Apparatus, system and method of controlling data flow over a communication network

• US 20160134728A1
• Filed: 12/26/2015
• Published: 05/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Sadeghi, Bahareh, Levy, Elad, Kedem, Oren, Wielicki, Rafal, Dabek, Marek
• Granted Patent: US 9,813,530 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1812 Hybrid protocols; Hybrid automatic repeat request [HARQ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/324 in the data link layer [OSI layer 2], e.g. HDLC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

Some demonstrative embodiments include apparatuses, systems and/or methods of controlling data flow over a communication network. For example, an apparatus may include a communication unit to communicate between first and second devices a transfer response, the transfer response in response to a transfer request, the transfer response including a transfer pending status indicating data is pending to be received at the second device, the communication unit is to communicate the transfer response regardless of whether a retry indicator of the transfer request represents a first request for transfer or a retried request.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising a memory and a processor, the processor configured to cause a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) device of a media-agnostic connectivity PAL to:

process a transfer request from a USB PAL host, the transfer request to initiate transfer of data from a USB endpoint of a USB device to the USB PAL host, the transfer request comprising a request identifier (ID); and

when data receipt from the USB device is delayed, cause to transmit a transfer response with no data payload to the USB PAL host, the transfer response comprising a transfer pending status code and a same request ID as the request ID in the transfer request.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a retry bit in the transfer request is set to zero, and the request ID in the transfer request is the same as a request ID in a previous transfer request.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said processor is configured to cause said USB PAL device to transmit the transfer response comprising the transfer pending status code, when a retry bit in the transfer request is set to zero.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said processor is configured to cause said USB PAL device to transmit a subsequent transfer response comprising a data payload and an acknowledgement request (ARQ) bit comprising a value to request acknowledgement of the subsequent transfer response.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said processor is configured to cause the USB PAL device to retransmit the subsequent transfer response comprising a retry bit set to a value indicating retransmission of the subsequent transfer response.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to cause the USB PAL device to retransmit the subsequent transfer response, when an acknowledgement is not received from the USB PAL host within a predefined time period from transmission of the subsequent transfer response.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to cause the USB PAL device to repeat retransmitting the subsequent transfer response up to a predefined number of times.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the PAL is configured to enable media-agnostic connectivity between a USB host and one or more USB devices.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to control a PAL connection, over the PAL, between the USB PAL host and the USB PAL device, said PAL is above a data link layer.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising a Media Access Control (MAC) component and a Physical Layer (PHY) component.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising a radio.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising a Network interface.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising at least one antenna.

14. A product comprising one or more tangible computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising computer-executable instructions operable to, when executed by at least one computer processor, enable the at least one computer processor to implement one or more operations at a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) device of a media-agnostic connectivity PAL, the operations comprising:

processing a transfer request from a USB PAL host, the transfer request to initiate transfer of data from a USB endpoint of a USB device to the USB PAL host, the transfer request comprising a request identifier (ID); and

when data receipt from the USB device is delayed, causing transmission of a transfer response with no data payload to the USB PAL host, the transfer response comprising a transfer pending status code and a same request ID as the request ID in the transfer request.

15. The product of claim 14, wherein a retry bit in the transfer request is set to zero, and the request ID in the transfer request is the same as a request ID in a previous transfer request.

16. The product of claim 14, wherein the operations comprise transmitting the transfer response comprising the transfer pending status code, when a retry bit in the transfer request is set to zero.

17. The product of claim 14, wherein the operations comprise transmitting a subsequent transfer response comprising a data payload and an acknowledgement request (ARQ) bit comprising a value to request acknowledgement of the subsequent transfer response.

18. The product of claim 17, wherein the operations comprise retransmitting the subsequent transfer response comprising a retry bit set to a value indicating retransmission of the subsequent transfer response.

19. The product of claim 18, wherein the operations comprise retransmitting the subsequent transfer response, when an acknowledgement is not received from the USB PAL host within a predefined time period from transmission of the subsequent transfer response.

20. The product of claim 18, wherein the operations comprise repeating retransmitting the subsequent transfer response up to a predefined number of times.

21. The product of claim 14, wherein the operations comprise controlling a PAL connection, over the PAL, between the USB PAL host and the USB PAL device, said PAL is above a data link layer.

22. An apparatus comprising a memory and a processor, the processor configured to cause a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) host of a media-agnostic connectivity PAL to:

transmit a first transfer request to a USB PAL device, the first transfer request to initiate transfer of data from a USB endpoint of a USB device to the USB PAL host, the first transfer request comprising a request identifier (ID);

transmit to the USB PAL device a second transfer request comprising a same request ID as the request ID in the first transfer request, when no transfer response is received from the USB PAL device after a first predefined time period; and

following receipt of a transfer response from the USB PAL device comprising a transfer pending status code, reset a retransmission counter, and wait a second predefined time period before an attempt to retransmit the second transfer request.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the processor is configured to cause the USB PAL host to set a retry bit in the second transfer request to “

0”

.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the processor is configured to cause the USB PAL host to set a retry bit in a transmitted transfer request to “

1”

, when the transmitted transfer request is identical to a previously transmitted transfer request.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the processor is configured to cause the USB PAL host to transmit a transfer acknowledgement to acknowledge receipt of a transfer response comprising an acknowledgement request (ARQ) bit comprising a value to indicate acknowledgement is requested.

26. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the second predefined time period comprises a Long Keep Alive period.

27. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the PAL is configured to enable media-agnostic connectivity between a USB host and one or more USB devices.

28. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the processor is configured to control a PAL connection, over the PAL, between the USB PAL host and the USB PAL device, said PAL is above a data link layer.

29. The apparatus of claim 22 comprising a Media Access Control (MAC) component and a Physical Layer (PHY) component.

30. The apparatus of claim 22 comprising a radio.

31. The apparatus of claim 22 comprising a Network interface.

32. The apparatus of claim 22 comprising at least one antenna.

33. A product comprising one or more tangible computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising computer-executable instructions operable to, when executed by at least one computer processor, enable the at least one computer processor to implement one or more operations at a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) host of a media-agnostic connectivity PAL, the operations comprising:

transmitting a first transfer request to a USB PAL device, the first transfer request to initiate transfer of data from a USB endpoint of a USB device to the USB PAL host, the first transfer request comprising a request identifier (ID);

transmitting to the USB PAL device a second transfer request comprising a same request ID as the request ID in the first transfer request, when no transfer response is received from the USB PAL device after a first predefined time period; and

following receipt of a transfer response from the USB PAL device comprising a transfer pending status code, resetting a retransmission counter, and waiting a second predefined time period before an attempt to retransmit the second transfer request.

34. The product of claim 33, wherein the operations comprise setting a retry bit in the second transfer request to “

0”

.

35. The product of claim 33, wherein the operations comprise setting a retry bit in a transmitted transfer request to “

1”

, when the transmitted transfer request is identical to a previously transmitted transfer request.

36. The product of claim 33, wherein the operations comprise transmitting a transfer acknowledgement to acknowledge receipt of a transfer response comprising an acknowledgement request (ARQ) bit comprising a value to indicate acknowledgement is requested.

37. The product of claim 33, wherein the second predefined time period comprises a Long Keep Alive period.

38. The product of claim 33, wherein the operations comprise controlling a PAL connection, over the PAL, between the USB PAL host and the USB PAL device, said PAL is above a data link layer.