WO2024165016A1 - Edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology, and related device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of cloud computing. Provided are an edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology, and a related device. The edge node communication method can be applied to a cloud management platform, which is used for managing M edge nodes and infrastructure that provides cloud computing resources, wherein H edge nodes of the M edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform, and N edge nodes of the M edge nodes are disconnected from the cloud management platform. The edge node communication method comprises: a cloud management platform determining a first edge node among H edge nodes as a relay node, wherein the relay node is connected to N edge nodes; and the cloud management platform sending, to the relay node, first interaction information which needs to be sent to a second edge node among the N edge nodes, wherein the first interaction information is forwarded to the second edge node by means of the relay node. By means of the present application, an edge node which cannot establish a connection with a cloud management platform can access the cloud management platform by means of a relay node, so as to perform information interaction with the cloud management platform.

Description

Edge node communication method and related equipment based on cloud computing technology

This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on February 10, 2023, with application number 202310100895.5 and application name “Edge node communication method and related equipment based on cloud computing technology”, all contents of which are incorporated by reference in this application.

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of cloud computing technology, and in particular to an edge node communication method and related equipment based on cloud computing technology.

Background Art

Edge computing technology based on cloud computing is an extended application of cloud computing on the edge side. Since computing resources are closer to the physical location of users or data sources, it can generate faster network service responses and meet users' various needs in real-time business, security and privacy protection.

In the existing cloud computing-based edge computing technology, the management of edge nodes is usually done by deploying management components on the cloud management node, and managing the edge nodes and the applications running on the edge nodes through the management components. An agent can be deployed on each edge node, and the management component can establish a cloud-edge communication channel with the agent on each edge node, so that the cloud management node can transmit cloud-edge information with each edge node.

In some special application scenarios, for example, it is not expected that a certain edge node will establish a cloud-edge communication channel with the cloud management node to avoid data leakage, or the current location of a certain edge node may be beyond the communication range with the cloud management node. Since these edge nodes cannot connect to the cloud management node, they cannot interact with the cloud management node.

Summary of the invention

In view of this, it is necessary to provide an edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology, which can enable edge nodes that fail to establish a connection with a cloud management platform to also exchange information with the cloud management platform.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application discloses an edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology, which is applied to a cloud management platform. The cloud management platform is used to manage M edge nodes, wherein H edge nodes among the M edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform, and N edge nodes among the M edge nodes are disconnected from the cloud management platform. The edge node communication method includes: the cloud management platform confirms a first edge node among the H edge nodes as a relay node, wherein the relay node is connected to the N edge nodes; the cloud management platform sends first interaction information to be sent to a second edge node among the N edge nodes to the relay node, and the first interaction information is forwarded to the second edge node via the relay node.

By adopting the above technical solution, the cloud management platform selects an edge node from the edge nodes connected to it as a relay node. The selected relay node can maintain connection with the edge nodes that cannot be connected to the cloud management platform, and forward information through the relay node. The edge nodes that cannot establish a connection with the cloud management platform can interact with the cloud management platform through the relay node, so that the cloud management platform can manage each edge node. For example, for the edge nodes that cannot establish a connection with the cloud management platform, the cloud management platform can send the interaction information sent to the edge node to the relay node, and the relay node forwards it to the edge node.

In some embodiments, the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology also includes: the cloud management platform receives second interaction information sent by the relay node, and the second interaction information is sent by the second edge node to the relay node.

By adopting the above technical solution, for edge nodes that fail to establish a connection with the cloud management platform, the interactive information that needs to be sent to the cloud management platform can be sent to the relay node, which will forward it to the cloud management platform to realize information interaction with the cloud management platform.

In some embodiments, the cloud management platform is also connected to the infrastructure that provides cloud computing resources. The edge node communication method of the technology also includes: the cloud management platform calls the cloud computing resources of the infrastructure to process the second interaction information.

By adopting the above technical solution, the cloud management platform can process the second interaction information by calling the cloud computing resources of the infrastructure connected to it. For example, the second interaction information may be information collected by the edge node, or information executed by the edge node based on the task issued by the cloud management platform, etc. The infrastructure may include one or more cloud data centers.

In some embodiments, the cloud management platform confirms a first edge node among H edge nodes as a relay node, including: the cloud management platform confirms that the H edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform based on the communication status of each edge node among the M edge nodes, and selects the first edge node from the H edge nodes as a relay node, and the communication status includes whether a connection can be established with the cloud management platform.

By adopting the above technical solution, the cloud management platform can determine the edge nodes currently connected to the cloud management platform by obtaining the communication status of each edge node, and select an edge node as a relay node from these edge nodes connected to the cloud management platform. Since the relay node can interact with the cloud management platform, the edge nodes that fail to establish a connection with the cloud management platform can forward information through the relay node, thereby realizing information interaction with the cloud management platform.

In some embodiments, the cloud management platform receives second interaction information sent by the relay node, including: the cloud management platform sends relay identification information to the relay node, the relay identification information includes the relay node identification, wherein the relay identification information is sent to N edge nodes via the relay node, and the relay identification information is used to indicate that the second edge node among the N edge nodes will send the second interaction information reported to the cloud management platform to the relay node; the cloud management platform receives the second interaction information forwarded by the relay node.

By adopting the above technical solution, after selecting a relay node, the cloud management platform can send relay identification information including the relay node identification to the relay node, which will be forwarded by the relay node to each edge node that has failed to establish a connection with the cloud management platform, so that these edge nodes that have failed to establish a connection with the cloud management platform can obtain the relay node information based on the relay identification information, and then send the interactive information reported to the cloud management platform to the relay node, which will be forwarded to the cloud management platform by the relay node, thereby realizing information interaction with the cloud management platform.

In some embodiments, the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology also includes: before the relay node is disconnected from the cloud management platform, the cloud management platform reselects an edge node from the M edge nodes as an updated relay node based on the communication status of each of the M edge nodes, wherein the updated relay node remains connected to the cloud management platform within a preset time period, and the updated relay node remains connected to N edge nodes.

By adopting the above technical solution, due to the movement of the relay node, it may be disconnected from the cloud management platform after a preset time (for example, out of the communication connection range). The cloud management platform can re-select an edge node from the edge nodes connected to it as an updated relay node before the relay node is disconnected from it. The updated relay node can save the connection with the edge node disconnected from the cloud management platform and maintain the connection with the cloud management platform within a preset time period, avoiding the need to frequently select updated relay nodes and forward information through the updated relay nodes. The edge nodes that fail to establish a connection with the cloud management platform can interact with the cloud management platform through the updated relay nodes, so that the cloud management platform can manage each edge node.

In some embodiments, the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology also includes: the cloud management platform sends the updated relay identification information to the updated relay node, wherein the updated relay identification information is sent to N edge nodes via the updated relay node, and the relay identification information is used to indicate that the second edge node among the N edge nodes will send the third interaction information reported to the cloud management platform to the updated relay node; the cloud management platform receives the third interaction information forwarded by the updated relay node.

By adopting the above technical solution, after selecting an updated relay node, the cloud management platform can send relay identification information including the updated relay node identification to the updated relay node, which will be forwarded by the updated relay node to each edge node that has failed to establish a connection with the cloud management platform, so that these edge nodes that have failed to establish a connection with the cloud management platform can obtain the updated relay node information based on the updated relay identification information, and then subsequently send the interactive information reported to the cloud management platform to the updated relay node, which will be forwarded by the updated relay node to the cloud management platform, thereby realizing information interaction with the cloud management platform.

In some embodiments, the cloud management platform confirms that the first edge node among the H edge nodes is used as a relay node, including: the cloud management platform confirms that the H edge nodes are connected to the cloud based on the communication status of each edge node among the M edge nodes. The management platform is connected, and the first edge node selected from the H edge nodes is confirmed as a relay node. The communication status includes whether a connection can be established with the cloud management platform.

By adopting the above technical solution, the cloud management platform can determine the edge nodes currently connected to the cloud management platform by obtaining the communication status of each edge node. Relay nodes can be elected from these edge nodes connected to the cloud management platform, so that edge nodes that fail to establish a connection with the cloud management platform can forward information through relay nodes to achieve information interaction with the cloud management platform.

In the second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a cloud management platform, which is used to manage M edge nodes, wherein H edge nodes among the M edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform, and N edge nodes among the M edge nodes are disconnected from the cloud management platform, and the cloud management platform includes: a confirmation module, used to confirm that a first edge node among the H edge nodes is used as a relay node, wherein the relay node is connected to the N edge nodes; a sending module, used to send first interaction information to be sent to a second edge node among the N edge nodes to the relay node, and the first interaction information is forwarded to the second edge node via the relay node.

