SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACHIEVING ACCELERATED THROUGHPUT

• US 20080304483A1
• Filed: 08/18/2008
• Published: 12/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adaptiv Networks Inc.
• Original Assignee: Ipeak Networks Incorporated (Adaptiv Networks Inc.)
• Inventors: CRESSMAN, Jonathan N., WILLIAMS, Matthew Robert
• Granted Patent: US 8,009,696 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0001 Systems modifying transmission characteristics according to link quality, e.g. power backoff adaptive data allocation for multicarrier modulation H04L5/0044; controlling transmission power for radio systems H04W52/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0007 by modifying the frame length
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0009 by adapting the channel coding H04L1/1812 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0015 characterised by the adaptation strategy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0035 evaluation of received explicit signalling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0041 Arrangements at the transmitter end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0057 Block codes H04L1/0061, H04L1/0064 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0068 by puncturing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0071 Use of interleaving interleaving per se H03M13/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0072 Error control for data other than payload data, e.g. control data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0083 Formatting with frames or packets; Protocol or part of protocol for error control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/009 arrangements specific to transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/08 by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1809 Selective-repeat protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1812 Hybrid protocols; Hybrid automatic repeat request [HARQ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0097 Relays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/166 IP fragmentation; TCP segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/326 : in the transport layer [OSI layer 4] H04L69/16 takes precedence

Abstract

Systems and methods for transporting data between two endpoints over an encoded channel are disclosed. Data transmission units (data units) from the source network are received at an encoding component logically located between the endpoints. These first data units are subdivided into second data units and are transmitted to the destination network over the transport network. Also transmitted are encoded or extra second data units that allow the original first data units to be recreated even if some of the second data units are lost. These encoded second data units may be merely copies of the second data units transmitted, parity second data units, or second data units which have been encoded using erasure correcting coding. At the receiving endpoint, the second data units are received and are used to recreate the original first data units.

Claims

1. A method of accelerating data communications over an unreliable network;

comprising;

providing encoding components associated with each of two endpoints to a communication;

establishing an encoded channel between the encoding components for a communication session between the endpoints;

intercepting a data packet related to the communication at one of the encoding components;

segmenting and packaging the data packet to provide encoded data segments for transmission to the other of the encoding components;

transmitting the encoded data segments and at least one extra encoded segment to the other of the encoding components over the encoded channel;

decoding and reassembling the data packet at the other of the encoding components based on the received encoded data segments; and

transmitting the reassembled data packet from the other of the encoding components to its respective endpoint.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the encoded channel comprises:

detecting a message originating from a first of the two endpoints and destined to the other of the two endpoints;

storing information uniquely identifying the communication session;

marking messages destined to the other endpoint to indicate that the first endpoint is enabled to segment and encode data packets according to a protocol known to both encoding components;

forwarding the marked messages to the other endpoint; and

exchanging control messages to establish a communication channel between the encoding components.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein marking the reply comprises setting an option in an IP header.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein marking the reply comprises setting an identification field to a known value.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising tearing down the encoded channel if no further packets are transmitted within a predetermined timeout period.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein storing information uniquely identifying the communication session comprises storing a source IP address, a destination IP address, a protocol contained within the packet, and source and destination ports.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the encoded channel comprises:

detecting a message originating from a first of the two endpoints and destined to the other of the two endpoints;

storing information uniquely identifying the communication session;

determining if the message is related to the communication session and has been marked to indicate that the other endpoint is enabled to segment and encode data packets according to a protocol known to both encoding components;

transmitting control messages to establish a communication channel between the encoding components.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the encoded channel comprises:

detecting control messages of a known protocol establishing a related communication session between two endpoints, the control messages including an identification of originating and destination ports;

creating an encoded channel in response to the detected control messages.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the communication session is a Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) session.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the communication session is a H.323 protocol session.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the encoded channel comprises exchanging information over a pre-existing control channel established between the two endpoints.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein segmenting and packaging the data packet comprises segmenting the data packet into data segments in accordance with a predetermined encoding rate.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein segmenting and packaging the data packet comprises comprising segmenting the data packet into data segments in accordance with a dynamically adjusted encoding rate, the dynamically adjusted encoding rate determined by:

monitoring loss rates for each of a plurality of communication sessions;

determining an average loss rate in accordance with the loss rates of each communication session;

communicating a loss rate of the communication session and the average loss rate to the other of the two endpoints to permit the other of the two endpoints to adjust its encoding rate.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein monitoring loss rates for each of the plurality of communication sessions comprises observing loss rates for each of the plurality of communication sessions.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein monitoring loss rates for each of the plurality of communication sessions comprises receiving reported loss rates for each of the plurality of communication sessions.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein non-disruptively segmenting and packaging the data packet comprises modifying a header of the data packet and appending modified headers to each of the encoded data segments.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein modifying the header comprises modifying a sequence number of a TCP header.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein modifying the header comprises modifying TCP header flags.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein modifying the header comprises modifying the urgent pointer in a TCP header.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein segmenting and packaging the data packet comprises adding identifying information to each encoded data segment.

21. A method of setting an encoding rate for encoding data for accelerated data communication across an unreliable network between two endpoints each respectively associated with an encoding component;

comprising;

establishing an encoded channel for each of a plurality of communication sessions;

monitoring loss rates for each communication session;

determining an average loss rate in accordance with the loss rates of each communication session;

communicating a loss rate of a given communication session and the average loss rate to a given endpoint to permit the given endpoint to adjust its encoding rate.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein monitoring loss rates for each communication session comprises observing loss rates for each communication session.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein monitoring loss rates for each communication session comprises receiving reported loss rates for each communication session.

24. A method for encoding a communication session to provide accelerated data communications, comprising:

providing encoding components at a client and at a server;

detecting, at the encoding components, a message destined to a default port;

parsing the message to determine a session identification for the message;

detecting a reply to the message at the encoding components;

parsing the reply to determine communication ports allocated for use in respect of the communication session;

inspecting data packets to determine their originating and destination ports;

for each data packet having originating and destination ports that match the allocated communication ports, segmenting and marking the data packet to provide encoded data segments for transmission to the client; and

decoding and reassembling the data packet, based on the received encoded data segments at the encoding component associated with the client.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the communication session is an audio or video streaming session.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the communication session is a unidirectional communication session.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the server is a Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) server, and the default port is a default RTSP port.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the client and the server are H.323 endpoints, and the default port is a default H.323 port.