1. An apparatus comprising:
circuitry capable of determining, at least in part, that transmission, at least in part, of at least one frame having a relatively higher transmission priority is to be delayed in favor of transmitting at least one other frame having a relatively lower transmission priority relative to the relatively higher transmission priority, the at least one other frame belonging to at least one packet stream that is associated with at least one bandwidth reservation, the transmission of the at least one frame having been previously selected to occur prior to the transmitting of the at least one other frame.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:
the circuitry is to perform the determining, at least in part, based, at least in part, upon one or more parameters associated, at least in part, with respective latencies of the at least one frame and the at least one other frame.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:
the one or more parameters based, at least in part, upon which the circuitry is to perform the determining, include:
a wait time period that the at least one other frame has waited to be transmitted;
a remaining time period until the at least one other frame is to be transmitted in accordance with the at least one bandwidth reservation; and
a first transmission time period that is expected to be consumed to transmit the at least one frame; and
the first transmission time period is greater than a second transmission time period that is expected to be consumed to transmit the at least one other frame.
4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:
the circuitry is to perform the determining, at least in part, based, at least in part, upon one or more functions that depend upon, at least in part, the one or more parameters, the one or more functions being determined, at least in part, empirically and being to achieve, at least in part, one or more desired policies concerning the respective latencies, the one or more parameters comprising one or more current latency-associated parameters and one or more past latency-associated parameters.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:
the at least one bandwidth reservation is made as a result, at least in part, of negotiation between at least one sender of the at least one packet stream and at least one intended receiver of the at least one stream, the at least one reservation being made prior to commencing transmission of the at least one packet stream from the at least one sender to the at least one intended receiver via the circuitry;
the at least one intended receiver comprises at least one bridge to be communicatively coupled to media renderers; and
the at least one packet stream is to be multicasted to the media renderers via the at least one bridge.
6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:
the at least one other frame comprises a final frame in the at least one stream;
no bandwidth reservation is associated with the at least one frame; and
the circuitry is capable of being comprised, at least in part, in a bridge.
7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein:
the bridge is communicatively coupled to neighboring hops of the at least one packet stream; and
among the bridge and the neighboring hops, only the bridge is to comprise, at least in part, the circuitry.
8. Non-transitory computer-readable memory storing one or more instructions that when executed by a machine result in performance of operations comprising:
determining, at least in part, by circuitry that transmission, at least in part, of at least one frame having a relatively higher transmission priority is to be delayed in favor of transmitting at least one other frame having a relatively lower transmission priority relative to the relatively higher transmission priority, the at least one other frame belonging to at least one packet stream that is associated with at least one bandwidth reservation, the transmission of the at least one frame having been previously selected to occur prior to the transmitting of the at least one other frame.
9. The memory of claim 8, wherein:
the determining, at least in part, is based, at least in part, upon one or more parameters associated, at least in part, with respective latencies of the at least one frame and the at least one other frame.
10. The memory of claim 9, wherein:
the one or more parameters include:
a wait time period that the at least one other frame has waited to be transmitted;
a remaining time period until the at least one other frame is to be transmitted in accordance with the at least one bandwidth reservation; and
a first transmission time period that is expected to be consumed to transmit the at least one frame; and
the first transmission time period is greater than a second transmission time period that is expected to be consumed to transmit the at least one other frame.
11. The memory of claim 9, wherein:
the determining, at least in part, is based, at least in part, upon one or more functions that depend upon, at least in part, the one or more parameters, the one or more functions being determined, at least in part, empirically and being to achieve, at least in part, one or more desired policies concerning the respective latencies, the one or more parameters comprising one or more current latency-associated parameters and one or more past latency-associated parameters.
12. The memory of claim 8, wherein:
the at least one bandwidth reservation is made as a result, at least in part, of negotiation between at least one sender of the at least one packet stream and at least one intended receiver of the at least one stream, the at least one reservation being made prior to commencing transmission of the at least one packet stream from the at least one sender to the at least one intended receiver; the at least one intended receiver comprises at least one bridge to be communicatively coupled to media renderers; and
the at least one packet stream is to be multicasted to the media renderers via the at least one bridge.
13. The memory of claim 8, wherein:
the at least one other frame comprises a final frame in the at least one stream;
no bandwidth reservation is associated with the at least one frame; and
the circuitry is capable of being comprised, at least in part, in a bridge.
14. The memory of claim 13, wherein:
the bridge is communicatively coupled to neighboring hops of the at least one packet stream; and
among the bridge and the neighboring hops, only the bridge is to comprise, at least in part, the circuitry.