By adopting the above technical solution, the cloud management platform selects an edge node from the edge nodes connected to it as a relay node. The selected relay node can maintain connection with the edge nodes that cannot be connected to the cloud management platform, and forward information through the relay node. The edge nodes that cannot establish a connection with the cloud management platform can interact with the cloud management platform through the relay node, so that the cloud management platform can manage each edge node. For example, for the edge nodes that cannot establish a connection with the cloud management platform, the cloud management platform can send the interaction information sent to the edge node to the relay node, and the relay node forwards it to the edge node.

In some embodiments, the cloud management platform further includes: a receiving module, configured to receive second interaction information sent by the relay node, where the second interaction information is sent by the second edge node to the relay node.

By adopting the above technical solution, for edge nodes that fail to establish a connection with the cloud management platform, the interactive information that needs to be sent to the cloud management platform can be sent to the relay node, which will forward it to the cloud management platform, so that the cloud management platform can interact with each edge node that fails to establish a connection with it.

In some embodiments, the cloud management platform is also connected to an infrastructure that provides cloud computing resources. The cloud management platform also includes: a processing module for invoking the cloud computing resources of the infrastructure to process the second interaction information.

By adopting the above technical solution, the cloud management platform can process the second interaction information by calling the cloud computing resources of the infrastructure connected to it. For example, the second interaction information may be information collected by the edge node, or information executed by the edge node based on the task issued by the cloud management platform, etc. The infrastructure may include one or more cloud data centers.

In some embodiments, the confirmation module is also used to confirm that H edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform based on the communication status of each edge node among the M edge nodes, and select a first edge node from the H edge nodes as a relay node, and the communication status includes whether a connection can be established with the cloud management platform.

By adopting the above technical solution, the cloud management platform can determine the edge nodes currently connected to the cloud management platform by obtaining the communication status of each edge node, and select an edge node as a relay node from these edge nodes connected to the cloud management platform. Since the relay node can interact with the cloud management platform, the edge nodes that fail to establish a connection with the cloud management platform can forward information through the relay node, thereby realizing information interaction with the cloud management platform.

In some embodiments, the cloud management platform also includes a sending module, which is used to send relay identification information to the relay node, and the relay identification information includes a relay node identification, wherein the relay identification information is sent to N edge nodes via the relay node, and the relay identification information is used to indicate that the second edge node among the N edge nodes will send the second interaction information reported to the cloud management platform to the relay node.

By adopting the above technical solution, after selecting a relay node, the cloud management platform can send relay identification information including the relay node identification to the relay node, which will be forwarded by the relay node to each edge node that has failed to establish a connection with the cloud management platform, so that these edge nodes that have failed to establish a connection with the cloud management platform can obtain the relay node information based on the relay identification information, and then send the interactive information reported to the cloud management platform to the relay node, which will be forwarded to the cloud management platform by the relay node, thereby realizing information interaction with the cloud management platform.

In some embodiments, the confirmation module is further used to reselect an edge node from the M edge nodes as an updated relay node based on the communication status of each edge node in the M edge nodes before the relay node is disconnected from the cloud management platform, wherein the updated relay node maintains connection with the cloud management platform within a preset time period, and the updated relay node maintains connection with the cloud management platform within a preset time period. The relay node maintains connection with N edge nodes.

By adopting the above technical solution, due to the movement of the relay node, it may be disconnected from the cloud management platform after a preset time (for example, out of the communication connection range). The cloud management platform can re-select an edge node from the edge nodes connected to it as an updated relay node before the relay node is disconnected from it. The updated relay node can save the connection with the edge node disconnected from the cloud management platform and maintain the connection with the cloud management platform within a preset time period, avoiding the need to frequently select updated relay nodes and forward information through the updated relay nodes. The edge nodes that fail to establish a connection with the cloud management platform can interact with the cloud management platform through the updated relay nodes, so that the cloud management platform can manage each edge node.

In some embodiments, the cloud management platform also includes a sending module, which is used to send the updated relay identification information to the updated relay node, wherein the updated relay identification information is sent to N edge nodes via the updated relay node, and the relay identification information is used to indicate that the second edge node among the N edge nodes will send the third interaction information reported to the cloud management platform to the updated relay node; the receiving module is also used to receive the third interaction information forwarded by the updated relay node.

By adopting the above technical solution, after selecting an updated relay node, the cloud management platform can send relay identification information including the updated relay node identification to the updated relay node, which will be forwarded by the updated relay node to each edge node that has failed to establish a connection with the cloud management platform, so that these edge nodes that have failed to establish a connection with the cloud management platform can obtain the updated relay node information based on the updated relay identification information, and then subsequently send the interactive information reported to the cloud management platform to the updated relay node, which will be forwarded by the updated relay node to the cloud management platform, thereby realizing information interaction with the cloud management platform.

In some embodiments, the confirmation module is also used to confirm that H edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform based on the communication status of each edge node among the M edge nodes, and to confirm the first edge node elected from among the H edge nodes as a relay node, and the communication status includes whether a connection can be established with the cloud management platform.

By adopting the above technical solution, the cloud management platform can determine the edge nodes currently connected to the cloud management platform by obtaining the communication status of each edge node. Relay nodes can be elected from these edge nodes connected to the cloud management platform, so that edge nodes that fail to establish a connection with the cloud management platform can forward information through relay nodes to achieve information interaction with the cloud management platform.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer program instructions. When the computer program instructions are executed by a computing device cluster, the computing device cluster executes the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology as described in the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computing device cluster, comprising at least one computing device, each computing device comprising a processor and a memory; the processor of at least one computing device is used to execute instructions stored in the memory of at least one computing device, so that the computing device cluster executes the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology as described in the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product. When the computer program product is executed by a computing device cluster, the computing device cluster executes the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology as described in the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, a device is provided, wherein the device has the function of implementing the computing device cluster behavior in the method provided in the first aspect. The function can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

It can be understood that the computer-readable storage medium described in the third aspect, the computing device cluster described in the fourth aspect, the computer program product described in the fifth aspect, and the apparatus described in the sixth aspect all correspond to the method of the first aspect. Therefore, the beneficial effects that can be achieved can refer to the beneficial effects in the corresponding methods provided above, and will not be repeated here.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of an edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a flow chart of an edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG3 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of Kubernetes provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG4 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of the KubeEdge system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG5 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a KubeEdge system provided in another embodiment of the present application;

FIG6a is a schematic diagram of the information structure of cloud-edge relay information provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG6 b is a schematic diagram of the information structure of edge-to-edge relay information provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG7 is a schematic diagram of a process for processing uplink information by the cloud management platform in the KubeEdge system shown in FIG5 ;

FIG8 is a schematic diagram of a process for processing downlink information by the cloud management platform in the KubeEdge system shown in FIG5 ;

FIG9 is a schematic diagram of a process of processing information by an edge node in the KubeEdge system described in FIG5 ;

10a and 10b are schematic diagrams of application scenarios of an edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology provided by another embodiment of the present application;

FIG11 is a schematic diagram of a module of a cloud management platform provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG12 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a computing device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG13 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a computing device cluster provided in one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a computing device cluster provided in another embodiment of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It should be noted that in this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "more than one" means two or more than two. "And/or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and/or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The terms "first", "second", "third", "fourth", etc. (if any) in the specification, claims and drawings of this application are used to distinguish similar objects, rather than to describe a specific order or sequence.

In the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a specific way.

To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the application scenarios of the present application are introduced below. The business scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. Ordinary technicians in this field can know that with the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, some of the terms involved in the embodiments of the present application are first explained below:

Edge node: It can refer to a network node with fewer intermediate links from the end-user access, which has better response capabilities and connection speed for the end-user access. It can also refer to a device that collects data and sends data to the network layer.

Cloud management platform: A cloud platform that manages edge nodes, which can provide functions including edge node access, edge node management, and edge node data processing, thereby supporting the application of edge node technology based on cloud computing in various industries.

Kubernetes: It is an open source containerized application management framework for multiple nodes in a cluster. The goal of Kubernetes is to make the deployment of containerized applications simple and efficient. In Kubernetes, you can create multiple containers, run application instances in the containers, and then use the built-in load balancing strategy to achieve the load balancing of this group. Management, discovery, and access to application instances, all of these details do not require operations and maintenance personnel to perform complex manual configuration and processing.

KubeEdge: A cloud-native edge computing management platform based on Kubernetes.

