Forward error correction for a data flow associated with a connectionless packet network service

#Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

#Near real-time delivery of packetized data over a network using a connectionless packet network service such as the Internet Protocol (IP) may be important for applications that may have multimedia and/or location-based capabilities. Applications having multimedia and/or location-based capabilities may require real-time or substantially simultaneous delivery of packetized data. For example, packetized data for a multimedia application may include packetized video and audio data. In some examples, the packetized video and audio data may need to arrive at a destination at approximately the same time to have the video match the audio when used by the multimedia capable application. Near real-time delivery may be difficult in a network environment such as the Internet where packetized data may be forwarded via separate routes and/or through various networks to reach a destination.

#The present disclosure describes example methods for forwarding a data flow associated with a connectionless packet network service. The example methods may include splitting the data flow into a plurality data streams and encoding the plurality of data streams based at least upon each data stream of the plurality of data streams separately including forward error correction. Also, the encoded plurality of data streams may be forwarded. In some examples, based upon receipt and decoding of at least a portion of the encoded plurality of data streams, the data flow may be reconstructed prior to receipt and decoding of all the encoded plurality of data streams.

#The foregoing and other features of this disclosure will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only several embodiments in accordance with the disclosure and are, therefore, not to be considered limiting of its scope, the disclosure will be described with additional specificity and detail through use of the accompanying drawings.

#FIG. 1 illustrates an example system for forwarding and receiving a data flow;

#FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an example architecture for a source stream manager;

#In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings, similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative examples or embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Other examples or embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented here. It will be readily understood that aspects of this disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated in the Figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which are explicitly contemplated and make part of this disclosure.

#This disclosure is drawn, inter alia, to methods, apparatus, systems and computer program products related to forwarding or receiving a data flow associated with a connectionless packet network service.

#As contemplated in the present disclosure, near real-time delivery may be difficult in a network environment such as the Internet where multimedia content in the form of a data flow may be forwarded as packetized data via separate routes to reach a destination. In some examples, a service provider that operates one or more networks that uses a connectionless packet service (e.g., IP) coupled to the Internet may attempt to move sources (e.g., media servers) of multimedia content closer to a destination (e.g., a user) for the multimedia content. A movement closer may resolve or minimize some routing issues, but localized network issues such as network congestion or rerouting due to failing routers in the localized network may still be problematic to near real-time delivery of a data flow associated with the multimedia content. Also, localized network issues may lead to head-of-line (HOL) blocking as the data flow may arrive at the destination out-of-order. In some examples, a transmission protocol commonly used with IP is the transmission control protocol (TCP). TCP has strict order-of-arrival rules that dictate that if a packet is lost in transit a request needs to be made for a new copy of the packet. While waiting for the new copy, the other packets of the entire data flow may be held up.