Patent · US Expired

Variable length inter-packet gap

US7095737B2 · kind B2 · utility

8Cited by
4References
37Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 28, 2002
Grant dateAug 22, 2006
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 30, 2024

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L12/4013
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for determining a suitable inter-packet gap (IPG), or a suitable extension to be added to a default IPG as a packet is processed. The apparatus includes an adder to add an incremental measure of a packet to an existing measure and produce a new measure (e.g., in bytes). The apparatus further includes a comparator which, if the new measure exceeds a programmable threshold (e.g., a stretch ratio), issues a signal to increase the IPG and decreases the new measure by the threshold. The current measure is then stored (e.g., in a register) for addition to the next incremental measure. A counter tracks the number of signals received before the end of the packet, at which time the total is forwarded to a component configured to insert or apply the IPG and the counter is reset for the next packet.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.