Please refer to Figure 1, which is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of an edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology provided by an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1, a cloud management platform 22 is set in a cloud system 20, and the cloud system 20 also includes an infrastructure 21 for providing cloud computing resources, wherein multiple cloud data centers can be set in the infrastructure 21, and exemplary multiple cloud data centers include cloud data center 216, cloud data center 217, cloud data center 218..., and the cloud management platform 22 is connected to the infrastructure 21 for communication. The edge node set 30 can be set at the customer site. Due to different business needs, the edge node set 30 includes multiple edge nodes, and exemplary multiple edge nodes include edge node 31, edge node 32, edge node 33, edge node 34... The cloud management platform 22 can be used to manage the infrastructure 21 and each edge node in the edge node set 30.

In the edge node communication management scenario shown in Figure 1, if a certain edge node is not expected to establish a connection with the cloud management platform 22 for the purpose of avoiding data leakage, or because the edge node moves, the current location may be beyond the range where a connection can be established with the cloud management platform 22. Since these edge nodes fail to connect to the cloud management platform 22, they are unable to interact with the cloud management platform 22 for information.

To solve the above problems, the present application provides an edge node communication method and a cloud management platform 22 based on cloud computing technology. The method is applied to the cloud management platform 22 in the cloud system 20. By selecting an edge node as a relay node from the edge nodes connected to the cloud management platform 22, the selected relay node can maintain connection with the edge nodes that are not connected to the cloud management platform 22, and forward information through the relay node, so that these edge nodes that are not connected to the cloud management platform 22 can exchange information with the cloud management platform 22 through the relay node, so that the cloud management platform 22 can manage each edge node.

For example, the edge node set 30 includes M edge nodes. At a certain time t1, H edge nodes among the M edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform 22, and N edge nodes among the M edge nodes are disconnected from the cloud management platform 22. The cloud management platform 22 can select an edge node from the H edge nodes as a relay node. M, H and N are positive integers, and N+H=M.

Specifically, please continue to refer to FIG. 2, which is a simplified flow chart of an edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology provided by an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, an edge node set 30 includes M edge nodes, H edge nodes of the M edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform 22, and N edge nodes of the M edge nodes fail to connect to the cloud management platform 22. The method includes but is not limited to the following steps:

In step S201, the cloud management platform 22 confirms that a first edge node among H edge nodes serves as a relay node, wherein the relay node is connected to N edge nodes.

In some embodiments, M edge nodes can be interconnected through a node communication link. For each of the M edge nodes, information can be exchanged with other nodes through the node communication link. For example, two edge nodes that are close to each other can communicate directly, and two edge nodes that are far away can communicate through the transit of one or more other edge nodes.

In some embodiments, the communication status of each edge node includes whether it can establish a connection with the cloud management platform 22, that is, the cloud management platform 22 can determine the edge node connected to it through the communication status of each edge node. If the cloud management platform 22 confirms that H edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform 22 based on the communication status of each edge node in the M edge nodes, and N edge nodes fail to connect to the cloud management platform 22, the cloud management platform 22 can select the first edge node from the H edge nodes as a relay node. The first edge node can be connected to the N edge nodes to realize the communication relay between the N edge nodes and the cloud management platform 22.

In some embodiments, the first edge node may be an edge node among the H edge nodes that can maintain a connection with the cloud management platform 22 within a preset time period, avoiding the need to frequently select updated relay nodes. The preset time period can be set according to actual needs, and this application does not limit this. For example, if there are multiple edge nodes among the H edge nodes that can maintain a connection with the cloud management platform 22 within a preset time period, the cloud management platform 22 can randomly select an edge node from the multiple edge nodes as a relay node.

In some embodiments, after the cloud management platform 22 confirms that the first edge node is a relay node, the cloud management platform 22 may send relay identification information to the relay node (first edge node), and the relay identification information may include a relay node identification, such as a unique identity of the first edge node. The relay identification information may be sent to N edge nodes via the relay node, so that the N edge nodes that have failed to establish a connection with the cloud management platform can obtain the relay node information based on the relay identification information. The relay identification information may also be used to instruct each of the N edge nodes to send the interaction information reported to the cloud management platform 22 to the relay node, which is forwarded to the cloud management platform 22 by the relay node.

In some embodiments, the relay node may not need to be designated by the cloud management platform 22, and may be elected between the edge nodes connected to the cloud management platform 22. For example, if the cloud management platform confirms that H edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform 22 based on the communication status of each edge node among the M edge nodes, the relay node may be elected between the H edge nodes. Assuming that the first edge node is elected as the relay node among the H edge nodes, the cloud management platform 22 may confirm that the first edge node is the relay node, and then the relay identification information may be sent to the first edge node later.

In step S202, the cloud management platform sends first interaction information to be sent to a second edge node among the N edge nodes to the relay node, and the first interaction information is forwarded to the second edge node via the relay node.

In some embodiments, since the N edge nodes fail to connect to the cloud management platform 22, the N edge nodes cannot directly interact with the cloud management platform 22. If the cloud management platform needs to send the first interaction information to the second edge node among the N edge nodes, the cloud management platform 22 may send the first interaction information to the relay node (the first edge node), and the relay node forwards the first interaction information to the second edge node, so that the cloud management platform 22 can successfully send the information to the second edge node that fails to connect to it.

In some embodiments, if the second edge node needs to send the second interaction information to the cloud management platform 22, the second edge node may send the second interaction information to the relay node, and the relay node sends the second interaction information to the cloud management platform 22, so that the cloud management platform 22 can successfully receive the second interaction information reported by the second edge node that cannot be connected to it by receiving the second interaction information forwarded by the relay node.

In some embodiments, after receiving the second interaction information, the cloud management platform 22 may also call the cloud computing resources of the infrastructure 21 to process the second interaction information to obtain an information processing result. For example, the second interaction information may be information collected by the second edge node, or information executed by the second edge node based on a task issued by the cloud management platform 22.

In some embodiments, as the relay node moves, the relay node may be disconnected from the cloud management platform 22 at a certain time (for example, out of the range of establishing a connection with the cloud management platform 22). For example, at time t2 after time t1, the relay node (first edge node) is disconnected from the cloud management platform 22. For example, the cloud management platform 22 may predict that the relay node will be disconnected from the cloud management platform 22 at time t2 based on the movement trajectory of the first edge node. The cloud management platform 22 may reselect an edge node from the M edge nodes as an updated relay node before the first edge node is disconnected from it. The updated relay node remains connected to the cloud management platform 22 within a preset time period, and the updated relay node may remain connected to N edge nodes.

For example, the cloud management platform confirms the third edge node among the H edge nodes as the updated relay node. The cloud management platform 22 may send the updated relay identification information to the updated relay node (the third edge node), and the updated relay identification information may be sent to the N edge nodes via the updated relay node. The updated relay identification information may be used to instruct each of the N edge nodes to send the interaction information reported to the cloud management platform 22 to the updated relay node, which is then forwarded to the cloud management platform 22 by the updated relay node.

In some embodiments, the cloud management platform 22 may also send the updated relay identification information to the current relay node (first edge node), and the current relay node forwards the updated relay identification information to the updated relay node (third edge node). The updated relay identification information may be sent to N edge nodes via the updated relay node or the current relay node.

For example, the cloud management platform 22 can designate a relay node to be updated at time t3 (between time t1 and time t2). The third edge node can be an edge node among H edge nodes that can maintain a connection with the cloud management platform 22 within a preset time period, avoiding the need to frequently select updated relay nodes.

In a specific application scenario of the embodiment of the present application, the cloud management platform 22 can provide a tenant-oriented Kubernetes service, containers can be run on edge nodes, and containers can interact with the Kubernetes service. A tenant can refer to a user of the cloud management platform 22.

In other application scenarios of the embodiments of the present application, the cloud management platform 22 can also provide tenant-oriented virtual machine services, virtual machines can run on edge nodes, and the virtual machines can interact with the virtual machine services.

For ease of explanation, the embodiment of the present application will specifically introduce the scenario in which the cloud management platform 22 provides tenant-oriented Kubernetes services. It is worth noting that the scenario of Kubernetes services does not limit the present application. Based on the technical solution disclosed in the present application, those skilled in the art can reasonably apply it in the scenario of virtual machine services, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this. As shown in Figure 3, the relevant components of Kubernetes are schematically shown. Kubernetes may include management nodes and working nodes. The management node is mainly used to manage working nodes, and the working node is mainly used to run containerized application instances. Developers can manage Kubernetes through an application programming interface client (such as kubectl). The management node may include a Kubernetes application programming interface server (which may be called kube-apiserver), a scheduler (which may be called kube-scheduler), a controller manager (which may be called kube-controller manager) and a database (which may be called etcd); the working node may include a node agent (which may be called agent).

