Method and apparatus for governing information transfer using an efficient transport protocol

Apparatus for governing information transfer between a transmitter and a receiver, said apparatus comprising:

• apparatus, associated with the transmitter, operative to transmit a first echo request packet and to cause a first plurality of packets to be transmitted by the transmitter without regard to whether an echo return responsive to said echo request packet is received from the receiver, and thereafter, if an echo return has not been received, subsequent to said first echo request packet, to transmit at least one further echo request packet and not to transmit any further data packets until receipt of an echo return;
• apparatus, associated with the transmitter, responsive to the time duration between transmission of an echo request packet and receipt of an echo return corresponding thereto for increasing the rate of transmission by the transmitter above the rate at which the receiver receives the data;
• and
• apparatus, associated with the transmitter, for comparing the rate at which the receiver receives transmissions in response to an increased rate of transmission of the transmitter with the rate at which the receiver received transmissions prior to increasing the rate of transmission.

A data network comprising:

• a plurality of data utilization elements including at least one transmitter and at least one receiver;
• interconnection apparatus for interconnecting said plurality of data utilization elements and defining at least one network path between a transmitter and a receiver, which network path may include intermediate nodes;
• and
• apparatus for governing information transfer between said transmitter and said receiver along said network path, the apparatus comprising:
• a rate controller associated with the transmitter;
• and
• a rate monitor associated with the receiver, said rate controller and said rate monitor being operative according to a rate based transport protocol operative to determine the rate of information transmission of said transmitter without rate oscillation while the network background load remains stable, said rate based transport protocol being operative to set the rate of information transmission to be at least partially dependent on the rate at which the receiver actually receives a plurality of packets when the transmitter and receiver are operated in a specific rate setting mode, wherein the transmitter transmits said plurality of packets without intentionally introducing delays and the receiver measures the rate at which that plurality of packets is received.

A data network comprising:

• a plurality of data utilization elements including a transmitter and a receiver;
• interconnection apparatus for interconnecting said plurality of data utilization elements;
• and
• apparatus for governing information transfer between said transmitter and said receiver, said apparatus for governing information transfer being operative according to a rate based transport protocol for determining an information transmission rate of said transmitter based at least in part on transmitting a group of packets by said transmitter, without regard to whether any feedback from said receiver is received during the transmission of the packets, and measuring the actual rate at which this group of packets is transmitted.

A data network comprising:

• a plurality of data utilization elements including a transmitter and a receiver;
• interconnection apparatus for interconnecting said plurality of data utilization elements;
• and
• apparatus for governing information transfer between said transmitter and said receiver, said apparatus for governing information transfer being operative according to a rate based transport protocol for determining an information transmission rate of said transmitter by measuring the actual rate of receipt of packets at said receiver.

A data network comprising:

• a plurality of data utilization elements including a transmitter and a receiver;
• interconnection apparatus for interconnecting said plurality of data utilization elements;
• and
• apparatus for governing information transfer between a transmitter and a receiver, which apparatus is operative to transmit a first echo request packet and to cause a plurality of packets to be transmitted by said transmitter without regard to whether an echo return responsive to said echo request packet is received from said receiver, and thereafter, if an echo return has not been received, subsequent to said first echo request packet, to transmit at least one further echo request packet and not to transmit any further data packets until receipt of an echo return.

A data network comprising:

• a plurality of data utilization elements including a transmitter and a receiver;
• interconnection apparatus for interconnecting said plurality of data utilization elements;
• and
• apparatus for governing information transfer between said transmitter and said receiver, which apparatus is operative to govern the data transmission rate of said transmitter and includes:
• apparatus for sensing the duration of time required for transmission by the transmitter of a group of packets and the elapsed time from reception of a first one of said group of packets until reception of the last one of said group of packets by said receiver;
• apparatus responsive to a relationship of said duration of time and said elapsed time for initially setting data transmission rate and later for non-continuously increasing the data transmission rate above the current rate of reception of the receiver;
• apparatus responsive to said apparatus for sensing for comparing the rate at which said receiver receives transmissions in response to an increased rate of transmission of said transmitter with the rate at which said receiver received transmissions prior to increasing the rate of transmission and providing an output indication if the rate of reception increased as the result of the increased rate of transmission;
• and
• apparatus responsive to said output indication, for causing said transmitter to increase the rate of data packet transmission.

