Segmentation protocol that supports compressed segmentation headers

Claim 3

In a data communications system where a data packet is segmented to into a plurality of datagram segments such that each datagram segment has a corresponding segmentation header, a method for communicating the datagram segments between at least two nodes using a link layer protocol comprising: receiving a datagram segment; determining whether a header of the received datagram has a compressed header or a full header; analyzing an IP address received with the full header to identify a corresponding output port number and indexing the identified output port number with a segmentation CID value received with the full header; analyzing an incoming segmentation CID value received with a compressed header to determine a corresponding output port number and replacing the incoming CID value by an outgoing CID value that corresponds to the determined output port number; and forwarding the datagram segment on an output port that corresponds to the determined output port number.

Claim 4

In a data communications system where a data packet is segmented to into a plurality of datagram segments such that each datagram segment has a corresponding segmentation header, a method for communicating the datagram segments between at least two nodes using a link layer protocol comprising: receiving a datagram segment; determining whether a header of the received datagram has a compressed header or a full header; analyzing an IP address received with the full header to identify a corresponding output port number and indexing the identified output port number with a segmentation CID value received with the full header; analyzing an incoming segmentation CID value received with a compressed header to determine a corresponding output port number and replacing the incoming CID value by an outgoing CID value that corresponds to the determined output port number; and forwarding the datagram segment on an output port that corresponds to the determined output port number.

Claim 5

The method of claim 2 further including the step of reassembling the datagram segments at a destination node based on a segmentation sequence number.

Claim 6

In a data communications system where a datagram having headers and an associated data portion is communicated between at least two nodes using a link layer protocol, a method comprising: segmenting the datagram into a plurality of datagram segments such that each datagram segment has a corresponding header and data portion; inserting a unique segmentation context identification (CID) value in the segmentation header; forwarding the datagram segments with the unique CID value from one node to another using the link layer protocol without reassembling the datagram segments at an intervening nodes between source and destination nodes wherein said step of forwarding at an intervening node further comprises the steps of: receiving a datagram segment at said intervening node; determining whether the header of the received datagram segment is full or compressed; if full, indexing an incoming segmentation CID value with an outgoing port that corresponds to the IP address and forwarding the received datagram segment on the outgoing port with a compressed segmentation header that has a unique outgoing CID value; if compressed, forwarding the received datagram segment on an output port that corresponds to an incoming CID value; and replacing the incoming CID value with an outgoing CID value that correspond to the output port in the segmentation header; and reassembling the datagram segments at the destination node based on a segmentation sequence number.

Claim 7

In a data communications system where a datagram having headers and an associated data portion is communicated between at least two nodes using a link layer protocol, a method comprising: segmenting the datagram into a plurality of datagram segments such that each datagram segment has a corresponding header and data portion; inserting a unique segmentation context identification (CID) value in the segmentation header; forwarding the datagram segments with the unique CID value from one node to another using the link layer protocol without reassembling the datagram segments at an intervening nodes between source and destination nodes wherein said step of forwarding at an intervening node further comprises the steps of: receiving a datagram segment at said intervening node; determining whether the header of the received datagram segment is full or compressed; if full, indexing an incoming segmentation CID value with an outgoing port that corresponds to the IP address and forwarding the received datagram segment on the outgoing port with a compressed segmentation header that has a unique outgoing CID value; if compressed, forwarding the received datagram segment on an output port that corresponds to an incoming CID value; and replacing the incoming CID value with an outgoing CID value that correspond to the output port in the segmentation header; and reassembling the datagram segments at the destination node based on a segmentation sequence number.

Claim 8

The method of claim 4 further including: forwarding the first datagram segment of the segmented datagram using a full header that includes a corresponding CID value and an IP address; and forwarding subsequent datagram segments using a compressed header.

Claim 9

The method of claim 4 , wherein the segmentation CID includes position information indicating the position of a datagram segment within the segmented datagram.

Claim 10

The method of claim 6 , wherein the segmentation CID indicates whether a datagram segment is at the beginning of the segmented date message.

Claim 11

The method of claim 6 , wherein the segmentation CID indicates whether a datagram segment is at the end of the segmented data message.

Claim 12

The method of claim 6 , wherein the segmentation CID indicates that a datagram segment is not at the beginning or the end of the segmented data message.

Claim 13

The method of claim 1 , wherein the segmentation information includes position information indicating the position of a datagram segment within an associated segmented datagram.

Claim 14

The method of claim 1 , wherein the segmentation information indicates whether a datagram segment is at the beginning of an associated segmented datagram.

Claim 15

The method of claim 1 , wherein the segmentation information indicates whether a datagram segment is at the end of an associated segmented datagram.