Among them, kube-apiserver is the unified external interface of the cluster control plane. Pod is the smallest scheduling unit that can be created and managed in Kubernetes. Pod consists of one or more containers. kube-scheduler is mainly used for scheduling Pods and is responsible for allocating Pods to working nodes. kube-controller manager includes a variety of controllers that come with Kubernetes, which are used to manage Kubernetes resources. etcd can be understood as storage, which is used to save some relevant data in the cluster. Agent is an agent deployed on the working node, which is used to register working nodes with kube-apiserver, manage Pods, and report resource information of working nodes.

As shown in FIG. 4 , a KubeEdge system provided by an embodiment of the present application may include two parts: a cloud management side and an edge node side.

The cloud management side may include a cloud management platform 22, and the cloud management platform 22 may include a cloud processing component (also referred to as CloudCore). CloudCore can be used to process commands related to edge nodes, applications and other resources in Kubernetes, and send them to the edge node side. It can also receive related information about edge nodes, applications and other resources reported by the edge processing component and synchronize them to Kubernetes. CloudCore may include an edge node controller (also referred to as EdgeController) module and a cloud communication interface (also referred to as CloudHub) module. Among them, the EdgeController module is used to implement edge node management and application status metadata cloud-edge collaboration; the CloudHub module is used to implement the encapsulation of interactive information between the cloud management side and the edge node side. The EdgeController module can interact with the Kubernetes application programming interface server.

The edge node side may include multiple edge nodes, each edge node may include an edge processing component (also called EdgeCore), EdgeCore may be used to receive and implement commands for information about edge nodes, applications and other resources issued by CloudCore, and may also collect information about edge nodes, applications and other resources and report it to CloudCore. As shown in Figure 4, EdgeCore may include an edge communication interface (also called EdgeHub) module. The EdgeHub module may be used to implement communication between the edge node side and the cloud management side.

It is understandable that EdgeCore can also include information management (also known as MetaManager) modules, edge node agent (also known as Edged) modules, etc. The MetaManager module can be used to implement local persistence of node-level metadata; the Edged module can be used to implement lightweight Pod lifecycle management. Each edge node also has edge node resources, which can refer to resources that can run edge computing tasks, such as central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), memory, hard disk (including mechanical hard disk or solid state disk, etc.) and network interface.

For the KubeEdge system shown in Figure 4, each edge node can establish a cloud-edge communication channel with the CloudHub module on the cloud management side through the EdgeHub module. If an edge node does not establish a cloud-edge communication channel with the cloud management side (for example, the edge node does not establish a cloud-edge communication channel with the cloud management side to avoid data leakage, or the current location of the edge node is beyond the range of communication with the cloud management side), the edge node will not be able to report information to the cloud management side, nor will it be able to receive information sent by the cloud management side.

In view of this, as shown in FIG5 , by improving the KubeEdge system shown in FIG4 , the KubeEdge system can be provided with a node relay communication mechanism.

On the cloud management side, the CloudHub module may include a cloud relay (also called CloudRelay) module and a first communication mechanism (CloudHandlechanges) module. The CloudRelay module is a module in CloudCore used to process relay information, and is used to process cloud-edge relay communication information, such as the encapsulation of cloud-to-edge information and the decapsulation of edge-to-cloud information. The CloudHandlechanges module can define a cloud-edge communication mechanism with relay communication functions, which may include relay information interception, health check and other operations. It is understandable that the CloudRelay module can also be deployed outside the CloudHub module, and this application does not limit this.

On the edge node side, the EdgeHub module may include an edge relay (also known as EdgeRelay) module and a second communication mechanism (EdgeHandlechanges) module. The EdgeRelay module is a module in EdgeCore used to process relay information, for example, it is used to process relay information from the cloud management side, other edge nodes, and other modules in its own node. In terms of cloud-edge (between the cloud management side and the edge node side) information processing, the EdgeRelay module may have functions such as cloud-side information parsing, cloud-side information encapsulation, cloud-edge forwarding of relay information, and relay node configuration information processing. In terms of edge-to-edge (between edge nodes and edge nodes) information processing, the EdgeRelay module may have functions such as edge-to-edge information parsing, edge-to-edge information encapsulation, and edge-to-edge forwarding of relay information. The EdgeRelay module can also store information that needs to be persisted (such as relay node identification, cluster node address, etc.) in a database. For example, the database can be set on the edge node, and the database is SQLite. The EdgeHandlechanges module can define a cloud-edge communication mechanism and an edge-edge communication mechanism with relay communication functions, for example, it can include some relay information interception operations. It can be understood that the EdgeRelay module can also be deployed outside the EdgeHub module, and this application does not limit this.

In some embodiments, in order to implement the node relay communication function, the custom resource definitions (CRD) in etcd defines dynamic relay information as cloud native resources, which may include relay mode switch information, relay node identifiers, cluster node addresses, and reserved extension information for subnet-related configurations. Kubernetes may also include a relay selection (also called RelaySelector) module, which may configure CRD by calling kube-apiserver.

In some embodiments, a relay control information format (also referred to as Relayrc) may be defined in CRD, and Relayrc may include three fields: Open, RelayID, and Data. The Open field represents whether the current relay mode is turned on, the RelayID field represents the unique identifier of the current relay node, and the Data field represents the unique identifier and address information of all nodes in the cluster stored in the current relay information storage version. By monitoring the change events (addition events, deletion events, and update events) of Relayrc, the relay information storage version in CRD can be updated. Addition events generally involve the opening of the relay mode. The cloud management platform 22 and the edge node can switch from the normal mode to the relay mode based on the addition event. The deletion event generally involves the closing of the relay mode. The cloud management platform 22 and the edge node can switch from the relay mode to the normal mode based on the deletion event. The update event generally involves the opening/closing of the relay mode, or the switching of the relay node, or the update of the Data field information, etc. The cloud management platform 22 and the edge node can execute the corresponding instructions based on the change type involved in the update event.

In some embodiments, the cloud management platform 22 may select a relay node based on the communication status of each edge node, where the communication status includes whether a connection can be established with the cloud management platform 22 .

In some embodiments, the cloud management platform 22 may also first determine the edge nodes that can be connected to the cloud management platform 22 based on the communication status of each edge node, and then select an edge node as a relay node from these edge nodes that can be connected to the cloud management platform 22 based on the node resources of the edge node (CPU available resources, memory available resources, bandwidth available resources, etc.), and other edge nodes that cannot establish a connection with the cloud management platform 22 access the cloud management platform 22 through the relay node, and other edge nodes that can be connected to the cloud management platform 22 except the relay node do not need to access the cloud management platform 22 through the relay node.

In some embodiments, after the cloud management platform 22 confirms that a certain edge node is a relay node, all edge nodes except the relay node may also be non-relay nodes, and the interaction information between the non-relay nodes and the cloud management platform 22 is forwarded through the relay nodes.

It can be understood that the modules involved in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 may refer to a series of computer program instruction segments that can perform specific functions, or may be functional modules formed by the cooperation of computer program instruction segments and hardware. The division is a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation, which is not limited in this application.

In some embodiments, the KubeEdge system can have a node relay communication mechanism by redefining the cloud-edge and edge-edge information formats.

Beehive is a communication framework in KubeEdge, which can be used for communication between KubeEdge modules. For the cloud-edge relay information format, the information structure of the original cloud-edge information can include three fields: information header (Header), information routing (Router) field, and information content (Content). As shown in Figure 6a, the original cloud-edge information can be encapsulated according to the information mechanism of Beehive to obtain the cloud-edge relay information format. For example, the original cloud-edge information (including Header+Router+Content) is serialized and encapsulated into the Content in the new cloud-edge information, and the fields in the Router in the new cloud-edge information used to characterize the information source or information destination of the original cloud-edge information are modified to define the new cloud-edge information as relay type information. For example, for the relay type information sent to the cloud management side, the Operation field in the Router can be modified, that is, the cloud management platform 22 can determine whether it is regular cloud edge information or relay type information through the Operation field; for the relay type information sent to the edge node side, the Group field in the Router can be modified, that is, the edge node can determine whether it is regular cloud edge information or relay type information through the Group field.

