189 results about "Stream Control Transmission Protocol" patented technology

Disclosed are methods and apparatus for reliably handling Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) multi-homed connections across multiple translation (e.g., NAT devices), such that messages sent between endpoints, which include one or more multi-homed devices, reach their intended destination. In one embodiment, a method for handling SCTP multi-homed connections across multiple translation devices is disclosed. When an SCTP association between two hosts is being established through a particular translation device, multi-homing information for one or both of the hosts is communicated from the particular translation device to one or more other translation devices which are associated with the particular translation device. This is done so that the one or more other translation devices can store the received multi-homing information and when data is received at the one or more translation devices for the established SCTP association between the two hosts, the data is then caused to be sent to its intended destination based on the stored multi-homing information. The multi-homing information is also stored for the particular translation device. When data is received at the particular translation device for the established SCTP association between the two hosts, the data is caused to be sent to its intended destination based on the multi-homing information.

A transport layer protocol such as the Stream Control Transmission Protocol uses a new traffic control technique instead of the TCP slow start algorithm. The procedure assumes that the network on which it is implemented has a fixed bandwidth assigned for the connection, and that the allotted bandwidth roughly matches the traffic load. Based on this, under message loss conditions it is only necessary to ensure that signaling traffic emitted into the network by the sender is no greater than the fixed bandwidth that has been allocated to the connection. That is, retransmissions take bandwidth away from a fixed allocation that has been made for the connection, but do not cause the connection itself to reduce the overall traffic it generates into the network; rather, it maintains the same traffic level. This technique prevents congestion in the network from increasing when message loss occurs; at the same time it does not reduce bandwidth for the association as rapidly as the slow start procedure.