Robust header compression in packet communications
AssigneeTelefonktiebolaget L M Ericsson (publ)
InventorsLars-Erik Jonsson, Krister Svanbro, Mikael Degermark
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A technique for compressing header information to produce a compressed header portion of a data packet to be transmitted across a communication channel includes generating a checksum from the header information, and providing the checksum as the compressed header portion.
Claims10
A method of compressing header information to produce a compressed header portion of a given data packet to be transmitted across a communication channel, said method comprising the steps of:
- determining that the header information of the given data packet includes only static information or information with predictable differences from the header information of a previous data packet;
- generating a checksum from the header information of the given data packet;
- and
- transmitting only the checksum as the compressed header portion of the given data packet in response to determining that the header information of the given data packet includes only static information or information with predictable differences from the header information of the previous data packet.
An apparatus for compressing header information to produce a compressed header portion of a given data packet to be transmitted across a communication channel, said apparatus comprising:
- an input for receiving the header information of the given data packet;
- means for determining that the header information of the given data packet includes only static information or information with predictable differences from the header information of a previous data packet;
- a checksum generator coupled to said input for generating a checksum from the header information of the given data packet;
- and
- an output coupled to said checksum generator for transmitting only the checksum as said compressed header portion of the given data packet.
A method of decompressing a compressed header portion of a given data packet received from a communication channel in order to produce header information, wherein the given data packet is received following a period of inactivity after receiving a previous data packet, said method comprising the steps of:
- obtaining from the compressed header portion of the given data packet, a received version of a checksum that was generated from the header information of the given data packet at a transmitting end of the communication channel;
- obtaining from the compressed header portion of the given data packet, at least one least significant bit of a time stamp having a value represented by a plurality of bits;
- determining an absolute time difference between reception of the previous data packet and reception of the given data packet;
- obtaining an estimate of how much the time stamp typically varies per unit of time;
- determining a time stamp difference estimate of a difference between a time stamp of the previous data packet and the time stamp of the given data packet, said time stamp difference estimate being determined from the absolute time difference and the estimate of how much the time stamp typically varies per unit of time, wherein the time stamp difference estimate includes most significant bits and least significant bits;
- combining the most significant bits of the time stamp difference estimate with the at least one least significant bit of the time stamp obtained from the compressed header portion of the given data packet to provide a guess of an uncompressed time stamp value for the given data packet;
- utilizing the guess of the uncompressed time stamp value for the given data packet to generate a checksum;
- and
- comparing the generated checksum with the received version of the checksum to verify the guess of the uncompressed time stamp value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.