Limited automatic repeat request protocol for frame-based communication channels

• US 8,503,451 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2007
• Issued: 08/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mallory, Tracy D
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHAU, PETER P
• Application Number:
  US11/800,837
• Publication Number:
  US 20070263631A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,282 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/394
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1635 Cumulative acknowledgement, i.e. the acknowledgement message applying to all previous messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1664 the supervisory signal being transmitted together with payload signals; piggybacking
• 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 1/1809 Selective-repeat protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1832 Details of sliding window management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1838 for semi-reliable protocols, e.g. for less sensitive applications such as streaming video buffer level management for video bitstream receiver H04N21/44004
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1841 Resequencing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1848 Time-out mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1858 Transmission or retransmission of more than one copy of acknowledgement message
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1877 for semi-reliable protocols, e.g. for less sensitive applications like streaming video buffer level management for video bitstream control arrangements H04N21/44004
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0093 Point-to-multipoint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/125 Arrangements for preventing errors in the return channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/34 ensuring sequence integrity, e.g. using sequence numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/324 in the data link layer [OSI layer 2], e.g. HDLC

Abstract

In a frame-switched network, a sender sends frames to a receiver over a possibly unreliable channel. Sent frames include frame identifiers that can be used for a limited automatic repeat request. Upon receipt of a frame, the receiver determines, from the frame identifier, if frames prior to the received frame were lost in transit. If the receiver determines that it missed a prior frame, the receiver sends the sender a negative acknowledgment (nack) for the missed prior frame or frames. Otherwise, if the receiver receives a frame correctly, it does not acknowledge the frame. The frame identifiers can be a set of sequential integers with frames transmitted in sequential frame order. In some embodiments, when a receiver receives a frame out of order, the receiver buffers the out of order frame in a receiver buffer for a receive buffer period until preceding frames are received or a receive buffer period expires. The sender can send a reminder frame to the receiver to allow the receiver to detect a missed prior frame missing from an end of a frame sequence. The channel between the sender and the receiver can be a bidirectional channel over a telephone wire, a cable, a radio frequency link or a power wire. Multiple logical channels might be set up between a given sender-receiver pair, to allow for traffic of varying priorities.

Claims

1. An apparatus including a processing circuit at a send station, the processing circuit configured to:

generate a data frame at the send station in a network;

store a copy of the data frame in a transmit buffer at the send station;

send the data frame from the send station to a receive station;

reset a reminder timer in response to sending the data frame, the reminder timer being configured to be reset for each data frame sent from the send station to the receive station;

determine, based on expiration of the reminder timer, a period of inactivity that exceeds a threshold during which no further data frames are sent from the send station to the receive station; and

send, in response to the determining, a reminder control frame to the receive station identifying a last data frame transmitted from the send station to the receive station, wherein the reminder control frame does not include a payload field.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the generated data frame includes a sequence number to identify the data frame.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

assign sequence numbers to respective data frames per destination or receive station and per priority level; and

include the assigned sequence numbers in the respective data frames.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

receive at the send station a negative acknowledgement (NACK) from the receive station indicating that one or more transmitted data frames from the send station were not received by the receive station; and

re-send, in response to receiving the NACK, the one or more indicated data frames from the send station to the receive station.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

discard the copy of the data frame if a resource constraint at the send station is met.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the processing circuit is further configured to determine that the period of inactivity exceeds the threshold during which no further data frames are sent from the send station to a media access control (MAC) address of the receive station.

7. An apparatus including a processing circuit at a send station, the processing circuit configured to:

generate a data frame at the send station in a network;

store a copy of the data frame in a transmit buffer at the send station;

send the data frame from the send station to a receive station;

reset a reminder timer in response to sending the data frame, the reminder timer being configured to be reset for each data frame sent from the send station to the receive station;

determine, based on expiration of the reminder timer, a period of inactivity that exceeds a threshold during which no further data frames are sent from the send station to the receive station; and

send, in response to the determining, a reminder control frame to the receive station identifying a last data frame transmitted from the send station to the receive station, wherein the reminder control frame is sent by the send station without receiving a request from the receive station to retransmit the last data frame.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the generated data frame includes a sequence number to identify the data frame.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

assign sequence numbers to respective data frames per destination or receive station and per priority level; and

include the assigned sequence numbers in the respective data frames.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

receive at the send station a negative acknowledgement (NACK) from the receive station indicating that one or more transmitted data frames from the send station were not received by the receive station; and

re-send, in response to receiving the NACK, the one or more indicated data frames from the send station to the receive station.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

discard the copy of the data frame if a resource constraint at the send station is met.

12. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the processing circuit is further configured to determine that the period of inactivity exceeds the threshold during which no further data frames are sent from the send station to a media access control (MAC) address of the receive station.