Transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) packet-centric wireless point to multi-point (PtMP) transmission system architecture

A method for a media access control (MAC) layer of a wireless communication device, the method comprising:

• receiving, with the MAC layer, a transmission control protocol (TCP) packet from a source device over a wired network;
• transmitting, from the MAC layer, the TCP packet on a Wireless network toward a destination device;
• detecting at the MAC layer whether a TCP header for a second TCP packet received from the destination device includes a TCP acknowledgement message that is a duplicate TCP acknowledgment message;
• responsive to the MAC layer detecting that the TCP acknowledgment message of the second TCP packet is not a duplicate acknowledgment message, forwarding the TCP acknowledgment message from the MAC layer to the source device;
• responsive to the MAC layer detecting that the TCP acknowledgment message of the second TCP package is a duplicate message, determining, with the MAC layer, whether the TCP packet Was successfully transmitted to the destination device;
• responsive to the MAC layer determining that that TCP packet was successfully transmitted to the destination device, forwarding the TCP acknowledgment message from the MAC layer to the source device;
• and
• responsive to the MAC layer determining that the TCP packet was not successfully transmitted to the destination device, the MAC layer:
• intercepting the received TCP acknowledgment message from the destination device;
• preventing the received TCP acknowledgment message from being sent to the source device;
• retransmitting the TCP packet on the wireless network from the MAC layer to the destination device prior to a TCP layer of the wireless communication device detecting a loss of the TCP packet;
• and
• transmitting a TCP packet receipt acknowledgement for the TCP packet from the MAC layer to the source device to prevent the source device from detecting a lost packet and initiating retransmission and resetting transmission rates for packets.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium configured to store a plurality of instructions which, when executed on a device that is configured to communicate over a wireless network, cause a media access control (MAC) layer of the device to:

• receive a transmission control protocol (TCP) packet from a source device over a wired network;
• transmit the TCP packet on the wireless network toward a destination device;
• detect, based on a TCP header for a second TCP packet received from the destination device, whether loss of the TCP packet on the wireless network is due to bit errors or congestion experienced by the TCP packet;
• responsive to detecting the loss is due to congestion, forward a TCP retransmission request of the second TCP packet from destination device to the source device;
• and
• responsive to detecting the loss is due to bit errors,
• intercept the TCP retransmission request of the second TCP packet from the destination device to the source device to prevent the TCP retransmission request from being received by the source device;
• retransmit the TCP packet on the wireless network from the MAC layer to the destination device without invoking TCP retransmission of the TCP packet from the source device to the destination device;
• and
• transmit a TCP packet receipt acknowledgement for the TCP packet to the source device before the source device detects a lost packet and initiates retransmission.