15. A method comprising:
determining, at least in part, by circuitry that transmission, at least in part, of at least one frame having a relatively higher transmission priority is to be delayed in favor of transmitting at least one other frame having a relatively lower transmission priority relative to the relatively higher transmission priority, the at least one other frame belonging to at least one packet stream that is associated with at least one bandwidth reservation, the transmission of the at least one frame having been previously selected to occur prior to the transmitting of the at least one other frame.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein:
the determining, at least in part, is based, at least in part, upon one or more parameters associated, at least in part, with respective latencies of the at least one frame and the at least one other frame.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein:
the one or more parameters include:
a wait time period that the at least one other frame has waited to be transmitted;
a remaining time period until the at least one other frame is to be transmitted in accordance with the at least one bandwidth reservation; and
a first transmission time period that is expected to be consumed to transmit the at least one frame; and
the first transmission time period is greater than a second transmission time period that is expected to be consumed to transmit the at least one other frame.
18. The method of claim 16, wherein:
the determining, at least in part, is based, at least in part, upon one or more functions that depend upon, at least in part, the one or more parameters, the one or more functions being determined, at least in part, empirically and being to achieve, at least in part, one or more desired policies concerning the respective latencies, the one or more parameters comprising one or more current latency-associated parameters and one or more past latency-associated parameters.
19. The method of claim 15, wherein:
the at least one bandwidth reservation is made as a result, at least in part, of negotiation between at least one sender of the at least one packet stream and at least one intended receiver of the at least one stream, the at least one reservation being made prior to commencing transmission of the at least one packet stream from the at least one sender to the at least one intended receiver;
the at least one intended receiver comprises at least one bridge to be communicatively coupled to media renderers; and
the at least one packet stream is to be multicasted to the media renderers via the at least one bridge.
20. The method of claim 15, wherein:
the at least one other frame comprises a final frame in the at least one stream;
no bandwidth reservation is associated with the at least one frame; and
the circuitry is capable of being comprised, at least in part, in a bridge.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein:
the bridge is communicatively coupled to neighboring hops of the at least one packet stream; and
among the bridge and the neighboring hops, only the bridge is to comprise, at least in part, the circuitry.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method enabling automated repair of defects in a composite structure formed with a material placement machine that lays composite material in one or more courses and one or more plies to form the structure, the method comprising:
inspecting a course of the composite structure for defects;
determining whether a defect detected by the inspecting is unacceptable;
determining whether a defect detected by the inspecting is repairable by the material placement machine without user intervention; and
automatically causing the material placement machine to return to and place material sufficient for repairing a defect determined to be unacceptable and repairable by the material placement machine without user intervention.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically causing the material placement machine to return to each defect determined to be unacceptable.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically causing includes electronically accessing positional data defining a location of a defect.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically causing includes creating a program to automatically generate instructions for causing the material placement machine to return to and place material sufficient for repairing defects determined to be unacceptable and repairable by the material placement machine without user intervention.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes communicating with an inspection system performing the inspecting.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising exterior monitoring of the material application position of the material placement machine to determine a location of a defect detected by the inspecting.
7. A method comprising:
using a material placement machine to lay one or more courses and one or more plies of composite material to form a composite structure;
inspecting the one or more courses for defects;
determining whether a defect detected by the inspecting is unacceptable; and
automatically causing the material placement machine to return to a defect determined to be unacceptable.
8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:
determining whether a defect is repairable by the material placement machine without user intervention; and
automatically causing the material placement machine to return to and place material sufficient for repairing a defect determined to be unacceptable and repairable by the material placement machine without user intervention.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein the automatically causing includes electronically accessing positional data defining a location of a defect.
10. The method of claim 7, wherein the automatically causing includes creating a program to automatically generate instructions for causing the material placement machine to return to a defect determined to be unacceptable.
11. The method of claim 7, wherein the method includes communicating with an inspection system performing the inspecting.
12. The method of claim 7, further comprising exterior monitoring of the material application position of the material placement machine to determine a location of a defect detected by the inspecting.
13. A method comprising:
using a material placement machine to lay one or more courses and one or more plies of composite material to form a composite structure;
electronically accessing positional data defining a defect location on the composite structure; and
automatically causing the material placement machine to return to the defect location as defined by the positional data.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the automatically causing includes automatically causing the material placement machine to place material sufficient for repairing a defect at the defect location.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the automatically causing includes automatically causing the material placement machine, after completing a ply of the composite structure, to return to a course of the ply in which a defect is located and place material along the course sufficient for repairing the defect.
