Real-time packet transforms to avoid re-transmissions

A method for transmitting a standard format network packet containing real time information through a multi-hop network, comprising the steps of:

• modifying said packet by adding redundant header information to the packet;
• modifying at least one packet header within said packet to add a position offset reference number that points to redundant header information;
• revising all checksums within the packet as modified to agree with the packet contents as modified;
• transmitting the packet to a first relay node in the multi-hop network;
• if the modified packet as received by the first relay node is determined to have a checksum mismatch relative to header information, modifying the packet by retrieving the redundant header information pointed to by said position offset reference number and replacing a portion of the header information for the packet with said redundant header information;
• recalculating checksums as required within the packet to agree with the packet contents as modified;
• transmitting the modified packet to a second network node within the multi-hop network;
• and
• when the packet is received by an end point node within the multi-hop network, modifying the packet including recalculating all checksums to return the packet's format to that of the standard packet format.

A method of transforming of an IP packet for transmission on a network comprising:

• transforming the packet by adding redundant header information and position offset reference numbers that point to said redundant header information to the IP packet;
• and
• whereupon being received by a network node, said transformed IP packet is processed by the method comprising the steps of:
• examining the transformed packet to determine if a level 2 cyclic redundancy check data for the packet's Layer 2 header matches;
• if the level 2 cyclic redundancy check data for the Layer 2 header does not match, retrieving first redundant header information located within said transformed packet according to a first position offset reference number and repairing the Layer 2 header utilizing said first redundant header information;
• examining the transformed packet to determine if a level 3 cyclic redundancy check data for the packet's header related to Layer 3 and above matches;
• if the level 2 cyclic redundancy check data related to Layer 3 and above does not match, retrieving second redundant header information located within said packet according to a second position offset reference number and repairing the header related to Layer 3 and above utilizing said second redundant header information;
• and
• if it is determined that the network node is not an end point node, recalculating the level 2 cyclic redundancy check data and the level 3 cyclic redundancy check data within the transformed packet as required to agree with the contents of the packet thus repaired, and transmitting the packet to another network node.