Elastic timestamping

Abstract

A method and system for elastic timestamping for use in computing and networking applications including telemetry is disclosed herein. A device that is part of a system may initially generate a variable size timestamp or elastic n-dimensional timestamp (ENTS) with n time dimensions fields for a corresponding event in the system for which timing or temporal order information is needed. The device may select a subset of the n time dimensions fields of the ENTS based on a relevant time granularity of the corresponding event to generate a compact ENTS with a reduced size. The device may communicate the compact ENTS for further processing. In an example, the ENTS may be generated for a device-specific action performed to gather telemetry data in response to received telemetry intent at the device, and the compact ENTS may be communicated with a corresponding telemetry response.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A device that is part of a system, the device comprising:
 a processor coupled to at least one interface;   the processor configured to:
 generate a first timestamp with n time dimension fields for a corresponding event in the system, wherein the first timestamp has an adjustable size; 
 select a subset of the n time dimension fields of the first timestamp based on a relevant time granularity of the corresponding event to generate a second timestamp; and 
   the processor and the at least one interface configured to communicate the second timestamp for further processing.   
     
     
         2 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the n time dimension fields include at least one of the following time dimensions: date, hour, minute, second, millisecond, microsecond or nanosecond. 
     
     
         3 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the processor and the at least one interface are further configured to amortize and communicate only once over a plurality events at least one of the n time dimension fields not in the subset. 
     
     
         4 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the processor and the at least one interface are configured to communicate the second timestamp by reporting the second timestamp to a receiving entity, recording the second timestamp to storage, or displaying the second timestamp to an operator. 
     
     
         5 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the corresponding event has a freshness threshold, wherein:
 on a condition that the first timestamp exceeds the freshness threshold, the processor is further configured to discard the first timestamp and the corresponding event.   
     
     
         6 . The device of  claim 5 , wherein the freshness threshold is provided to the device or is programmed into the device. 
     
     
         7 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the processor and the at least one interface are further configured to periodically generate a mapping between values of the first timestamp and local clock values and provide the mapping to a receiving entity for synchronization.   
     
     
         8 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the processor and the at least one interface are further configured to receive a packet including at least a header and a payload at a packet layer;   the processor is further configured:
 read intent information from the header, wherein the intent information indicates a type of telemetry data; 
 translate the intent information to trigger a device-specific action to provide the type of telemetry data, wherein the device-specific action is the corresponding event in the system; 
 execute the device-specific action to generate a response corresponding to the intent; 
 associate the second timestamp and the response with the intent; and 
 encode the second timestamp and the response for downstream data forwarding. 
   
     
     
         9 . The device of  claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to encode the second timestamp and the response for downstream forwarding by inserting the second timestamp and the response into the header of the packet with the intent information. 
     
     
         10 . The device of  claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
 add the intent information to an associative mapping table;   match the second timestamp and the response to the intent information using the associative mapping table; and   insert the second timestamp and the response into a header of a subsequent packet.   
     
     
         11 . A method performed by a device that is part of a system, the method comprising:
 generating a first timestamp with n time dimension fields for a corresponding event in the system, wherein the first timestamp has an adjustable size;   selecting a subset of the n time dimension fields of the first timestamp based on a relevant time granularity of the corresponding event to generate a second timestamp; and   communicating the second timestamp for further processing.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the n time dimension fields include at least one of the following time dimensions: date, hour, minute, second, millisecond, microsecond or nanosecond. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 amortizing and communicating only once over a plurality events at least one of the n time dimension fields not in the subset.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the communicating the second timestamp includes at least one of: reporting the second timestamp to a receiving entity, recording the second timestamp to storage, or displaying the second timestamp to an operator. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the corresponding event has a freshness threshold, further comprising:
 on a condition that the first timestamp exceeds the freshness threshold, discarding the first timestamp and the corresponding event.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the freshness threshold is provided to the device or is programmed into the device. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 periodically generating a mapping between generated values of the first timestamp and local clock values and providing the mapping to a receiving entity for synchronization.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 receiving a packet including at least a header and a payload at a packet layer;   reading intent information from the header, wherein the intent information indicates a type of telemetry data;   translating the intent information to trigger a device-specific action to provide the type of telemetry data, wherein the device-specific action is the corresponding event in the system;   executing the device-specific action to generate a response corresponding to the intent;   associating the second timestamp and the response with the intent; and   encoding the second timestamp and the response for downstream data forwarding.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the encoding the second timestamp and the response for downstream forwarding includes inserting the second timestamp and the response into the header of the packet with the intent information. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 adding the intent information to an associative mapping table;   matching the second timestamp and the response to the intent information using the associative mapping table; and   inserting the second timestamp and the response into a header of a subsequent packet.