16. The method of claim 14, wherein the automatically causing includes creating a program to automatically generate instructions in connection with the positional data, for causing the material placement machine to return to the defect location as defined by the positional data and place material sufficient for repairing the defect at the defect location.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the program extracts the positional data from a first file to a second file and generates the instructions within the second file.
18. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining whether a defect is repairable by the material placement machine without user intervention, and wherein the automatically causing includes automatically causing the material placement machine to repair a defect determined to be repairable by the material placement machine without user intervention.
19. The method of claim 13, further comprising inspecting the composite structure for defects.
20. The method of claim 13, further comprising exterior monitoring of the material application position of the material placement machine to determine a first distance from a first reference point of the composite structure to a defect.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein the monitoring includes detecting and counting transitions between contrasting portions of a code ring coupled for common rotation with a compaction roller.
22. The method of claim 20, further comprising:
summing courses completed to produce a total completed course count; and
multiplying a predetermined course width by the total completed course count to determine a second distance from a second reference point of the composite structure to the defect.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein summing courses completed includes tracking receipt of signals from a machine load cell indicating whether pressure is being applied to a compaction roller.
24. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining whether a defect is unacceptable, and wherein the automatically causing includes automatically causing the material placement machine to return to a defect determined to be unacceptable.
25. A machine-readable medium for use with a processor having a memory, the machine-readable medium comprising:
instructions to cause the processor to access positional data defining a defect location on a composite structure formed by a material placement machine that lays composite material in one or more courses and one or more plies to form the structure; and
instructions to cause the processor to generate instructions to cause the material placement machine to return to the defect location as defined by the positional data and place material sufficient for repairing the defect at the defect location.
26. The machine-readable medium of claim 25, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to extract positional data from a first file to a second file, the second file including the instructions generated by the processor.
27. The machine-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the processor generates instructions for automatically causing the material placement machine, after completing a ply of the composite structure, to return to a course of the ply in which a defect is located and place material along the course sufficient for repairing the defect.
28. The machine-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the processor generates instructions for automatically causing the material placement machine to repair only defects which are determined to be unacceptable.
29. The machine-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the processor generates instructions for automatically causing the material placement machine to repair only defects which are determined to be repairable by the material placement machine without user intervention.
30. The machine-readable medium of claim 25, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to communicate with an inspection system capable of inspecting the composite structure for defects.
31. The machine-readable medium of claim 25, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to communicate with an inspection system capable of determining a location of a defect by exterior monitoring of the material application position of the material placement machine.
32. A machine-readable medium for use with a processor having a memory, the machine-readable medium comprising:
instructions to cause the processor to access positional data defining a defect location on a composite structure formed by a material placement machine that lays composite material in one or more courses and one or more plies to form the composite structure; and
instructions to cause the processor to generate instructions for automatically causing the material placement machine to return to the defect location as defined by the positional data.
33. The machine-readable medium of claim 32, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to extract positional data from a first file to a second file, the second file including the instructions generated by the processor.
34. The machine-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the processor generates instructions for automatically causing the material placement machine to return to only defects which are determined to be unacceptable.
35. The machine-readable medium of claim 32, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to communicate with an inspection system capable of inspecting the composite structure for defects.
36. The machine-readable medium of claim 32, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to communicate with an inspection system capable of determining a location of a defect by exterior monitoring of the material application position of the material placement machine.
37. A method comprising:
electronically accessing positional data defining a defect location on a composite structure;
automatically causing a material placement machine to return to the defect location as defined by the positional data; and
performing exterior monitoring of the material application position of the material placement machine to determine a first distance from a first reference point of the composite structure to a defect, the monitoring including detecting and counting transitions between contrasting portions of a code ring coupled for common rotation with a compaction roller.
38. A method comprising:
electronically accessing positional data defining a defect location on a composite structure;
automatically causing a material placement machine to return to the defect location as defined by the positional data;
performing exterior monitoring of the material application position of the material placement machine to determine a first distance from a first reference point of the composite structure to a defect;
summing courses completed to produce a total completed course count; and
multiplying a predetermined course width by the total completed course count to determine a second distance from a second reference point of the composite structure to the defect.
39. The method of claim 38, wherein summing courses completed includes tracking receipt of signals from a machine load cell indicating whether pressure is being applied to a compaction roller.