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US 5,963,551 AGranted
System and method for dynamically reconfigurable packet transmission
AssigneeInnomedia Pte Ltd.
InventorJacek Minko
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and system for packet-switched voice communication between two remote points over a randomly connected network such as the Internet includes use of a first index to serialize the outgoing packets, and a return index to confirm receipt. In the event the return index indicates an unacceptable number of packets have not been received at their destination within a limited time, the system causes at least some of the lost packets to be retransmitted, allowing a more complete recreation of the sender's voice of the random connection.
Claims19
A system for communicating digital audio signals over a randomly connected link between two transceivers, comprising:
- first and second sender/receiver units communicating with each other via a random network connection and configured for both transmitting and receiving data packets representative of audio information, each packet containing an index to uniquely identify the packet;
- means for causing the first sender/receiver unit to start a counter and an adjustment timer to determine a number of lost packets for a specified time period, if a difference between the index of a new packet and the index of a last previous packet is greater than one;
- and
- means for prompting the second sender/receiver unit to retransmit to the first sender/receiver unit at least some of the data packets when the number of lost packets for the specified time exceeds a predetermined threshold.
1 more element
A method for recovering lost packets representing audio data in a network environment comprising steps, performed by a receiving station in the network, of:
- receiving a new audio data packet from a sending station in the network, wherein the new packet contains a packet index, wherein the packet index is a numerical value that identifies the order of transmission of the new packet;
- storing a packet index of a last previous packet in a memory;
- comparing the stored packet index and the packet index of the new packet to yield a difference;
- if the difference is greater than one, starting an adjustment timer and a the counter to determine a number of lost audio packets for a specific period of time;
- initiating a lost audio packet recovery procedure, if the adjustment timer and the counter show that the number of lost packets counted by the counter exceeds a predetermined threshold for the number of lost audio packets for the time specified by the adjustment timer;
- and
- forwarding lost audio packet recovery information to the sending station, as part of the lost audio packet recovery procedures.
4 more elements
An apparatus for recovering lost packets representing audio data in a network environment, comprising:
- a sender/receiver unit including:
- a receiver;
- and
- means for sending data, the sender/receiver unit communicating with a remote sender/receiver unit in the network, the receiver causing the sender/receiver unit to receive a new packet from the remote sender/receiver unit, wherein the packet contains a packet index, wherein the packet index is the numerical value that identifies the order of transmission for the packet;
- the receiver being further configured to perform steps, including:
- storing a packet index of a last packet previously received in memory,
- comparing the stored packet index and the packet index of the new packet to yield a difference;
- starting, if the difference is greater than one, an adjustment timer and a counter to determine the number of lost audio packets for a specific period of time;
- initiating a lost audio packet recovery procedure, if the adjustment timer and the counter show that the number of lost packets counted by the counter exceeds a predetermined threshold for the number of lost audio packets for the time specified by the adjustment timer;
- and
- causing the sender/receiver unit to forward lost audio packet recovery information to the remote sender/receiver unit as part of the lost audio packet recovery procedure.
8 more elements
A system for recovering lost packets representing audio data in a network environment, comprising:
- first and second sender/receiver units communicating with each other and being configured for both transmitting and receiving packets representing audio data, each packet containing a index to uniquely identify the packet;
- means for causing the first sender/receiver unit to start a counter and an adjustment timer to determine a number of lost packets for a specified time period, if a difference between the index of a new packet and the index of a last previous packet is greater than one;
- and
- means for causing the first sender/receiver unit to initiate a lost packet recovery procedure when the number of lost packets for the specified period exceeds a predetermined threshold, the lost packet recovery procedure includes sending a lost packet recovery information;
- means for causing the second sender/receiver unit to receive the lost packet recovery information;
- means for causing the second sender/receiver unit to provide a compression method suitably selected for recovery of the lost packets;
- means for causing the first sender/receiver unit to prepare for recovering any lost packets, a lost packet being resent in tandem with a newly sent packet;
- and
- means for causing both of the first and second sender/receiver units to stop the lost packet recovery procedure when the number of lost packets is under a specified threshold.
6 more elements
A method for recovering lost packets representing audio data in a network environment comprising:
- receiving, by a receiver, packets representing audio data, each packet containing a index to uniquely identify the packet;
- counting, in the receiver, a number of lost packets for a specified time period if a difference between the index of a previously received packet and the index of a currently received packet is greater than one;
- initiating, by the receiver, a lost packet recovery procedure when the number of lost packets for the specified period exceeds a predetermined threshold, the lost packet recovery procedure includes sending, from the receiver to a sender, a lost packet recovery information;
- providing, in the sender, a compression method suitably selected for recovery of the lost packets;
- preparing, in the receiver, to recover any lost packets resent by the sender, for each lost packet resent by the sender the lost packet is sent in tandem with a new packet;
- and
- sending from the receiver to the sender a stop recovery message when the number of lost packets is under a specified threshold.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.