A data network comprising:

• a plurality of data utilization elements including a transmitter and a receiver;
• interconnection apparatus for interconnecting said plurality of data utilization elements;
• and
• apparatus for governing information transfer between said transmitter and said receiver, which apparatus is operative to cause transmission of a selected number of data packets in a generally unarrested sequence according to a rate based transport protocol whose rate is selected in accordance with that rate at which said receiver actually receives a plurality of data packets when the transmitter and receiver are operated in a specific rate setting mode, wherein the transmitter transmits said plurality of packets without intentionally introducing delays and the receiver measures the rate at which that plurality of packets is received, and wherein the number of packets in said sequence is selected based at least in part on the round trip delay in the network.

A data communication method useful with a network comprising a plurality of data utilization elements including a transmitter and a receiver and interconnection apparatus for interconnecting said plurality of data utilization elements and including the step of governing an information transfer rate between said transmitter and said receiver including the steps of:

• transmitting a first echo request packet;
• causing a plurality of packets to be transmitted by said transmitter without regard to whether an echo return responsive to said echo request packet is received from said receiver;
• and thereafter,
• if an echo return has not been received, subsequent to said first echo request packet, transmitting at least one further echo request and refraining from transmitting any further data packets until receipt of an echo return.

A data communication method useful with a network comprising a plurality of data utilization elements including at least one transmitter and at least one receiver;

• interconnection apparatus for interconnecting said plurality of data utilization elements and a sensor for sensing the rate at which a data utilization element receives data packets, said method including the step of governing information transfer between a transmitter and a receiver including the steps of:
• governing the rate of data transmission by said transmitter including:
• transmitting a first echo request packet and a plurality of packets without regard to whether an echo return responsive to said echo request packet is received from a receiver;
• and thereafter,
• if an echo return has not been received, subsequent to said first echo request packet, transmitting at least one further echo request packet and refraining from transmitting any further data packets until receipt of an echo return;
• increasing the rate of transmission by the transmitter above the rate at which the receiver receives the data, responsive to the elapsed time between transmission of an echo request packet and receipt of an echo return corresponding thereto;
• and
• comparing the rate at which the receiver receives transmissions in response to an increased rate of transmission of the transmitter with the rate at which the receiver received transmissions prior to increasing the rate of transmission.

A data communication method useful with a network comprising a plurality of data utilization elements including a transmitter and a receiver;

• interconnection apparatus for interconnecting said plurality of data utilization elements and a sensor for sensing the rate at which said receiver receives data packets, said method including the step of governing information transfer between said plurality of data utilization elements including the steps of:
• governing the data transmission rate of said transmitter and including:
• sensing the duration of time required for transmission by the transmitter of a group of packets and the elapsed time from reception of a first one of said group of packets until reception of the last one of said group of packets by said receiver;
• responsive to the relationship between said duration of time and said elapsed time, initially setting data transmission rate and later non-continuously increasing the data transmission rate above the current rate of reception of the receiver;
• responsive to said sensor, comparing the rate at which the receiver receives transmissions in response to an increased rate of transmission of the transmitter with the rate at which the receiver received transmissions prior to increasing the rate of transmission and providing an output indication if the rate of reception increased as the result of the increased rate of transmission;
• and
• responsive to said output indication, causing the transmitter to increase the rate of data packet transmission.

A method for governing information transfer across an end-to-end path comprising a transmitter, a receiver and an interconnecting network portion, which network portion may include intermediate nodes, the method comprising the steps of:

• monitoring the instantaneous throughput of the end-to-end path by the transmitter;
• upon detection of a non-instantaneous occurrence of said path being underutilized, determining a new rate of information transmission by said transmitter by sensing the rate at which the receiver actually receives a plurality of packets when the transmitter and receiver are operated in a specific rate setting mode, wherein the transmitter transmits a plurality of packets without intentionally introducing delays, which increases path utilization without overloading the path;
• and
• transmitting information at the new rate.

