Method and system for controlling the rate of acknowledgment of communication packets

• US 6,745,360 B1
• Filed: 04/13/2000
• Issued: 06/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Shelest, Art, Srinivas, Nk
• Primary Examiner(s): Baker, Stephen M.
• Application Number:
  US09/548,712
• Time in Patent Office: 1,510 Days
• Field of Search: 714/748, 714/749
• US Class Current: 714/748
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1671 the supervisory signal being transmitted together with control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1685 the supervisory signal being transmitted in response to a specific request, e.g. to a polling signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/163 In-band adaptation of TCP data exchange; In-band control procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method and system for controlling the rate of acknowledgment of communication packets is provided in which a sender determines whether or not an acknowledgment is required from a receiver, and if an acknowledgment is required, transmits a packet that is marked to indicate that an acknowledgment is required. There are many different ways in which a packet may be marked, including generating the packet so that it is shorter than a standard length, inserting an optional field, or inserting a value into the packet header. When TCP is being used for communication, the TCP segments may be marked by clearing the ACK bit of the TCP header. Two or more computers that are engaged in or about to engage in packet-based communication may also inform one another of their respective abilities to send and receive marked packets by transmitting capability packets to one another.

Claims

1. A method of controlling the rate of acknowledgment of communication packets, the method comprising:

on a first computer, marking a communication packet to indicate that an acknowledgment is required in response to the packet, wherein marking the communication packet comprises creating the communication packet such that it is shorter than a standard packet length; and

transmitting the marked packet to a second computer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating at least one communication packet, the at least one communication packet comprising data representing the ability to send marked packets.

3. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for implementing the method of claim 1.

4. A method of controlling the rate of acknowledgment of communication packets, the method comprising:

on a first computer, marking a communication packet to indicate that an acknowledgment is required in response to the packet, wherein marking the communication packet comprises inserting an optional field into the packet, the optional field indicating that an acknowledgment is required in response to the packet; and

transmitting the marked packet to a second computer.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising generating at least one communication packet, the at least one communication packet comprising data representing the ability to send marked packets.

6. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for implementing the method of claim 4.

7. A method of controlling the rate of acknowledgment of communication packets, the method comprising:

on a first computer, marking a communication packet to indicate that an acknowledgment is required in response to the packet, wherein marking the communication packet comprises clearing a bit in the header of the communication packet to indicate that an acknowledgment is required in response to the packet; and

transmitting the marked packet to a second computer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the packet is a TCP segment, and the bit is the ACK bit of the TCP segment.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising generating at least one communication packet, the at least one communication packet comprising data representing the ability to send marked packets.

10. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for implementing the method of claim 7.

11. A method of controlling the rate of acknowledgment of communication packets, the method comprising:

on a first computer, marking a communication packet to indicate that an acknowledgment is required in response to the packet;

transmitting the marked packet to a second computer;

on the first computer, generating at least one packet comprising data representing the ability of the first computer to send marked packets; and

sending the at least one packet to the second computer.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the generated packet further comprises data representing the ability of the first computer to receive marked packets.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the generated packet is a TCP SYN segment, and wherein the data is contained in an optional field of the SYN segment.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the generated packet is a TCP SYN/ACK segment, and wherein the data is contained in an optional field of the SYN/ACK segment.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the generated packet is sent during a handshaking phase of communication between the first and second computer.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the generated packet is generated by a communication program executing on the first computer.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the data of the generated packet comprises a bit representing the ability of the first computer to send marked packets and a bit representing the ability of the first computer to receive marked packets.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein when the bits of the generated packet of the first computer are logically ANDed with the reordered bits of a packet generated by the second computer, the resulting value is indicative of whether the first computer should send marked packets and whether the first computer should expect to receive marked packets.

19. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for implementing the method of claim 11.

20. A method for determining whether to acknowledge a received communication packet, the method comprising:

determining whether the received packet is marked as requiring an acknowledgment, wherein determining whether the received packet is marked comprises determining whether the received packet is shorter than a standard packet length; and

if the packet is marked, transmitting an acknowledgment to a sender of the packet.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising generating at least one communication packet, the at least one communication packet comprising data representing the ability to receive marked packets.

22. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for implementing the method of claim 20.

23. A method for determining whether to acknowledge a received communication packet, the method comprising:

determining whether the received packet is marked as requiring an acknowledgment, wherein determining whether the received packet is marked comprises determining whether the received packet has an optional field indicating that an acknowledgment is required; and

if the packet is marked, transmitting an acknowledgment to a sender of the packet.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising generating at least one communication packet, the at least one communication packet comprising data representing the ability to receive marked packets.

25. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for implementing the method of claim 23.

26. A method for determining whether to acknowledge a received communication packet, the method comprising:

determining whether the received packet is marked as requiring an acknowledgment, wherein the received packet is a TCP segment, and wherein determining whether the received packet is marked comprises determining whether the ACK bit of the header of the TCP segment is cleared; and

transmitting an acknowledgment to the sender of the TCP segment if the ACK bit is cleared.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising generating at least one communication packet, the at least one communication packet comprising data representing the ability to receive marked packets.

28. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for implementing the method of claim 26.

29. A method of controlling the rate of acknowledgment of communication packets, the method comprising:

on a first computer, marking a communication packet to indicate that an acknowledgement is required in response to the packet, wherein marking the communication packet comprises assigning a value to a portion of the header of the communication packet, the value indicating that an acknowledgment is required in response to the packet;

transmitting the marked packet to a second computer; and

generating at least one communication packet, the at least one communication packet comprising data representing the ability to send marked packets.

30. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for implementing the method of claim 29.

31. A method for determining whether to acknowledge a received communication packet, the method comprising;

determining whether the received packet is marked as requiring an acknowledgement, wherein determining whether the received packet is marked comprises determining whether the header of the received packet contains a value indicating that an acknowledgment is required;

if the packet is marked, transmitting an acknowledgment to a sender of the packet; and

generating at least one communication packet, the at least one communication packet comprising data representing the ability to receive marked packets.

32. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for implementing the method of claim 31.

33. A retrofitted method of controlling the rate of acknowledgment of communication packets in an existing communications protocol, the method comprising:

on a first computer, marking a communication packet to indicate that an acknowledgment is required in response to the packet, wherein marking the communication packet comprises assigning a value to a portion of the header of the communication packet, the value indicating that an acknowledgment is required in response to the packet independent of what the portion of the header normally indicates in the existing communications protocol; and

transmitting the marked packet to a second computer.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising generating at least one communication packet, the at least one communication packet comprising data representing the ability to receive marked packets.

35. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for implementing the method of claim 33.

36. A method for determining whether to acknowledge a received communication packet, the method retrofitted to an existing communications protocol, the method comprising:

determining whether the received packet is marked as requiring an acknowledgment, wherein determining whether the received packet is marked comprises determining whether a portion of the header of the received packet contains a value indicating, independent of what the portion of the header normally indicates in the existing communications protocol, that an acknowledgment is required; and

if the packet is marked, transmitting an acknowledgment to a sender of the packet.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising generating at least one communication packet, the at least one communication packet comprising data representing the ability to receive marked packets.

38. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for implementing the method of claim 36.