Method and system for providing efficient data transmission based upon a contention protocol

• US 20020114313A1
• Filed: 02/22/2001
• Published: 08/22/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hughes Network Systems LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hughes Network Systems LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Walsh, William, Schweinhart, Craig, Saha, Abheek, Abinante, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 7,468,972 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/348
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18584 Arrangements for data networking, i.e. for data packet routing, for congestion control data switching networks H04L12/00

Abstract

An approach for transmitting packets over a shared communication channel is disclosed. A satellite terminal (ST) (103, 105, 107, 109) contains a processor that transmits a packet over a transmission slot of the channel using a contention protocol, such as persistent Aloha. The processor reserves an available transmission slot, which is maintained until expiration of a predetermined timeout period.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting packets over a shared communication channel that is partitioned into a plurality of transmission slots, the method comprising:

transmitting one of the packets over one of the plurality of transmission slots of the channel using a contention protocol;

reserving an available transmission slot from the plurality of transmission slots; and

maintaining the reserved transmission slot until expiration of a predetermined timeout period.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an information message associated with the transmission slots indicating a valid transmission of the one packet, wherein the reserving step is performed based upon the received information message.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the communication channel is provided by a plurality of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) frames used in a satellite communications system (100).

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the content protocol in the transmitting step is persistent Aloha, the method further comprising:

designating one time slot per TDMA frame for contention transmission.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the content protocol in the transmitting step is persistent Aloha, the method further comprising:

designating one time slot per every sixth TDMA frame for contention transmission.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the content protocol in the transmitting step is persistent Aloha.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the packets include at least one of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) traffic and web browsing traffic.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the maintaining step comprises:

transmitting null packets into the reserved transmission slot.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting step comprises:

randomly selecting the one transmission slot according to a uniform distribution.

10. A terminal apparatus for transmitting packets over a shared communication channel that is partitioned into a plurality of transmission slots, comprising:

a plurality of queues configured to store the packets; and

a processor configured to transmit one of the packets over one of the plurality of transmission slots of the channel using a contention protocol, the processor reserving an available transmission slot from the plurality of transmission slots, wherein the reserved transmission slot is maintained until expiration of a predetermined timeout period.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the processor receives an information message associated with the transmission slots indicating a valid transmission of the one packet, wherein the reserved transmission slot is reserved based upon the information message.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the communication channel is provided by a plurality of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) frames used in a satellite communications system.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the content protocol is persistent Aloha and one time slot per TDMA frame is provided for contention transmission.

14. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the content protocol is persistent Aloha and one time slot per every sixth TDMA frame is provided for contention transmission.

15. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the content protocol is persistent Aloha.

16. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the packets include at least one of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) traffic and web browsing traffic.

17. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to instruct transmission of null packets into the reserved transmission slot to maintain the reservation.

18. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the processor randomly selects the one transmission slot according to a uniform distribution.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the processor receives an information message associated with the transmission slots indicating a valid transmission of the one packet, wherein the reserved transmission slot is reserved based upon the information message.

21. The system according to claim 20, wherein the communication channel is provided by a plurality of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) frames.

22. The system according to claim 21, wherein the content protocol is persistent Aloha and one time slot per TDMA frame is provided for contention transmission.

23. The system according to claim 21, wherein the content protocol is persistent Aloha and one time slot per every sixth TDMA frame is provided for contention transmission.

24. The system according to claim 19, wherein the content protocol is persistent Aloha.

25. The system according to claim 19, wherein the packets include at least one of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) traffic and web browsing traffic.

26. The system according to claim 19, wherein the processor is configured to instruct transmission of null packets into the reserved transmission slot to maintain the reservation.

27. The system according to claim 19, wherein the processor randomly selects the one transmission slot according to a uniform distribution.

29. The apparatus according to claim 28, further comprising:

means for receiving an information message associated with the transmission slots indicating a valid transmission of the one packet, wherein the reserved transmission slot is reserved based upon the information message.

30. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the communication channel is provided by a plurality of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) frames used in a satellite communications system.

31. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein the content protocol in the transmitting step is persistent Aloha, the apparatus further comprising:

means for designating one time slot per TDMA frame for contention transmission.

32. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein the content protocol is persistent Aloha, the apparatus further comprising:

means for designating one time slot per every sixth TDMA frame for contention transmission.

33. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the content protocol is persistent Aloha.

34. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the packets include at least one of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) traffic and web browsing traffic.

35. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the maintaining means transmits null packets into the reserved transmission slot.

36. The apparatus according to claim 28, further comprising:

means for randomly selecting the one transmission slot according to a uniform distribution.

38. The computer-readable medium according to claim 37, wherein the one or more processors further perform the step of:

receiving an information message associated with the transmission slots indicating a valid transmission of the one packet, wherein the reserving step is performed based upon the received information message.

39. The computer-readable medium according to claim 37, wherein the communication channel is provided by a plurality of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) frames used in a satellite communications system.

40. The computer-readable medium according to claim 39, wherein the content protocol in the transmitting step is persistent Aloha, the one or more processors further performing the step of:

designating one time slot per TDMA frame for contention transmission.

41. The computer-readable medium according to claim 39, wherein the content protocol in the transmitting step is persistent Aloha, the one or more processors further performing the step of:

designating one time slot per every sixth TDMA frame for contention transmission.

42. The computer-readable medium according to claim 37, wherein the content protocol in the transmitting step is persistent Aloha.

43. The computer-readable medium according to claim 37, wherein the packets include at least one of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) traffic and web browsing traffic.

44. The computer-readable medium according to claim 37, wherein the maintaining step comprises:

transmitting null packets into the reserved transmission slot.

45. The computer-readable medium according to claim 37, wherein the transmitting step comprises:

randomly selecting the one transmission slot according to a uniform distribution.

19. A satellite communications system comprising:

a payload (101) configured to forward packets; and

a plurality of terminals (103, 105, 107, 109) configured to transmit the packets over a shared communication channel that is partitioned into a plurality of transmission slots, each of the terminals comprising,

a plurality of queues configured to store the packets, and

a processor configured to transmit one of the packets over one of the plurality of transmission slots of the channel using a contention protocol, the processor reserving an available transmission slot from the plurality of transmission slots, wherein the reserved transmission slot is maintained until expiration of a predetermined timeout period.

28. A terminal apparatus for transmitting packets over a shared communication channel that is partitioned into a plurality of transmission slots, comprising:

means for transmitting one of the packets over one of the plurality of transmission slots of the channel using a contention protocol;

means for reserving an available transmission slot from the plurality of transmission slots; and

means for maintaining the reserved transmission slot until expiration of a predetermined timeout period.

37. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions for transmitting packets over a shared communication channel that is partitioned into a plurality of transmission slots, the one or more sequences of one or more instructions including instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

transmitting one of the packets over one of the plurality of transmission slots of the channel using a contention protocol;

reserving an available transmission slot from the plurality of transmission slots; and

maintaining the reserved transmission slot until expiration of a predetermined timeout period.