Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (publ)

Bengt Henriques

Lars Westberg

Csaba Antal

Gábor Tóth

A system, method, and router in a packet-switched communication network for enhancing network performance when data packets are transported utilizing a link layer protocol such as the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP). Lengthy low priority data packets are fragmented at each hop. A router receiving the fragments of the data packets routes the fragments to a subsequent hop independent of whether other fragments from the same data packets have reached the router. High priority data packets are passed through unfragmented.

Reducing transmission time for data packets controlled by a link layer protocol comprising a fragmenting/defragmenting capability

A data packet network comprises a policer module metering the flow and deciding whether arrived packets are to be transmitted or discarded. The flow of transmitted packets is metered by a sliding window procedure having a fixed window length. The sliding window is divided in a plurality of subwindows of equal length and the sliding window moves by steps corresponding to the length of the subwindows. For each subwindow and for the sliding window counts of transmitted and/or discarded bytes and/or packets are determined and stored. For an arrived packet the counts of the current subwindow are compared to a maximum value obtained from the counts of the sliding window and an absolute maximum value, and based on the result of the comparison, the policer module will transmit or discard the packet. The policer module can perform soft policing in the case where the packets belong to different traffic classes.

Monitoring traffic in packet networks using the sliding window procedure with subwindows

The efficiency of transmitting lower priority data traffic along with higher priority traffic is improved by segmenting a data packet in such a way so as to reduce transmission delay of the higher priority traffic. The data packet is segmented so that all its segments, including the last segment, are approximately the same size. The segment size is set smaller than a maximum permitted segment size. Indeed, it is desirable (though not necessary) to set the segment size as small as design parameters, (e.g., minimize segment header overhead), allow in order to reduce transmission delay of the higher priority traffic. Because the last segment is set at the same size or a larger size than the other segments, delay in transmitting the data packet is also reduced. The last segment may be sized as large as practical to minimize the transmission delay of the data packet. Once segmented, the data packet segments are transmitted along with the higher priority traffic.

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Solna, Sweden

Bengt Henriques