Techniques for enhanced reliability of data transfer with dynamic scaling

• US 7,856,583 B1
• Filed: 09/16/2005
• Issued: 12/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ribbon Communications Operating Company, Inc. (Ribbon Communications, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Network Equipment Technologies Incorporated (Ribbon Communications, Inc.)
• Inventors: Smith, Bruce
• Primary Examiner(s): Abraham; Esaw T
• Application Number:
  US11/229,248
• Time in Patent Office: 1,922 Days
• Field of Search: 714/4, 714/746
• US Class Current: 714/746
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/35 Unequal or adaptive error protection, e.g. by providing a different level of protection according to significance of source information or by adapting the coding according to the change of transmission channel characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/373 with erasure correction and erasure determination, e.g. for packet loss recovery or setting of erasures for the decoding of Reed-Solomon codes
• 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 1/0057 Block codes H04L1/0061, H04L1/0064 take precedence

Abstract

A recovery chunk is generated based on information found in each chunk in a group of chunks. For example, the group of chunks includes three chunks of which information in the three chunks is used to generate a recovery chunk. The recovery chunk is then used to recover a single lost chunk in the group of chunks. The three chunks and the recovery chunk are sent to a receiver over a network. If one of the three chunks is lost, the recovery chunk is used to generate the lost chunk. The recovery chunk is used to recover a single lost chunk, however, the recovery chunk is not used to recover more than one lost chunk in the group. The number of chunks is also dynamically adjusted based on chunk loss at a receiver. This adjustment is based on the bandwidth used and reliability desired.

Claims

1. A method for providing for chunk loss recovery, the method comprising:

segmenting data, for transmission to a device, into a plurality of chunks;

determining a number of chunks, of the plurality of chunks, to be used as a group for creating a recovery chunk, wherein the number of chunks of data is determined by balancing between transmission bandwidth efficiency and transmission reliability;

creating the recovery chunk from information in each of the number of chunks in the group, wherein the recovery chunk is used to recover a single lost chunk from the group; and

transmitting the group of chunks and the recovery chunk to the device, wherein the transmission bandwidth efficiency increases as the number of chunks in the group increases, and the transmission reliability decreases as the number of chunks in the group increases.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the recovery chunk comprises using a parity equation to generate the recovery chunk using the information in each of the number of chunks in the group.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein using the parity equation comprises XOR'"'"'ing information from the number of chunks in the group to generate a result, wherein the result is stored in the recovery chunk.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the number of chunks to include in the group comprises using an algorithm based on a historical number of chunks lost at the device to determine the number of chunks that are included in the group.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising dynamically adjusting the number of chunks to include in the group for the recovery chunk based on the historical number of chunks lost at the device, wherein the number in the group is decreased if chunk loss at the device is determined to have increased and the number in the group is increased if chunk loss is determined to have decreased.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving transmission control information from the device indicating the number of chunks to dynamically adjust.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding a control field to each of the number of chunks in the group and the recovery chunk, wherein the control field contains sequence information to enable determination if a chunk in the group is lost.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the control field is used to determine if a chunk is the recovery chunk for the group.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a chunk in the group of chunks that is lost; and

using the recovery chunk to generate the lost chunk.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the group of chunks and recovery chunk comprises transmitting each of the number of chunks and the recovery chunk in a medium transfer unit to the device, wherein the medium transfer unit is lost.

11. A method for providing for chunk loss recovery, the method comprising:

analyzing historical chunk loss at a receiver;

determining a number of chunks into which data, for transmission to a device, is grouped with a single recovery chunk, wherein the determining is based on the analysis and on a balance between transmission bandwidth efficiency and transmission reliability;

creating the recovery chunk from information in each of the number of chunks in the group;

transmitting the group of chunks and the recovery chunk to the device; and

dynamically adjusting the number of chunks to include in the group for the recovery chunk based on chunk loss at the receiver, wherein the number in the group is decreased if chunk loss at the receiver is determined to have increased and the number in the group is increased if chunk loss is determined to have decreased, and wherein the transmission bandwidth efficiency increases as the number of chunks in the group increases, and the transmission reliability decreases as the number of chunks in the group increases.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising adding a control field to each of the number of chunks in the group and the recovery chunk, wherein the control field contains sequence information to enable determination if a chunk in the group is lost.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the control field is used to determine if a chunk is the recovery chunk for the group.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein when the dynamic adjustment of the number of chunks occurs, the control field that is used to indicate which chunk is the recovery chunk in the group is added to a recovery chunk based on the dynamic adjustment.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving transmission control information from the device indicating the adjustment to the number of chunks to include in the group.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining a chunk in the group of chunks that is lost; and

using the recovery chunk to generate the lost chunk.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein transmitting the group of chunks and recovery chunk comprises transmitting each of the number of chunks and the recovery chunk in a medium transfer unit to the device, wherein the medium transfer unit is lost.

18. A system for providing for chunk loss recovery, the system comprising:

a transmitter comprising;

a chunk assembler configured to;

determine a number of chunks into which data, for transmission to a device, is grouped for creating a recovery chunk, wherein the determining is based on a balance between transmission bandwidth efficiency and transmission reliability;

create the recovery chunk from information in each of the number of chunks in the group; and

a communicator configured to transmit the group of chunks and the recovery chunk to the device, wherein the transmission bandwidth efficiency increases as the number of chunks in the group increases, and the transmission reliability decreases as the number of chunks in the group increases;

a receiver comprising;

a chunk receiver configured to receive the group of chunks and the recovery chunk, the receiver comprising;

a chunk validator configured to validate whether a chunk is lost in the group of chunks that was sent from the communicator;

a chunk recovery device configured to use the information in the recovery chunk to recover a single lost chunk in the group of chunks.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the data comprises time sensitive data.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the receiver is configured to dynamically adjust the number of chunks to group with the recovery chunk.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the receiver is configured to transmit the adjustment to the communicator.