As for the edge-to-edge relay information format, since the information exchange between the non-relay node and the cloud management platform 22 needs to be forwarded through the relay node, when the non-relay node reports information to the cloud management platform 22, the node identifier (also called NodeID) and business identifier (ProjectID) of the node can be encapsulated into the information and forwarded to the cloud management platform 22 through the relay node. The relay node can be designated by the cloud management platform 22 or generated through election. The relay node can forward the information of the non-relay node to the cloud management platform 22, or forward the information of the cloud management platform 22 to the non-relay node. The edge relay information format can adopt a format that can store fields such as NodeID and ProjectID of non-relay nodes. As shown in Figure 6b, the edge relay information format can be obtained by reusing the original KubeEdge information structure mux.MessageContainer. The original edge information structure can include three field parts: information header (Header), information (Message), and parameters (Parameters). By encapsulating the original edge information (Header+Message+Parameters) into the Message in the new edge information, and encapsulating NodeID and ProjectID into the Header in the new edge information, the new edge information is defined as relay type information.

In some embodiments, in the normal mode, the cloud management platform 22 and the edge node communicate based on the existing communication method, for example, the edge node establishes a communication connection with the cloud management platform 22, and the edge node directly exchanges information with the cloud management platform 22. In the relay mode, the cloud management platform 22 and the edge node exchange information by encapsulating the original information into relay type information.

As shown in FIG. 7 , it is a schematic diagram of an exemplary process of introducing the cloud management platform 22 processing uplink information.

In this embodiment, CloudCore includes a CloudRelay module for processing relay information, and relay node related information is persistently stored in etcd through CRD.

S70, receiving first information.

In some embodiments, CloudCore may receive the first information through a CloudHub module, and a source of the first information may be an edge node side.

S71, detecting whether the relay mode is turned on.

In some embodiments, whether the relay mode is turned on may refer to whether the CloudCore turns on the relay mode.

S72: If the relay mode is not enabled, the first information is processed using the original process.

In some embodiments, if it is determined that the relay mode is not turned on, it can be considered that the first information received by the CloudHub module is non-relay type information, and CloudCore can use the original process to process the first information. The original process processing may refer to CloudCore processing non-relay type information based on the existing information processing method, which is not described in detail in this application.

S73: If the relay mode is on, determine whether the first information is relay type information based on the Operation field in the first information.

S74: If it is determined that the first information is not relay type information, the original process is used to process the first information.

S75: If it is determined that the first information is relay type information, the first information is parsed, and the parsed first information is processed using the original process.

In some embodiments, if it is determined that the first information is relay type information, the first information can be parsed by the CloudRelay module to obtain the parsed first information, for example, by deserializing the Content in the first information to obtain the parsed first information. Since the structure of the parsed first information is the same as the original cloud edge information structure, CloudCore can process the parsed first information based on the existing information processing method.

As shown in FIG8 , it is a schematic diagram of an exemplary process of introducing the cloud management platform 22 processing downlink information.

S80, verifying the second information to be sent.

In some embodiments, CloudCore can send the second information to the edge side through the CloudHub module. Before sending the second information, the second information can be verified to determine whether the second information is repeated. If it is repeated, the sending of the second information can be abandoned, otherwise step S81 can be executed.

S81, detecting whether the relay mode is turned on.

In some embodiments, whether the relay mode is turned on may refer to whether the CloudCore turns on the relay mode.

S82: If the relay mode is not enabled, the second information is sent using the original process.

In some embodiments, if it is determined that the relay mode is not turned on, it can be considered that the second information sent by the CloudHub module is non-relay type information, and CloudCore can use the original process to send the second information. The original process processing may refer to CloudCore sending non-relay type information based on the existing information sending method, which is not described in detail in this application.

S83: If the relay mode is on, detect whether there is a relay node.

In some embodiments, the non-relay node needs to receive the information sent from the cloud through the relay node. If the relay mode is turned on, it can further detect whether there is a relay node. If there is a relay node, it can be considered that the second information sent is relay type information. If there is no relay node, it can be considered that the second information sent is non-relay type information.

S84: If there is no relay node, the second information is sent using the original process.

In some embodiments, if there is no relay node, it can be considered that the second information sent is non-relay type information, and CloudCore can use the original process to send the second information.

S85: If there is a relay node, encapsulate the second information and send the encapsulated second information using the original process.

In some embodiments, if there is a relay node, the second information sent can be considered to be relay type information, and the second information can be encapsulated through the CloudRelay module to obtain the encapsulated second information. For example, the second information can be encapsulated based on the method shown in Figure 6a. Since the structure of the encapsulated second information is the same as the original cloud edge information structure, CloudCore can send the encapsulated second information based on the existing information sending method.

FIG9 is a flow chart showing an exemplary process of processing information at an edge node.

In this embodiment, EdgeCore includes an EdgeRelay module for processing relay information. The EdgeRelay module processes relay information from the cloud, other edge nodes, and other modules in its own node. At the same time, information that needs to be persisted (such as some information related to the relay mode defined by CRD) can be stored in SQLite. The EdgeHub module can communicate with the EdgeRelay module, other modules in the node, and the CloudHub module. The EdgeRelay module can forward information sent from the cloud to non-relay nodes, parse information from the EdgeRelay modules of other nodes and send it to the EdgeHub module, and encapsulate information from the EdgeHub module and forward it to the EdgeRelay modules of other nodes.

In some embodiments, the information received by the EdgeHub module may come from three sources: from the cloud management side, from the EdgeRelay module of the node, or from other processing modules of the node. The information transmitted from the cloud management side can be forwarded after verifying whether it is relay type information. For the information transmitted from the EdgeRelay module of this node, if the node is verified to be a relay node, the information needs to be packaged and sent to the cloud; if the node is verified to be a non-relay node, the information is confirmed to be transmitted from other relay nodes, and the information is forwarded to other processing modules of this node after processing. For the information transmitted from other modules of this node, you can first verify whether the relay mode of this node is turned on. If the relay mode is not turned on, the information can be forwarded to the cloud management platform 22 according to the normal process, otherwise you can continue to verify whether this node is a relay node. If this node is a relay node, confirm that the information is normal information transmitted from other modules of this node and send it to the cloud management platform 22; otherwise, the information is forwarded to the EdgeRelay module of this node for further processing.

In some embodiments, the edge node processes the information received by the EdgeHub module, including the following steps:

S9_0, the EdgeHub module receives the third information.

S9_1, determine whether the third information is sent by the CloudHub module.

S9_2: If it is determined that the third information is sent by the CloudHub module, check whether the relay mode is turned on.

S9_3, if the relay mode is turned on, determine whether the third information is relay notification information.

S9_4: If the third information is relay notification information, send the third information to the EdgeRelay module to broadcast the third information to non-relay nodes.

In some embodiments, the relay notification information may include the next relay node identifier. For example, if the relay node is in motion, in order for the non-relay node to maintain communication with the cloud management platform 22, the non-relay node may need to forward information through different relay nodes due to the update of the relay node. If the third information is determined to be relay notification information, the third information is broadcast to the non-relay node through the EdgeRelay module so that the non-relay node can learn the next relay node identifier.

S9_5, if the third information is not relay notification information, determine that the node is a relay node and the third information is relay type information, and send the third information to the EdgeRelay module for encapsulation to forward it to the non-relay node.

S9_6: If the relay mode is not enabled, determine whether the third information is relay notification information.

S9_7: If the third information is relay notification information, send the third information to the EdgeRelay module to broadcast the third information to non-relay nodes.

S9_8, if the third information is not relay notification information, the third information is processed using the original process.

In some embodiments, if the relay mode is not turned on and it is confirmed that the third information is not relay notification information, the third information can be considered as non-relay type information. EdgeCore can process the third information based on the existing information processing method, which is not elaborated in this application.

S9_9: If the third information is not sent by the CloudHub module, determine whether the third information is sent by the EdgeRelay module.

S9_10, if the third information is not sent by the EdgeRelay module, check whether the relay mode is turned on.

S9_11, if the relay mode is not enabled, send the third information to the CloudHub module.

S9_12: If the relay mode is on, determine whether this node is a relay node.

S9_13, if the node is a relay node, the third information is sent to the CloudHub module.

In some embodiments, if the node is a relay node, it indicates that the node has the ability to communicate with the cloud management platform 22 and can directly send the third information to the CloudHub module.

S9_14: If the node is not a relay node, determine that the third information is relay type information, and send the third information to the EdgeRelay module to forward it to the relay node.

In some embodiments, if this node is not a relay node, that is, this node is a non-relay node, since the non-relay node cannot communicate directly with the cloud management platform, the non-relay node needs to forward information through the relay node, that is, the EdgeHub module of this node needs to send the third information to the EdgeRelay module of this node to forward it to the EdgeRelay module of the relay node.

