages between two nodes of a distributed system. It is established at the request of an application task. In the request, the task specifies its worst-case traffic pattern and the required timing constraints. The system accepts the request only if it can guarantee the requested timing constraints without jeopardizing the guarantees provided to the established channels. The main objective of the scheme proposed in this paper is to increase the fraction of channel establishment requests accepted by the system. The proposed scheme increases the fraction of accepted requests by exploiting the existence of multiple routes between two nodes of a distributed system. In particular, unlike existing schemes, it carefully partitions a message and sends the message partitions along different routes to guarantee their timely delivery. In partitioning the message, it also ensures that the overhead of re-sequencing the partitions sent along different routes is minimal. The end result is a better channel establishment procedure for guaranteeing sequenced, timely delivery of messages in a real-time application