Optimizing IEEE 802.11 for TCP/IP data transfer

An apparatus for performing Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) data packet transfers over an IEEE 802.11 network, comprising:

• a network interface configured according to IEEE 802.11 for communication over a network according to a TCP/IP layered communication protocol;
• a media access communication (MAC) layer within said network interface;
• and
• at least one optimization process executing within said MAC layer and configured for formatting and processing network packets;
• wherein said optimization processing comprises performing partial packet retransmission, in response to receiving a partial ACK which contains information on error blocks from a receiver, by dividing each Internet Protocol (IP) packet into multiple data blocks and adding Forward Error Correction (FEC) or checksum information for the data blocks within additional bytes defined within the IEEE 802.11 frame which are not utilized in IP protocol frames, and retransmitting blocks by piggybacking them within said extra bytes within the IEEE 802.11 frame.

A method of optimizing Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) data packet transfer over an IEEE 802.11 wireless network, comprising:

• communicating over a IEEE 802.11 wireless standard between a sender and receiver according to a TCP/IP layered communication protocol;
• dividing a network packet frame into a plurality of data blocks;
• and
• wherein an IP data packet structure is used within an IEEE 802.11 data packet frame of a media access communication (MAC) layer;
• wherein said IEEE 802.11 data packet frame is larger than said IP data packet structure which leaves additional bytes within the IEEE802.11 data packet frame, which is formatted into multiple blocks;
• wherein said Internet Protocol (IP) protocol defines a Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) size;
• partially retransmitting untransmitted data blocks in said plurality of data blocks corresponding to the network packet frame, in response to receiving a partial ACK which contains information from a receiver on which blocks from the packet to retransmit, by piggybacking specific blocks from the packet within extra bytes of space in a frame under the IEEE 802.11 wireless standard which are not available in the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) size utilized with the Internet Protocol (IP) protocol.

A network data transfer optimization system for optimizing network packet communications between two non-identical networks, the system comprising:

• a network packet data formatting unit configured for formatting network packets into frames for transmission from a first network comprising a Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) based network to a second network comprising an IEEE 802.11 wireless network;
• wherein an internet protocol (IP) data packet structure is used within an IEEE 802.11 data packet frame of a media access communication (MAC) layer;
• wherein said IEEE 802.11 data packet frame is larger than said IP data packet structure which leaves extra bytes within the IEEE802.11 data packet frame for packet retransmission, which is formatted into multiple blocks;
• a network packet retransmission unit configured for partially retransmitting unreceived data blocks in the network packets, in response to receiving a partial ACK which contains information from a receiver on which blocks from the packet to retransmit, by piggybacking the data within extra bytes which are available in a frame under the IEEE 802.11 protocol and not used in the TCP/IP network between said first network and said second network;
• and
• a network packet suppression unit configured for deleting a number of unnecessary network acknowledgment packets belonging to the same connection and stored on the packet queue and corresponding to network packets transmitted between said first network and said second network to enable a network connection to said first network.

A wireless network, comprising:

• a first network having a first network transport protocol comprising a Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP);
• a second network having a second network transport protocol comprising an IEEE 802.11 wireless network;
• wherein an internet protocol (IP) data packet structure is used within an IEEE 802.11 data packet frame of a media access communication (MAC) layer;
• wherein said IEEE 802.11 data packet frame is larger than said IP data packet structure which leaves extra byte space within the IEEE802.11 data packet frame, which is formatted into multiple blocks;
• and
• a network data transfer optimization system coupled to a media access control layer of said second network and configured for optimizing data transfer between network nodes in said first network and said second network;
• wherein said optimization system utilizes ACK frames, and the sending of partial ACKs, by the receiver to feedback information on unrecoverable or corrupted data blocks, wherein upon receipt the sender can limit transmission to a retransmission of unrecoverable or corrupted blocks within the packet without retransmitting the entire data packet frame;
• and
• wherein said retransmitted unrecoverable or corrupted blocks are piggybacked in a subsequent frame by using extra byte space in the IEEE 802.11 frame which are not utilized in the IP frame.