Reducing the complexities of the transmission control protocol for a high-speed networking environment

A method for processing a Transmission Control Protocol in a first endpoint of a network, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a number of packets from a second endpoint, each one of the packets having the transmission control protocol format and including control information that is representative of the number of packets successfully received by the second endpoint;
• and
• periodically processing the control information of one of the number of received packets to determine a transmission rate of the first endpoint, where the transmission rate is a function of the number of packets successfully received by the second endpoint as represented by said control information of said one of the number of received packets;
• and
• sending a second plurality of packets from the first endpoint to the second endpoint at the transmission rate, each packet having the transmission control protocol format wherein the period of the processing step is determined by the receipt of N packets in the receiving step, where N>1.

A method for acknowledging a plurality of packets received in a first endpoint of a network, the packets comprising control information and data in a Transmission Control Protocol format, the packets sent from a second endpoint of the network,the method comprising the steps of:

• a) receiving in the first endpoint a number of packets from the second endpoint;
• and
• b) sending an acknowledgment to the second endpoint if either 1) a number, N, of packets have been received from the second endpoint in step a), or 2) a time D expires, the acknowledgment representing that a plurality of the number of received TCP packets of step a) have been received correctly;
• where N>1, and D>0 and D is a function of the round trip time, where the round trip time is the time interval from when a packet is transmitted by the first endpoint and its acknowledgment by the second endpoint is received in the first endpoint.

A method for acknowledging a plurality of packets received in a first endpoint of a network, the packets comprising control information and data in a Transmission Control Protocol format, the packets sent from a second endpoint of the network, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) receiving in the first endpoint a number of packets from the second endpoint;
• and
• b) sending an acknowledgment to the second endpoint if either 1) a number, N, of packets have been received from the second endpoint in step a), or 2) a time D expires, the acknowledgment representing that a plurality of the number of received TCP packets of step a) have been received correctly;
• where N>1, and D>0 and N is a function of the round trip time, where the round trip time is the time interval from when a packet is transmitted by the first endpoint and its acknowledgment by the second endpoint is received in the first endpoint.