System for generating composite packets

摘要

This invention relates to Internet Protocol (IP) networks and to a system that generates composite packets for transmission over the IP network, where an aggregation of packets from multiple sources of higher layer protocols forms a single packet of the underlying protocol in order to maximize the data transfer efficiency across the IP network. When user data traverses the protocol stack in preparation to be sent across the IP network, multiple protocol headers are added to the data. Network performance is optimized when the resulting packet almost completely fills the Maximum Transfer Unit (MTU) along the data transfer path, reducing header overhead. The system for generating composite packets eliminates the tradeoff between network efficiency and quality of service. The use of composite packets reduces the overhead associated with sending packets that carry only a single higher layer payload. It also enables individual applications to utilize small packets at their own protocol layers with minimal penalty in latency, thereby freeing application developers from the need to maintain larger packet sizes. Implementation of this optimization can be carried out at a variety of protocol layers, and aggregating packets at a particular protocol layer does not affect the operation of any other layer. The higher layer packets aggregated into the composite packet must have the same destination.