Method and system for increasing data flow transmission

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9967193-B2
Application number	US-201214422175-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 4, 2012
Priority date	Sep 4, 2012
Publication date	May 8, 2018
Grant date	May 8, 2018

Abstract

A network system and method regarding data flow transmission, including: a first network connection interface interconnecting with a transmitter; at least two second network connection interfaces interconnecting with a receiver through at least two access networks; and a control unit, used for receiving packets of a data flow from the transmitter by the first network connection interface, selecting an access network from the access networks connecting to the at least two second network connection interfaces to send the packets embedded with the packets of the data flow to the receiver, determining whether to generate at least one nominal reception acknowledgement message corresponding to the packets of the data flow, generating the nominal reception acknowledgement message on behalf receiver if it is determined to generate the nominal reception acknowledgement message, and sending the nominal reception acknowledgement message to the transmitter; and at least one storage medium.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for transmitting a data flow, comprising:
at least one first network interface connected to a transmitting terminal; and
at least two second network interfaces connected to a receiving terminal through at least two access networks;
at least one storage unit; and
at least one processing unit is used for:
(a) receiving a data packet of a data flow from the transmitting terminal through the at least one first network interface;
(b) selecting one access network from the at least two access networks and sending an encapsulating packet to the receiving terminal via the selected access network, wherein the encapsulating packet encapsulates the data packet; wherein the selected access network is used until there is a change of status of the selected access network;
(c) determining whether to create at least one nominal reception acknowledgement message corresponding to the data packet of the data flow; wherein the determining is based on at least one of: storage size of at least one storage unit available to store data packets, speed of network connection, processing capacity of the system;
(d) if it is determined to create at least one nominal reception acknowledgement message, the at least one nominal reception acknowledgement message is created on behalf of the receiving terminal;
(e) sending the at least one nominal reception acknowledgement message to the transmitting terminal; wherein network device stops creating and sending nominal reception acknowledgement message until the network device receives a reception acknowledgement message from the receiving terminal;
(f) if it is determined not to create at least one nominal reception acknowledgement message: waiting for a reception acknowledgement of the data packet or a reception acknowledgement of other data packets of the data flow from the receiving terminal;
(g) if no reception acknowledgement is received from the receiving terminal within a predefined time period: resending the encapsulating packet to the receiving terminal; wherein if a reception acknowledgement message corresponds to two or more data packets of the data flow, resending encapsulating packets encapsulating the two or more data packets of the data flow corresponding to the reception acknowledgement message;
(h) controlling the transmission rate of sending the at least one nominal reception acknowledgement message to the transmitting terminal, comprising: increasing the transmission rate of sending the at least one nominal reception acknowledgement message for increasing transmission rate of data packets at the transmitting terminal; and decreasing the transmission rate of sending the at least one nominal reception acknowledgement message for decreasing transmission rate of data packets at the transmitting terminal;
(i) when the data flow uses transmission control protocol (TCP), receiving a synchronization (SYN) packet from the transmitting terminal; transmitting a SYN encapsulating packet to the receiving terminal, wherein the SYN encapsulating packet encapsulates the SYN packet; wherein the SYN packet is used for establishing the data flow;
wherein the at least one storage unit storing program instructions executable by the at least one processing unit and temporarily storing data packets of the data flow; and
wherein the at least one processing unit is connected to the at least one first network interface, the at least two second network interfaces and the at least one storage unit.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processing unit is further used for configuring source address of the nominal reception acknowledgement message as the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the receiving terminal, and configuring other information of the nominal reception acknowledgement message, wherein the other information comprising options, header checksum, ports, serial number, confirmation number.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processing unit is further used for confirming the reception of one or more reception acknowledgement messages from the receiving terminal through one of the at least two second network interfaces before transmitting the at least one nominal reception acknowledgement message to the transmitting terminal.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one nominal reception acknowledgement message corresponds to two or more data packets of a data flow.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processing unit is further used for stopping to send at least one nominal reception acknowledgement message to the transmitting terminal if the at least one processing unit does not receive one or more reception acknowledgement message from the receiving terminal through one of the at least two second network interfaces for a period of time.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the at least one processing unit is further used for re-sending a data packet which is not confirmed by the receiving terminal and the data packet is encapsulated in an encapsulating packet.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the data flow is based on TCP.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the selection of step (b) is based on status of the at least two access networks; wherein the status is selected from a group consisting of latency, reliability, and speed.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the selection of step (b) is based on a network policy.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processing unit is further used for not creating a nominal reception acknowledgement message corresponding to the last data packet of the data flow.

11. A method for transmitting a data flow through a system, comprising:
(a) receiving a data packet of a data flow from the transmitting terminal through the at least one first network interface;
(b) selecting one access network from the at least two access networks and sending an encapsulating packet to the receiving terminal via the selected access network, wherein the encapsulating packet encapsulates the data packet; wherein the selected access network is used until there is a change of status of the selected access network;
(c) determining whether to create at least one nominal reception acknowledgement message corresponding to the data packet of the data flow; wherein the determining is based on at least one of: storage size of at least one storage unit available to store data packets, speed of network connection, processing capacity of the system;
(d) if it is determined to create at least one nominal reception acknowledgement message, the at least one nominal reception acknowledgement message is created on behalf of the receiving terminal;
(e) sending the at least one nominal reception acknowledgement message to the transmitting terminal; wherein network device stops creating and sending nominal reception acknowledgement message until the network device receives a reception acknowledgement message from the receiving terminal;
(f) if it is determined not to create at least one nominal reception acknowledgement message: waiting for a reception acknowledgement of the data packet or a reception acknowledgement of other data packets of the data flow from the receiving terminal;
(g) if no reception acknowledgement is received from the receiving terminal within a predefined time period: resending the encapsulating packet to the receiving terminal; wherein if a reception acknowledgement message corresponds to two or more data packets of the data flow, resending encapsulating packets encapsulating the two or more data packets of the data flow corresponding to the reception acknowledgement message;
(h) controlling the transmission rate of sending the at least one nominal

Assignees

• Ng Kam Chiu
• Chan Ho Ming
• Chau Kit Wai
• Sung Patrick Ho Wai
• Chan Alex Wing Hong
• Pismo Labs Technology Ltd

Inventors

• Ng Kam Chiu
• Chan Ho Ming
• Chau Kit Wai
• Sung Patrick Ho Wai
• Chan Alex Wing Hong

Classifications

• H04L69/12 Primary

  Protocol engines · CPC title

• H04L47/193 Primary

  at the transport layer, e.g. TCP related · CPC title

• H04L69/14 Primary

  Multichannel or multilink protocols · CPC title

• H04L1/16

  in which the return channel carries supervisory signals, e.g. repetition request signals · CPC title

• H04L1/1887

  Scheduling and prioritising arrangements · CPC title