# US 2008/0186973 A1 · Communications apparatus and frame control method

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- Number: US 2008/0186973 A1
- Document ID: US20080186973A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 12/052,567
- Filed: 2008-03-20
- Published: 2008-08-07
- Earliest claimed: 2005-11-30
- Assignees: Fujitsu Limited
- Inventors: Shinji Shihara; Kenichiro Takeda
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20080186973A1

## CPC

- H04L 45/00: Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks (routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00)
- H04L 12/4625: {Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge}
- H04L 45/24: Multipath
- H04L 47/10: Flow control; Congestion control
- H04L 47/34: ensuring sequence integrity, e.g. using sequence numbers
- H04L 69/14: Multichannel or multilink protocols
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)

## Abstract

In a frame control method in a communications system providing a multipath function for controlling a frame having a header area and a data area, attaching, in a transmission apparatus, order information indicating a transmission order to the data area of the frame; outputting, from the transmission apparatus to a network, the frame with the attached order information, through a path selected from a plurality of paths; reading out, in a receiving apparatus, the order information from the data area of the frame received through the network; and determining, in the receiving apparatus, whether or not to transfer the received frame to a processing unit in an upper layer to process control information stored in the header area of the frame, in accordance with the read-out order information.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A frame control method for controlling a frame comprising a header area and a data area in a communications system providing a multipath function, comprising:
attaching, in a transmission apparatus, to the data area of the frame, order information indicating a transmission order;
outputting, from the transmission apparatus to a network, the frame with the attached order information, via a path selected from a plurality of paths;
reading out, in a receiving apparatus, the order information from the data area of the frame received through the network; and
determining, in the receiving apparatus, whether or not to transfer the received frame to a processing unit in an upper layer to process control information stored in the header area of the frame, in accordance with the read-out order information.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The frame control method according to claim 1, wherein
when the receiving apparatus detects, by analyzing the order information in each received frame, that a frame which should have been received immediately before a newly received frame has already been received, the newly received frame is forwarded to the processing unit in the upper layer.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The frame control method according to claim 1, wherein
a timer is activated when the receiving apparatus detects, by analyzing the order information in each received frame, that a frame which should have been received immediately before newly a received frame has not received;
the newly received frame is forwarded to the processing unit in the upper layer, when the frame which should have been received immediately before the newly received frame is received within a predetermined time after the activation of the timer; and
the newly received frame is discarded, when the frame which should have been received immediately before the newly received frame is not received within the predetermined time after the activation of the timer.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The frame control method according to claim 3, wherein
when the frame which should have been received immediately before the newly received frame is received within the predetermined time after the activation of the timer, the frame that should have been received immediately before the newly received frame is forwarded to the processing unit in the upper layer, and the newly received frame is forwarded to the processing unit next.

### Claim 5

A communications apparatus for receiving, via a network, a frame having order information attached to a data area of the frame indicating a transmission order of frames, the frame being transmitted from a transmission apparatus which controls a frame comprising a header area and a data area, in a communications system providing a multipath function, comprising:
a read-out unit for reading out the order information from the data area of the frame received through the network;
a determination unit for determining, whether or not to transfer the received frame to a processing unit in an upper layer to process control information stored in the header area of the frame, in accordance with the read-out order information.