S9_15: If the third information is transmitted by the EdgeRelay module, determine whether the node is a relay node.

S9_16, if the node is a relay node, the third information is sent to the CloudHub module.

In some embodiments, if the third information is transmitted by the EdgeRelay module and the node is a relay node, It can be considered that the third information is the encapsulated relay type information transmitted by the EdgeRelay module, and the EdgeHub module can send the third information to the CloudHub module.

S9_17, if the node is not a relay node, send the third information to other modules of the node.

In some embodiments, if the third information is transmitted by the EdgeRelay module and the current node is not a relay node, the third information can be considered to be information from the relay node, and the third information processed by the EdgeRelay module can be forwarded to other processing modules of the current node.

10a and 10b , a schematic diagram of an application scenario of an edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology provided in an embodiment of the present application is exemplarily introduced below.

This embodiment is described by taking the information center as the cloud system 20 and each satellite (orbital satellite that is not synchronized with the rotation of the earth) as an edge node as an example. The information center may include one or more ground stations arranged at a fixed position and a satellite data processing center that communicates with the ground station. The ground station may also be called an earth station or an earth terminal station. The ground station can transmit signals to the satellite, and receive signals transmitted by the satellite or forwarded by other ground stations. The ground station may be located on the surface of the earth or in the atmosphere of the earth. The ground station and the satellite can communicate through radio waves in ultra-high frequency or extremely high frequency bands (such as millimeter waves). After the satellite is launched into a predetermined orbit, the satellite covers the ground with a conical signal. The higher the altitude of the satellite in orbit, the larger the signal coverage area, but the information transmission delay between the satellite and the ground will also be higher.

For example, an information center includes a ground station set on the surface of the earth. For the information center, a satellite may only have a window period in which it can communicate with the information center during an orbital period. In order to avoid the problem of insufficient signal coverage of a single satellite, multiple satellites can be deployed to form a satellite constellation to achieve full coverage of ground signals. Assuming that the information center is used to communicate with each satellite in the satellite constellation, at a certain moment, the information center may only be able to establish a communication connection with some satellites. In this satellite communication scenario, the information center can use the KubeEdge system shown in Figure 5 to manage the satellite communication cluster, and use dynamic relay to enable each satellite to interact with the information center at any time.

The information center may be deployed with a cloud management platform 22, through which each satellite is managed and the computing resources of the satellite data processing center are called to process the information reported by the satellite. The information center may form a satellite communication cluster with each satellite (each edge node), and the deployment of the satellite communication cluster may be completed on the ground. After each satellite is launched into the corresponding satellite orbit, the satellite communication cluster operates in the default communication mode. Each edge node may attempt to establish a communication connection with the cloud management platform 22.

For the cloud management platform 22, due to the limited signal coverage of the satellite, the cloud management platform 22 can only establish communication connections with some edge nodes at a certain time. Each edge node (each satellite) can communicate with each other through an intersatellite link (referring to a link used for communication between satellites, also known as an intersatellite link or a cross link). That is, for a satellite that currently has no communication connection with the cloud management platform 22, the information it interacts with the cloud management platform 22 can be forwarded to the cloud management platform 22 by other satellites (as relay nodes) that can establish communication connections with the cloud management platform 22.

In some embodiments, the cloud management platform 22 can determine that a certain edge node is a relay node according to a preset relay selection algorithm. After determining the relay node, the relevant information of the relay node can be stored in the CRD. It can be understood that the selected relay node is an edge node that can communicate directly with the cloud management platform 22, and each subsequent switched relay node must also ensure that it is an edge node that can communicate directly with the cloud management platform 22. For example, for each satellite, the cloud management platform 22 can know the trajectory of each satellite, that is, it can determine the position of each satellite at any time. The preset relay selection algorithm can be to select a satellite as a relay node based on the position of each satellite. For example, a satellite that enters the communication range of the information center is set as a relay node. Before the satellite is about to leave the communication range of the information center, the next satellite that enters the communication range of the information center is selected as a relay node.

When a change in CRD information is detected, the information of the relay node (such as the unique identifier and address of the relay node) can be queried from the CRD, and the cloud management platform 22 can send the relay identification information to the relay node. The relay identification information may include relay mode switch information, relay node identification, cluster node address, etc. After the cloud management platform 22 sends the relay identification information to the relay node, it can wait for feedback information from the relay node. When the feedback information of the relay node is received, it indicates that the relay node has successfully received the relay identification information, and the cloud management platform 22 can switch to relay. model.

After receiving the relay identification information, the relay node can switch to the relay mode. The relay node can also broadcast the relay identification information to the non-relay nodes. For example, the relay mode switch information, relay node identification, and cluster node address are broadcast to the non-relay nodes.

In some embodiments, the non-relay node may be an edge node that is currently unable to establish a communication connection with the cloud management platform 22. After receiving the relay identification information broadcast by the relay node, the non-relay node may switch to the relay mode. After switching to the relay mode, the non-relay node may first report the node status information (such as node survival status, node resource information, etc.) to the cloud management platform 22 once through the relay node. Thereafter, the interaction information between the non-relay node and the cloud management platform 22 may be forwarded through the relay node. For example, the cloud management platform 22 may send resource management information, application lifecycle management information, task information, etc. to each non-relay node through the relay node. Each non-relay node may also report task execution information, etc. to the cloud management platform 22 through the relay node. The information reported by the non-relay nodes to the cloud management platform 22 can be encapsulated by the relay nodes (encapsulated based on the cloud-edge information format) and then forwarded to the cloud management platform 22. The information sent by the cloud management platform 22 to the non-relay nodes can also be encapsulated by the relay nodes (encapsulated based on the edge information format) and then forwarded to the non-relay nodes.

As shown in Figure 10a, assuming that the edge node that can currently communicate with the cloud management platform 22 is edge node node1, by setting edge node node1 as a relay node, other edge nodes node2, edge node node3 and edge node node4 can interact with the cloud management platform 22 through edge node node1.

In some embodiments, if there is an operation of adding or deleting an edge node, the node addition or deletion information can be stored in the CRD. When the CRD information is monitored to change, the cloud management platform 22 can send a new cluster node address to the relay node, which is broadcasted to each non-relay node by the relay node.

In some embodiments, since the satellite can only communicate with the cloud management platform 22 for a unit window time in one cycle of rotation around the earth, in order to avoid the relay node being unable to communicate with the cloud management platform 22, it is necessary to switch the relay node. Before the current relay node is about to leave the communication range of the information center, the cloud management platform 22 sends the relay identification information of the updated relay node (hereinafter referred to as the new relay identification information) to the current relay node. After the current relay node receives the new relay identification information, the new relay identification information can be forwarded to the updated relay node. After receiving the new relay identification information, the updated relay node can send a feedback information to the cloud management platform 22 through the current relay node, and the cloud management platform 22 and the current relay node can update the relay information based on the new relay identification information. The current relay node can also broadcast the new relay identification information to other non-relay nodes, notify other non-relay nodes to update the relay information, or the updated relay node broadcasts the new relay identification information to other non-relay nodes. Thereafter, the interaction information between the non-relay node and the cloud management platform 22 can be forwarded through the updated relay node.

As shown in Figure 10b, assuming that the current relay node is edge node node1, and the updated relay node is edge node node2, edge node node3 and edge node node4 can interact with the cloud management platform 22 through edge node node2. For edge node node1, after leaving the communication range of the information center, it also needs to interact with the cloud management platform 22 through edge node node2.

In some embodiments, during the actual operation of the satellite communication cluster, there may be situations such as failure to send relay identification information, failure to forward new relay identification information by the relay node, or unreachable interactive information (for example, failure to be successfully transmitted to the cloud management platform 22). For situations where the relay identification information fails to be sent or the relay node fails to forward the relay identification information, the edge node can autonomously elect a relay node through a preset distributed election algorithm, or a failure retry mechanism can be added to the sending/forwarding process; for situations where interactive information is unreachable, such as when the information of the cloud management platform 22 cannot be received for a long time, the relay mode is automatically switched to the normal mode.

In some embodiments, the satellite communication cluster may also only deploy the preset distributed election algorithm to realize the generation and switching of relay nodes, that is, the cloud management platform 22 does not designate the relay nodes. The generation and switching of relay nodes based on the preset distributed election algorithm has three characteristics: distributed, endogenous, and dynamic. The distributed characteristic is that the generation and switching process of relay nodes is distributed, and is realized based on distributed elections and distributed information interaction between edge nodes. The endogenous characteristic is that the generation and switching process of relay nodes is spontaneously initiated and completed by the edge node, and there is no need to rely on the external cloud management platform 22 to issue relay node switching commands and selection commands. The dynamic characteristic is whether The need to generate a relay node or switch a relay node is dynamically determined by each edge node based on the communication status with the cloud management platform 22 .

