Patent ID: 9705737
Date: 2017-07-11
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method, comprising: receiving, at a scheduling device in a network, routing metrics regarding a network path between a device controller and a networked device in a control loop running in the network, wherein the scheduling device is a path computation element, wherein routing metrics are indicative of time costs associated with transferring data along various links of the network path, wherein the networked device is a sensor or actuator and the device controller is a programmable logic controller; receiving, at the scheduling device, controller metrics from the device controller, wherein the controller metrics indicate at least one of: a delay associated with loading a control application that communicates with the networked device or a delay associated with scheduling the control application to execute; determining, by the scheduling device, time costs associated with the network path and one or more control operations performed by the device controller, wherein the time costs are based on the routing and controller metrics; generating, by the scheduling device, a communication schedule based on the time costs; and sending, by the scheduling device, instructions to the device controller and the networked device that instruct the device controller and the networked device to use the communication schedule for performing the one or more control operations in the control loop at specific times.