摘要 |
A packet communication system transmits a stream of L data packets with at least one parity packet transmitted as an L+1th packet. The parity packet comprises at least, N data segments, each ith data segment being the modulo-2 sum of all identically positioned data segments in the stream of L packets. A node includes adaptive packet stream transmission apparatus which comprises a packet queue for holding a series of packets ready for transmission to a destination node. The adaptive packet stream transmission mechanism further includes modulo-2 sum circuitry for deriving a parity packet for each L transmitted data packets. Transmission control circuitry selectively enables transmission of a parity packet after each L data packets have been transmitted. A processor in the node controls the transmission control circuitry to vary the value of L in accordance with a determined network metric. The network metric may indicate a level of network congestion, with the processor increasing the value of L if the network metric manifests a lessened network congestion, and vice versa. The processor is also adapted to vary the value of L in accordance with a data error rate metric.
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