In some embodiments, the preset distributed election algorithm may include electing a relay node based on the communication capabilities of each edge node and the cloud management platform 22, node resources (such as CPU available resources, memory available resources, bandwidth available resources, etc.), and after the relay node is generated, the relay identification information may also be broadcast so that other edge nodes can know the identification of the currently elected relay node, so as to access the cloud management platform 22 through the relay node. The way to trigger the election of the relay node may be that the currently designated (specified by the cloud management platform 22) or elected relay node fails, or the currently designated or elected relay node cannot establish a communication connection with the cloud management platform 22 within a preset time, or a certain edge node does not receive the relay identification information and cannot establish a communication connection with the cloud management platform 22 within a preset time, etc.

In some embodiments, the KubeEdge system with a node relay communication mechanism can also be used to manage smart car clusters, robot clusters, drone clusters, etc., to solve the situation where the moving smart cars, robots, drones, etc. cannot all communicate with the cloud management platform 22. For smart car clusters, robot clusters, and drone clusters, the cloud management platform 22 can be deployed on a server at a specified location, such as a server set up in a computing center, and the edge nodes can be each smart car, each robot, and each drone.

As shown in FIG11 , a cloud management platform 22 is provided for an embodiment of the present application. The cloud management platform 22 may include a confirmation module 221, a sending module 222, a receiving module 223, a processing module 224, and a sending module 225. The cloud management platform 22 is used to manage M edge nodes, H edge nodes among the M edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform 22, and N edge nodes among the M edge nodes fail to connect to the cloud management platform 22.

The confirmation module 221 is used to confirm that the first edge node among the H edge nodes is used as a relay node, wherein the relay node is connected to the N edge nodes.

The sending module 222 is configured to send the first interaction information to be sent to the second edge node among the N edge nodes to the relay node. The first interaction information is forwarded to the second edge node via the relay node.

The receiving module 223 is configured to receive second interaction information sent by the relay node. The second interaction information is sent by the second edge node to the relay node.

The processing module 224 is used to call the cloud computing resources of the infrastructure 21 to process the second interaction information.

The sending module 225 is used to send the relay identification information to the relay node. The relay identification information includes the relay node identification, and the relay identification information is sent to the N edge nodes via the relay node. The relay identification information is used to indicate that the second edge node among the N edge nodes sends the second interaction information reported to the cloud management platform 22 to the relay node.

In some embodiments, the confirmation module 221 is also used to confirm that H edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform 22 based on the communication status of each edge node among the M edge nodes, and select the first edge node from the H edge nodes as a relay node, and the communication status includes whether a connection can be established with the cloud management platform 22.

In some embodiments, the confirmation module 221 is further configured to reselect an edge node from the M edge nodes as an updated relay node based on the communication status of each edge node in the M edge nodes before the relay node is disconnected from the cloud management platform 22. The updated relay node maintains connection with the cloud management platform 22 within a preset time period, and the updated relay node can maintain connection with N edge nodes.

In some embodiments, the confirmation module 221 is further used to confirm that the H edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform 22 based on the communication status of each edge node among the M edge nodes, and to confirm that the first edge node elected from among the H edge nodes is used as a relay node.

In some embodiments, the sending module 225 is further used to send the updated relay identification information to the updated relay node. The updated relay identification information is sent to the N edge nodes via the updated relay node, and the relay identification information is used to indicate that the second edge node among the N edge nodes sends the third interaction information reported to the cloud management platform to the updated relay node. The receiving module 223 is also used to receive the third interaction information forwarded by the updated relay node.

Among them, the confirmation module 221, the sending module 222, the receiving module 223, the processing module 224 and the sending module 225 can all be implemented by software, or can be implemented by hardware. Exemplarily, the following takes the confirmation module 221 as an example to introduce the implementation method of the confirmation module 221. Similarly, the sending module 222, the receiving module 223, the processing module 224 and the sending module 225 The implementation of the sending module 225 may refer to the implementation of the confirming module 221 .

As an example of a software functional unit, the confirmation module 221 may include code running on a computing instance. Among them, the computing instance may include at least one of a physical host (computing device), a virtual machine, and a container. Further, the above-mentioned computing instance may be one or more. For example, the confirmation module 221 may include code running on multiple hosts/virtual machines/containers. It should be noted that the multiple hosts/virtual machines/containers used to run the code may be distributed in the same region (region) or in different regions. Furthermore, the multiple hosts/virtual machines/containers used to run the code may be distributed in the same availability zone (AZ) or in different AZs, each AZ including one data center or multiple data centers with close geographical locations. Among them, usually a region may include multiple AZs.

Similarly, multiple hosts/virtual machines/containers used to run the code can be distributed in the same virtual private cloud (VPC) or in multiple VPCs. Usually, a VPC is set up in a region. For cross-region communication between two VPCs in the same region and between VPCs in different regions, a communication gateway needs to be set up in each VPC to achieve interconnection between VPCs through the communication gateway.

As an example of a hardware functional unit, the confirmation module 221 may include at least one computing device, such as a server, etc. Alternatively, the confirmation module 221 may also be a device implemented by an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a programmable logic device (PLD). The PLD may be a complex programmable logical device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a generic array logic (GAL) or any combination thereof.

The multiple computing devices included in the confirmation module 221 can be distributed in the same region or in different regions. The multiple computing devices included in the confirmation module 221 can be distributed in the same AZ or in different AZs. Similarly, the multiple computing devices included in the confirmation module 221 can be distributed in the same VPC or in multiple VPCs. The multiple computing devices can be any combination of computing devices such as servers, ASICs, PLDs, CPLDs, FPGAs, and GALs.

It should be noted that, in other embodiments, the confirmation module 221 can be used to execute any step in the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology, the sending module 222 can be used to execute any step in the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology, the receiving module 223 can be used to execute any step in the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology, the processing module 224 can be used to execute any step in the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology, and the sending module 225 can be used to execute any step in the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology. The steps that the confirmation module 221, the sending module 222, the receiving module 223, the processing module 224 and the sending module 225 are responsible for implementing can be specified as needed. The confirmation module 221, the sending module 222, the receiving module 223, the processing module 224 and the sending module 225 respectively implement different steps in the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology to realize all the functions of the cloud management platform 22.

As shown in FIG12 , a computing device 100 is provided in an embodiment of the present application, and the computing device 100 includes: a bus 102, a processor 104, a memory 106, and a communication interface 108. The processor 104, the memory 106, and the communication interface 108 communicate with each other through the bus 102. The computing device 100 can be a server or a terminal device. It should be understood that the present application does not limit the number of processors and memories in the computing device 100.

The bus 102 may be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, only one line is used in FIG. 12, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus. The bus 104 may include a path for transmitting information between various components of the computing device 100 (e.g., the memory 106, the processor 104, and the communication interface 108).

The processor 104 may include any one or more processors such as a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a microprocessor (MP) or a digital signal processor (DSP).

The memory 106 may include a volatile memory, such as a random access memory (RAM). The processor 104 may also include a non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory, such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, hard disk drive (HDD), or solid state drive (SSD).

The memory 106 stores executable program codes, and the processor 104 executes the executable program codes to respectively implement the functions of the aforementioned confirmation module 221, the sending module 222, the receiving module 223, the processing module 224, and the sending module 225, thereby realizing the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology. That is, the memory 106 stores instructions for executing the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology. In FIG12, the processor 104 executes the executable program codes to respectively implement the functions of the aforementioned confirmation module 221, the sending module 222, the receiving module 223, the processing module 224, and the sending module 225 as an example.

The communication interface 108 uses a transceiver module such as, but not limited to, a network interface card or a transceiver to implement communication between the computing device 100 and other devices or a communication network.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a computing device cluster 10. The computing device cluster 10 includes at least one computing device. The computing device may be a server for data storage, or a local server in a local data center. In some embodiments, the computing device may also be a terminal device such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, or a smart phone.

As shown in Fig. 13, the computing device cluster 10 includes at least one computing device 100. The memory 514 in one or more computing devices 500 in the computing device cluster may store instructions for executing the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology on the same cloud management platform.

In some possible implementations, one or more computing devices 100 in the computing device cluster may also be used to execute some instructions of the cloud management platform for executing the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology. In other words, a combination of one or more computing devices 100 may jointly execute instructions of the cloud management platform for executing the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology.