Apparatus for governing information transfer between a transmitter and a receiver along a network path interconnecting the transmitter and the receiver, the apparatus comprising apparatus for governing a flow of data by transmitting echo request packets for receiver queue control purposes comprising:

• apparatus for transmitting echo request packets;
• apparatus for receiving transmitted echo request packets and providing echo response packets;
• and
• receiver queue control apparatus for sensing receipt of echo response packets and providing receiver queue control responsive thereto.

A data network comprising:

• a plurality of data utilization elements including at least one transmitter and at least one receiver;
• interconnection apparatus for interconnecting said plurality of data utilization elements and providing a path between said transmitter and said receiver, which path may include intermediate nodes;
• and
• apparatus for governing information transfer across said path, the apparatus comprising:
• an instantaneous path throughput monitoring unit;
• and information transfer rate determining apparatus operative, upon detection of a non-instantaneous occurrence of said path being underutilized, as indicated by consecutive earlier than expected receipts of echo responses along the path, to set a higher rate of information transmission by said transmitter which increases path utilization without overloading the path.

A data network comprising:

• a plurality of data utilization elements;
• interconnection apparatus for interconnecting said plurality of data utilization elements;
• and
• apparatus for governing information transfer across a path comprising a transmitter transmitting information at a first rate, a receiver and an interconnecting network portion, which network portion may include intermediate nodes, the apparatus comprising:
• apparatus for monitoring at the transmitter a decrease in the throughput of the path as indicated by later than expected receipt of an echo return response along the path;
• and
• information transmission control apparatus operative, upon detection, at the transmitter with the aid of the receiver, of an occurrence of reduced end-to-end effective path throughput, to cause information transmission to be ceased for a first time period and to subsequently be resumed at the first rate.

A data network comprising:

• plurality of data utilization elements including a transmitter and a receiver;
• interconnection apparatus for interconnecting said plurality of data utilization elements;
• a sensor for sensing the rate at which said receiver receives data packets;
• and
• apparatus for governing information transfer between said transmitter and said receiver, which apparatus is operative to govern the rate of data transmission by said transmitter by non-continuously causing the rate of data transmission to increase such that the rate at which the data is received by said receiver, also increases, and
• wherein said apparatus for governing information transfer also includes apparatus responsive to the relationship between the duration of time required for transmission by the transmitter of a group of packets and the elapsed time from reception of a first one of said group of packets until reception of the last one of said group of packets by the receiver for initially setting said data transmission rate and later for non-continuously increasing the transmission rate by the transmitter above the rate at which the receiver currently receives the data.

Apparatus for governing information transfer between a transmitter and a receiver along a network path interconnecting the transmitter and the receiver, which network path may include intermediate nodes, the apparatus comprising:

• a rate controller;
• and
• a rate monitor,
• said rate controller and rate monitor being operative according to a rate based transport protocol operative to determine the rate of information transmission of said transmitter, said rate based transport protocol being operative to set the rate of information transmission according to the rate at which the receiver actually receives a plurality of packets when the transmitter and receiver are operated in a specific rate setting mode, wherein the transmitter transmits said plurality of packets without intentionally introducing delays and the rate monitor monitors the rate at which that plurality of packets is received.

A data network comprising:

• a plurality of data utilization elements including at least one transmitter and at least one receiver;
• interconnection apparatus for interconnecting said plurality of data utilization elements and defining at least one network path between a transmitter and a receiver, which network path may include intermediate nodes;
• and
• apparatus for governing information transfer between said transmitter and said receiver along said network path, the apparatus comprising:
• a rate controller;
• and
• a rate monitor,
• said rate controller and rate monitor being operative according to a rate based transport protocol operative to determine the rate of information transmission of said transmitter, said rate based transport protocol being operative to set the rate of information transmission according to the rate at which the receiver actually receives a plurality of packets when the transmitter and receiver are operated in a specific rate setting mode, wherein the transmitter transmits said plurality of packets without intentionally introducing delays and the rate monitor monitors the rate at which that plurality of packets is received.