Method and apparatus for supporting header suppression and multiple microflows in a network
First Claim
1. A header suppression system, comprising:
- a first packet processing node transmitting packets having multiple packet headers and a packet payload, the first packet processing node operating in a header suppression mode that suppresses transmission of one or more of the packet headers; and
a second packet processing node receiving the packets from the first packet processing node over a network medium and sending the received packets to an endpoint, the second packet processing node including a memory containing the packet headers suppressed by the first packet processing node and during the suppression mode appending the stored headers to the packets received from the first packet processing node before sending the packets to the endpoint.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A first packet processing node in a header suppression mode suppresses transmission of one or more packet headers. A second packet processing node receives the packets from the first packet processing node over a network medium and sends the received packets to an endpoint. The second packet processing node includes a memory that contains the packet headers suppressed by the first packet processing node and appends the stored headers to the suppressed packets before sending the packets to the endpoint. Cable modems (CMs) include one or more Service Identifiers (SIDs) for establishing communication channels (microflows) with a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) through a cable medium. In another aspect of the intention, a cable modem network protocol is used between the CMTS and the CM to dynamically establish and modify multiple microflows between the CMTS and CM on the same cable modem SID.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A header suppression system, comprising:
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a first packet processing node transmitting packets having multiple packet headers and a packet payload, the first packet processing node operating in a header suppression mode that suppresses transmission of one or more of the packet headers; and
a second packet processing node receiving the packets from the first packet processing node over a network medium and sending the received packets to an endpoint, the second packet processing node including a memory containing the packet headers suppressed by the first packet processing node and during the suppression mode appending the stored headers to the packets received from the first packet processing node before sending the packets to the endpoint. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
an Ethernet header;
an IP header;
oran UDP header.
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9. A system according to claim 2 wherein the cable modem termination system and the cable modem exchange Dynamic Service Change transmissions that establish multiple microflows for a common cable modem Service Identifier (SID) field.
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10. A system according to claim 9 wherein the multiple microflows each carry a different phone call.
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11. A system according to claim 9 wherein the multiple microflows each transmit audio packets according to allocated grants, the cable modem concatenating the audio packets for the microflows on the same SID together and transmitting the concatenated audio packets during the same grants.
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12. A method for transmitting packets having multiple packet headers and a packet payload, comprising:
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identifying one or more of the packet headers for header suppression;
pre-sending information from the identified packet headers to a packet processing node;
suppressing transmission of the identified packet headers when transmitting the packets to the packet processing node; and
providing an index with the suppressed header packets that enables the packet processing node to locate and append the pre-sent packet header information to the suppressed header packets.
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13. A packet processing device that transmits packets having packet headers and a packet payload, the packet processing device:
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identifying at least one of the packet headers for header suppression;
pre-sending packet header information from the identified packet headers to another packet processing device;
suppressing transmission of the identified packet headers when transmitting the packets to the other packet processing device; and
providing an index with the suppressed header packets that associates the pre-sent packet header information with the suppressed header packets. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
an Ethernet header;
an IP header;
oran UDP header.
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14. A method for processing packets having multiple packet headers and a packet payload, comprising:
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receiving one or more packets from a packet processing node identified for packet header suppression;
storing the additional packet headers for the identified packets;
receiving packets from the packet processing node identified as having suppressed packet headers;
appending the stored packet headers to the identified additional packets; and
forwarding the additional packets to an endpoint according to the appended packet headers.
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15. A packet processing device for processing packets having multiple packet headers and a packet payload, the packet processing device:
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receiving one or more packet headers from a packet processing node;
storing the packet headers;
receiving packets from the packet processing node having suppressed packet headers;
receiving an index that identifies the stored packet headers with the received packets;
appending the identified packet headers to the received packets; and
forwarding the packets to an endpoint according to the appended packet headers. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
an Ethernet header;
an IP header;
oran UDP header.
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16. A method for transmitting packets having multiple packet headers and a packet payload, comprising:
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identifying one or more of the packet headers for header suppression;
pre-sending information from the identified packet headers to a packet processing node;
suppressing transmission of the identified packet headers when transmitting the packets to the packet processing node; and
providing an identifier with the suppressed header packets that associates the pre-sent packet header information with the suppressed header packets.
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Specification