It should be noted that the memory 106 in different computing devices 100 in the computing device cluster can store different instructions for executing some functions of the cloud management platform. That is, the instructions stored in the memory 106 in different computing devices 100 can implement the functions of one or more modules in the confirmation module 221, the sending module 222, the receiving module 223, the processing module 224 and the sending module 225.

As shown in FIG14 , one or more computing devices in the computing device cluster 10 can be connected via a network. The network may be a wide area network or a local area network, etc. FIG14 shows a possible implementation. As shown in FIG14 , two computing devices 100A and 100B are connected via a network, taking the functions of one or more modules in the confirmation module 221, the sending module 222, the receiving module 223, the processing module 224, and the sending module 225 as an example. Specifically, the network is connected via a communication interface in each computing device. In this type of possible implementation, the memory 106 in the computing device 100A stores instructions for executing the functions of the confirmation module 221, the sending module 222, and the receiving module 223. At the same time, the memory 106 in the computing device 100B stores instructions for executing the functions of the processing module 224 and the sending module 225.

The connection method between the computing device cluster 10 shown in Figure 14 can be considered to be that the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology provided in this application requires a large amount of data storage and reading, so it is considered to hand over the functions implemented by the processing module 224 and the sending module 225 to the computing device 100B for execution.

It should be understood that the functions of the computing device 100A shown in FIG14 may also be completed by multiple computing devices 100. Similarly, the functions of the computing device 100B may also be completed by multiple computing devices 100.

In some possible implementations, the memory 106 of one or more computing devices 100 in the computing device cluster 10 may also respectively store some instructions for executing the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology. In other words, the combination of one or more computing devices 100 can jointly execute the instructions for executing the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product including instructions. The computer program product may be a software or program product including instructions that can be run on a computing device or stored in any available medium. When the computer program product is run on at least one computing device, the at least one computing device executes an edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be stored by the computing device or a data storage device such as a data center containing one or more available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid-state hard disk). The computer-readable storage medium includes instructions that instruct the computing device to execute an edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology.

Through the description of the above implementation methods, technical personnel in the relevant field can clearly understand that for the convenience and simplicity of description, only the division of the above-mentioned functional modules is used as an example. In actual applications, the above-mentioned functions can be assigned to different functional modules as needed, that is, the internal structure of the device can be divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the functions described above.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are schematic. For example, the division of the modules or units is a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another device, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may be one physical unit or multiple physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed in multiple different places. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the present embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application is essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the software product is stored in a storage medium, including a number of instructions to enable a device (which can be a single-chip microcomputer, chip, etc.) or a processor to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory, a random access memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

The above description is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application should be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims (19)

An edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology, characterized in that the method is applied to a cloud management platform, the cloud management platform is used to manage M edge nodes, wherein H edge nodes among the M edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform, and N edge nodes among the M edge nodes are disconnected from the cloud management platform, M, H and N are positive integers, and the method comprises: The cloud management platform confirms a first edge node among the H edge nodes as a relay node, wherein the relay node is connected to the N edge nodes; The cloud management platform sends first interaction information to be sent to a second edge node among the N edge nodes to the relay node, and the first interaction information is forwarded to the second edge node via the relay node. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the method further comprises: The cloud management platform receives second interaction information sent by the relay node, where the second interaction information is sent by the second edge node to the relay node. The method according to claim 2, wherein the cloud management platform is also connected to an infrastructure that provides cloud computing resources, and the method further comprises: The cloud management platform calls the cloud computing resources of the infrastructure to process the second interaction information. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the cloud management platform confirms the first edge node among the H edge nodes as a relay node, comprising: The cloud management platform confirms that the H edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform based on the communication status of each edge node among the M edge nodes, and selects the first edge node from the H edge nodes as the relay node, wherein the communication status includes whether a connection can be established with the cloud management platform. The method according to claim 4, wherein the cloud management platform receives the second interaction information sent by the relay node, comprising: The cloud management platform sends relay identification information to the relay node, the relay identification information including a relay node identification, wherein the relay identification information is sent to the N edge nodes via the relay node, and the relay identification information is used to indicate that the second edge node among the N edge nodes sends the second interaction information reported to the cloud management platform to the relay node; The cloud management platform receives the second interaction information forwarded by the relay node. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the method further comprises: Before the relay node is disconnected from the cloud management platform, the cloud management platform reselects an edge node from the M edge nodes as an updated relay node based on the communication status of each of the M edge nodes, wherein the updated relay node remains connected to the cloud management platform for a preset time period, and the updated relay node remains connected to the N edge nodes. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that the method further comprises: The cloud management platform sends the updated relay identification information to the updated relay node, wherein the updated relay identification information is sent to the N edge nodes via the updated relay node, and the relay identification information is used to instruct the second edge node among the N edge nodes to send the third interaction information reported to the cloud management platform to the updated relay node; The cloud management platform receives the third interaction information forwarded by the updated relay node. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the cloud management platform confirms the first edge node among the H edge nodes as a relay node, comprising: The cloud management platform confirms that the H edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform based on the communication status of each edge node among the M edge nodes, and confirms that the first edge node elected from among the H edge nodes serves as the relay node, and the communication status includes whether a connection can be established with the cloud management platform. A cloud management platform, characterized in that the cloud management platform is used to manage M edge nodes, wherein H edge nodes of the M edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform, and H edge nodes of the M edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform. N edge nodes are disconnected from the cloud management platform, M, H and N are positive integers, and the cloud management platform includes: a confirmation module, configured to confirm that a first edge node among the H edge nodes is used as a relay node, wherein the relay node is connected to the N edge nodes; The sending module is used to send the first interaction information to be sent to the second edge node among the N edge nodes to the relay node, and the first interaction information is forwarded to the second edge node via the relay node. The cloud management platform according to claim 9, characterized in that the cloud management platform further comprises: The receiving module is used to receive second interaction information sent by the relay node, where the second interaction information is sent by the second edge node to the relay node. The cloud management platform according to claim 10, characterized in that the cloud management platform is also connected to an infrastructure that provides cloud computing resources, and the cloud management platform further comprises: A processing module is used to call the cloud computing resources of the infrastructure to process the second interaction information. The cloud management platform as described in claim 10 or 11 is characterized in that the confirmation module is also used to confirm that the H edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform based on the communication status of each edge node in the M edge nodes, and select the first edge node from the H edge nodes as the relay node, and the communication status includes whether a connection can be established with the cloud management platform. The cloud management platform as described in claim 12 is characterized in that the cloud management platform also includes a sending module, the sending module is used to send relay identification information to the relay node, the relay identification information includes a relay node identification, wherein the relay identification information is sent to the N edge nodes via the relay node, and the relay identification information is used to indicate that the second edge node among the N edge nodes will send the second interaction information reported to the cloud management platform to the relay node. The cloud management platform as described in any one of claims 10 to 12 is characterized in that the confirmation module is also used to reselect an edge node from the M edge nodes as an updated relay node based on the communication status of each edge node in the M edge nodes before the relay node is disconnected from the cloud management platform, wherein the updated relay node remains connected to the cloud management platform within a preset time period, and the updated relay node remains connected to the N edge nodes. The cloud management platform as described in claim 14 is characterized in that the cloud management platform also includes a sending module, which is used to send the updated relay identification information to the updated relay node, wherein the updated relay identification information is sent to the N edge nodes via the updated relay node, and the relay identification information is used to indicate that the second edge node among the N edge nodes will send the third interaction information reported to the cloud management platform to the updated relay node; the receiving module is also used to receive the third interaction information forwarded by the updated relay node. The cloud management platform as described in any one of claims 9 to 11 is characterized in that the confirmation module is also used to confirm that the H edge nodes are connected to the cloud management platform based on the communication status of each edge node among the M edge nodes, and to confirm that the first edge node elected from among the H edge nodes serves as the relay node, and the communication status includes whether a connection can be established with the cloud management platform. A computing device cluster, characterized in that it includes at least one computing device, each computing device includes a processor and a memory; The processor of the at least one computing device is used to execute instructions stored in the memory of the at least one computing device, so that the computing device cluster executes the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology as described in any one of claims 1 to 8. A computer program product comprising instructions, characterized in that when the instructions are executed by a computing device cluster, the computing device cluster executes the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology as described in any one of claims 1 to 8. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that it includes computer program instructions. When the computer program instructions are executed by a computing device cluster, the computing device cluster executes the edge node communication method based on cloud computing technology as described in any one of claims 1 to 8.