TCP throughput control by imposing temporal delay

A method of managing a communications over a network, comprising:

• receiving a network packet at an intermediate device interposed between a sending device and a receiving device;
• determining a status of a buffer within the intermediate device and is configured for receiving the network packet;
• when it is determined that the status of the buffer indicates that the buffer's contents are increasing and it is determined that the buffer's contents is above a threshold value, such that both determinations are valid, increasing a temporal delay for sending of an acknowledgement (ACK) to network packets received from the sending device;
• when it is determined that the status of the buffer indicates that the buffer's contents are decreasing and it is determined that the buffer's contents is above the threshold value, such that both determinations are valid, decreasing a temporal delay for sending of an ACK to network packets received from the sending device;
• and
• selectively sending the ACK based on the determined temporal delay and the buffer's contents, in response to the received network packet.

A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium having machine-executable instructions for managing communications over a network, the machine-executable instructions when installed onto a network device interposed between a sending network device and a receiving network device enables the interposed network device to perform actions, comprising:

• receiving a network packet from the sending network device;
• when it is determined that a buffer's contents are increasing and when it is also determined that the buffer's contents is above a threshold value, selectively increasing a temporal delay for sending of an acknowledgement (ACK) to network packets received from the sending device;
• when it is determined that the buffer's contents are decreasing and when it is also determined that the buffer's contents is above the threshold value, selectively decreasing a temporal delay for sending of an acknowledgement (ACK) to network packets received from the sending device;
• and
• based on the temporal delay, selectively sending the ACK to the sending device.

A traffic management device (TMD) for enabling communications between at least one sending network device and a receiving network device, comprising:

• a transceiver that receives packets from the sending network device destined for the receiving network device;
• and
• a processor for executing instructions that:
• selectively delays sending of an acknowledgement (ACK) to the sending device in response to receiving a network packet, based, at least in part, on whether a buffer's contents are above a threshold value, and further whether the buffer's contents are also increasing, at substantially steady-state, or decreasing;
• and
• when it is determined that the contents of the buffer are substantially increasing above the threshold value, and a round trip time for the sending network device is less than a round trip time for a destination, sending an explicit congestion notification (ECN) to the sending network device.