Method and apparatus for facilitating re-transmitting unacknowledged packets

A computer-executed method for re-transmitting packets in a communication network, comprising:

• sending one or more acknowledgments to a neighbor,
• wherein a respective acknowledgment confirms that the data packets in a given past time slot have been processed;
• and
• sending a processed-through-counter (PTC) to the neighbor,
• wherein the PTC indicates a time slot, and
• wherein the packets transmitted in any time slot up to the time slot indicated in the PTC have either been received and acknowledged or have not been received successfully.

An apparatus for facilitating re-transmitting packets in a communication network, comprising:

• a transmitting mechanism configured to transmit one or more packets to a neighbor in a designated time slot;
• an acknowledgment-receiving mechanism configured to receive one or more acknowledgments from the neighbor, wherein a respective acknowledgment confirms that the data packets in a given past time slot have been processed by the neighbor;
• a processed-through-counter (PTC) receiving mechanism configured to receive a processed-through-counter (PTC) from the neighbor,
• wherein the PTC indicates a time slot;
• and
• wherein the packets transmitted in any time slot up to the time slot indicated in the PTC have either been received and acknowledged by the neighbor or have not been received successfully by the neighbor;
• an identification mechanism configured to identify a time slot, up to the time slot indicated in the PTC and which has not been acknowledged by the neighbor;
• and
• a re-transmitting mechanism configured to re-transmit previously transmitted packets associated with the identified time slot to the neighbor without using a re-transmit timer.

An apparatus for facilitating re-transmitting packets in a communication network, comprising, comprising:

• an acknowledgement-sending mechanism configured to send one or more acknowledgments to a neighbor,
• wherein a respective acknowledgment confirms that the data packets in a given past time slot have been processed;
• and
• a process-through-counter-sending mechanism configured to send a processed-through-counter (PTC) to the neighbor,
• wherein the PTC indicates a time slot, and
• wherein the packets transmitted in any time slot up to the time slot indicated in the PTC have either been received and acknowledged or have not been received successfully.