[R-C] Feedback mechanisms

[Bill Ver Steeg (versteb)]

Michael said----

The tricky bit will be to avoid making it all too complex...

Bill responds ---

Indeed. Perhaps we can come up with a simple (extensible) data structure that contains the relevant information, and a way to have the sender specify when it is gathered/stored and when it is sent. 

Basic senders will simply tell the receiver to gather the data every N seconds and send it every N seconds (plus when there are problems, as defined by the specification). More sophisticated senders could drive more complex relationships, asking the receiver to tabulate/send the data on demand in semi-real time. This would allow a sophisticated sender to send a varying data patterns and get the feedback they require, yet not require too much shared state between the sender and receiver. As long as the receiver is a simple state machine, I think we would be OK.

bvs