Client-adjustable window size for connectionless transfer protocols

摘要

Described herein are various principles for operating transfer protocols using adaptive flow control techniques. In accordance with some of these principles, a client may adaptively negotiate with a server regarding a window size to use when communicating datagrams using a connectionless content unit transfer protocol like the Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP). In some implementations, a client may inform a server whether to increase or decrease a window size. In these implementations, the client may increase the window size upon determining that a previous window size has led to successful transfer of content without any loss of datagrams and the client may decrease the window size upon detecting a loss of a datagram. Because of the limited resources available in some environments in which these techniques may be used, in some implementations a window size may be increased by small amounts but may be decreased drastically upon detecting a loss.

主权项

1. A method for transmitting content units from a server computing device to at least one client, the method comprising:
receiving, by the server computing device, a request to transfer a content unit to a client with a connectionless transfer protocol; negotiating, by the server computing device, an initial window size defined as a number of datagrams, with which to begin transferring the content unit to the client; transmitting, by the server computing device, at least a portion of the content unit to the client using the connectionless transfer protocol and using the initial window size as a current window size; receiving, by the server computing device, a request from the client to change the number of datagrams of the current window size; in response to the received request, changing the number of datagrams of the current window size; and transmitting, by the server computing device, at least another portion of the content unit to the client using the connectionless transfer protocol and using the changed current window size.