System and method for recovery of packets in overlay networks

A method for recovering packets, comprising:

• a) upon determining satisfaction of a packet recovery condition for a transmitted packet from a sender node to a receiver node:
• associating N scheduled times with N requests for retransmission of the transmitted packet to the sender node, wherein at least one of the N scheduled times includes a receiver waiting time, wherein the receiver waiting time includes a non-zero delay that is less than a round trip latency between the sender and receiver nodes;
• and
• at each scheduled time, transmitting a request for retransmission of the transmitted packet;
• and
• b) upon the first receipt of a request for retransmission of the transmitted packet at the sender node:
• associating M scheduled times with M retransmissions of the transmitted packet to the receiver node, wherein at least one of the M scheduled times includes a sender waiting time, wherein the sender waiting time includes a non-zero delay between the end of one retransmission and the start of a subsequent retransmission that is less than the round trip latency between the sender and receiver nodes;
• and
• at each scheduled time, retransmitting the transmitted packet, wherein the N and M are non-zero positive integers and wherein at least one of N or M is greater than one.

A packet recovery method, comprising:

• upon determining satisfaction of a packet recovery condition associated with a transmitted packet from a sender node at a receiver node, transmitting N requests for retransmission of the transmitted packet to the sender node at N scheduled times, wherein at least one of the N scheduled times includes a receiver waiting time, wherein the receiver waiting time includes a non-zero delay that is less than a round trip latency between the sender and receiver nodes;
• and
• upon the first receipt of a request for retransmission of the transmitted packet, using an erasure coding function, with integer parameter k greater than 1 and less than M, to generate M encoded blocks such that any k out of M encoded blocks are sufficient to recreate the transmitted packet at the receiver node,
• transmitting the M encoded blocks to the receiver node at M scheduled times, wherein at least one of the M scheduled times includes a sender waiting time, wherein N and M are non-zero positive integers, and wherein M is greater than two.

A method for recovering packets, comprising:

• a) upon determining satisfaction of a packet recovery condition for a transmitted packet from a sender node to a receiver node:
• associating N scheduled times with N requests for retransmission of the transmitted packet to the sender node, wherein at least one of the N scheduled times includes a receiver waiting time, wherein the receiver waiting time includes a non-zero delay that is less than a round trip latency between the sender and receiver nodes;
• and
• at each scheduled time, transmitting a request for retransmission of the transmitted packet;
• and
• b) upon the first receipt of a request for retransmission of the transmitted packet at the sender node:
• using an erasure coding function, with integer parameter k greater than 1 and less than M, to generate M encoded blocks such that any k out of M encoded blocks are sufficient to recreate the transmitted packet at the receiver node;
• and
• associating M scheduled times, each of them with one of the M encoded blocks, wherein at least one of the M scheduled times includes a sender waiting time;
• and
• at each scheduled time, transmitting the corresponding encoded block to the receiver node, wherein the N and M are non-zero positive integers and M is greater than two.

A packet recovery method at a receiver node, comprising:

• only upon the first determination of satisfaction of a packet recovery condition associated with a transmitted packet to the receive node, transmitting N requests for retransmission of the transmitted packet at N scheduled times, wherein at least one of the N scheduled times includes a receiver waiting time, wherein the receiver waiting time is a non-zero delay less than a round trip latency between the sender and receiver nodes;
• wherein N is an integer greater than one;
• and
• receiving M retransmissions of the transmitted packet, wherein M is a non-zero positive integer.

A packet retransmission method at a sender node, comprising:

• receiving N requests for retransmission of a transmitted packet by the sender node;
• and
• only upon the first receipt of a request for retransmission of the transmitted packet, performing M retransmissions of the transmitted packet at M scheduled time, wherein at least one of the M scheduled time includes a sender waiting time, wherein the sender waiting time is a non-zero delay between the end of one retransmission and the start of a subsequent retransmission that is also less than the round trip latency;
• wherein N and M are non-zero positive integers, and wherein N and M are greater than one.

A receiver node, comprising:

• a processor configured to make a determination that a packet recovery condition associated with a transmitted packet to the receiver node is satisfied;
• a transmitter that only upon the first determination of satisfaction of the packet recovery condition transmits N requests for retransmission of the transmitted packet at N scheduled times, wherein at least one of the N scheduled times includes a receiver waiting time, wherein the receiver waiting time is a non-zero delay less than a round trip latency between the sender and receiver nodes;
• and wherein N is an integer greater than one;
• and
• a receiver configured to receive M retransmissions of the transmitted packet, wherein M is a non-zero positive integer.

A sender node, comprising:

• a receiver configured to receive N requests for retransmission of a transmitted packet by the sender node;
• a processor configured to make a determination of the first receipt of a request for retransmission of the transmitted packet;
• and
• a transmitter that only upon the first receipt of a request for retransmission of the transmitted packet, performs M retransmissions of the transmitted packet at respective M scheduled times, including a sender waiting time that is a non-zero delay between the end of one retransmission and the start of a subsequent retransmission that is also less than the round trip latency, wherein N and M are non-zero positive integers, and wherein N and M are greater than one.