Powerline network bridging congestion control
First Claim
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1. A method of performing flow control in a network, comprising:
- a node in a network of nodes detecting receipt of a jam-indicating packet from a bridge device in response to an attempt by the node to transmit a frame to the bridge device, wherein the jam-indicating packet has a generally unique content that is recognizable by nodes as an indication that a device on the network is congested and requests that it not be sent further packets;
in response to detection of the jam-indicating packet by the node, causing a fail response to be transmitted by the node to the network for the frame; and
for a predetermined time interval after the detection, causing another fail response to be transmitted by the node to the network for any subsequent frames transmitted by any of the other nodes when such frames are of the type for which a response is expected, wherein the fail response transmitted in response to receipt of the jam-indicating packet is the same fail response ordinarily transmitted, at times other than when a device on the network is congested, to indicate that a frame has not been received because of insufficient resources, wherein the network is a powerline network, and the fail response is transmitted to the powerline network.
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Abstract
In a powerline network, a power line node device coupled to a host bridge application detects a “jam packet” in response to an attempt to pass a frame to the host bridge application. The powerline node device uses internal logic to override a conventional ARQ response to this and subsequent frames, in particular, when such frames are of the type for which a response is expected, with an automatic FAIL response for a predetermined time interval.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A method of performing flow control in a network, comprising:
- a node in a network of nodes detecting receipt of a jam-indicating packet from a bridge device in response to an attempt by the node to transmit a frame to the bridge device, wherein the jam-indicating packet has a generally unique content that is recognizable by nodes as an indication that a device on the network is congested and requests that it not be sent further packets;
in response to detection of the jam-indicating packet by the node, causing a fail response to be transmitted by the node to the network for the frame; and
for a predetermined time interval after the detection, causing another fail response to be transmitted by the node to the network for any subsequent frames transmitted by any of the other nodes when such frames are of the type for which a response is expected, wherein the fail response transmitted in response to receipt of the jam-indicating packet is the same fail response ordinarily transmitted, at times other than when a device on the network is congested, to indicate that a frame has not been received because of insufficient resources, wherein the network is a powerline network, and the fail response is transmitted to the powerline network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
- a node in a network of nodes detecting receipt of a jam-indicating packet from a bridge device in response to an attempt by the node to transmit a frame to the bridge device, wherein the jam-indicating packet has a generally unique content that is recognizable by nodes as an indication that a device on the network is congested and requests that it not be sent further packets;
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10. A computer program residing on a non-transitory computer-readable medium for performing flow control in a network, the computer program comprising instructions causing a node in a network of nodes to:
- detect receipt of a jam-indicating packet from a bridge device in response to an attempt by the node to transmit a frame to the bridge device;
wherein the jam-indicating packet has a generally unique content that is recognizable by nodes as an indication that a device on the network is congested and requests that it not be sent further packets;
in response to detection of the jam-indicating packet by the node, cause a fail response to be transmitted by the node to the network for the frame; and
for a predetermined time interval after the detection, cause another fail response to be transmitted by the node to the network for any subsequent frames transmitted by any of the nodes when such frames are of the type for which a response is expected, wherein the fail response transmitted in response to receipt of the jam-indicating packet is the same fail response ordinarily transmitted, at times other than when a device on the network is congested, to indicate that a frame has not been received because of insufficient resources, wherein the network is a powerline network, and the fail response is transmitted to the powerline network.
- detect receipt of a jam-indicating packet from a bridge device in response to an attempt by the node to transmit a frame to the bridge device;
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11. A system comprising:
- a jam-indicating packet detector at a node in a network of nodes for detecting receipt of a jam-indicating packet from a bridge device in response to an attempt by the node to transmit a frame to the bridge device;
wherein the jam-indicating packet has a generally unique content that is recognizable by nodes as an indication that a device on the network is congested and requests that it not be sent further packets; means, responsive to detection of a jam-indicating packet by the jam-indicating packet detector, for causing a fail response to be transmitted by the node to the network for the frame; for a predetermined time interval after the detection, means for causing another fail response to be transmitted by the node to the network for any subsequent frames transmitted by any of the nodes for a predetermined time interval when such frames are of the type for which a response is expected, wherein the fail response transmitted in response to receipt of the jam-indicating packet is the same fail response ordinarily transmitted, at times other than when a device on the network is congested, to indicate that a frame has not been received because of insufficient resources, wherein the network is a powerline network, and the fail response is transmitted to the powerline network.
- a jam-indicating packet detector at a node in a network of nodes for detecting receipt of a jam-indicating packet from a bridge device in response to an attempt by the node to transmit a frame to the bridge device;
Specification