Apparatus and method for optimizing communications at an intermittent communication link
First Claim
1. A method of communicating using a wireless communication link, the method comprising:
- at a communications processor, queuing multiple data packets for transmission across the wireless communication link, the wireless communication link being temporarily inoperative, wherein the communications processor is not an application processor of a communication connection to which the multiple data packets belong;
receiving a notification of termination packet of a first communication connection from the application processor coupled to the communications processor before the wireless communication link resumes operating, wherein at least one data packet of the multiple data packets queued is associated with the first communication connection;
based at least in part on the notification of termination packet of the first communication connection received, selecting the at least one data packet for discard; and
after the wireless communication link resumes operating, transmitting by the communications processor, the notification of termination packet of the first communication connection across the wireless communication link, but not transmitting the at least one data packet selected.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus and methods for optimizing communications at a communication processor that exchanges communications across a communication link on behalf of an application processor or other local endstation of the communications, wherein the communication link is intermittently inoperative. The application processor is a source or destination of communication packets that traverse the link, while the communication processor transmits and receives the packets for the application processor. Packets are queued at the communication processor for transmit while the link is temporarily inoperative. A filter operates to select obsolete packets for discard. Obsolete packets may include packets for which a subsequent FIN packet (or other termination notice) is received, and may also include packets that have associated deadlines that expire or that will expire before they can be delivered. Obsolete packets may further include packets that have been retransmitted while the link is inoperative.
10 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of communicating using a wireless communication link, the method comprising:
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at a communications processor, queuing multiple data packets for transmission across the wireless communication link, the wireless communication link being temporarily inoperative, wherein the communications processor is not an application processor of a communication connection to which the multiple data packets belong; receiving a notification of termination packet of a first communication connection from the application processor coupled to the communications processor before the wireless communication link resumes operating, wherein at least one data packet of the multiple data packets queued is associated with the first communication connection; based at least in part on the notification of termination packet of the first communication connection received, selecting the at least one data packet for discard; and after the wireless communication link resumes operating, transmitting by the communications processor, the notification of termination packet of the first communication connection across the wireless communication link, but not transmitting the at least one data packet selected. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 17, 18)
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10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:
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at a communications processor, queuing multiple data packets for transmission across a wireless communication link, the wireless communication link being temporarily inoperative, wherein the communications processor is not an application processor of a communication connection to which the multiple data packets belong; receiving a notification of termination packet of a first communication connection from the application processor before the wireless communication link resumes operating, wherein at least two data packets of the multiple data packets queued are associated with the first communication connection; based at least in part on receiving the notification of termination packet of the first communication connection, setting a FIN flag of an earlier data packet of the at least two data packets of the multiple data packets queued; discarding a remaining data packet of the at least two data packets; and after the wireless communication link resumes operating, transmitting by the communications processor, the earlier data packet with the FIN flag across the wireless communication link.
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11. A method of communicating using a wireless communication link, the method comprising:
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at a communications processor, queuing multiple data packets for transmission across the wireless communication link, the wireless communication link being temporarily inoperative, wherein the communications processor is not a source or a destination of a communication connection to which the multiple data packets belong, and wherein the multiple data packets queued comprise a retransmission of a first data packet; while the wireless communication link is temporarily inoperative, marking the retransmission of the first data packet for discard; based at least in part on the marking, removing the retransmission of the first data packet from the multiple data packets queued, wherein the first data packet is an original data packet; and after the removing and before the wireless communication link resumes operating, receiving a notification of termination packet of the communication connection from an application processor coupled to the communications processor. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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12. An apparatus that communicates using a wireless communication link, the apparatus comprising:
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an application processor terminating one or more communication connections that traverse the wireless communication link; a baseband processor coupled to the application processor, configured to transmit and receive communications across the wireless communication link, wherein the wireless communication link is temporarily inoperative, wherein the baseband processor is not an end station of a communication connection of the one or more communication connections, and is configured to; queue a data packet among multiple data packets queued, the data packet being associated with a communication connection among the one or more communication connections; receive a notification of termination packet of the communication connection from the application processor before the wireless communication link resumes operating; move the notification of termination packet of the communication connection to the queue of the multiple data packets queued, earlier than the data packet of the multiple data packets queued by modifying a Transport Control Protocol (TCP) sequence number of the notification of termination packet of the communication connection; mark the data packet of the multiple data packets queued as an obsolete communication; and based at least on the mark, identify one or more obsolete communications including the obsolete communication; and a filter configured to select for discard the one or more obsolete communications. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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Specification