Object reordering for fast Layer 4 switching of multiplexed connections

摘要

Packet loss that arises due to an in-order serialization requirement for multiplexed stream delivery is ameliorated by a packet reordering scheme. In this approach, when out-of-sequence packets are detected, a switching entity (e.g., a Layer 4 switch) continues to relay the packets as long as the out-of-sequence packets are associated with different streams and are themselves in-sequence in their associated stream. To facilitate this process, the TCP protocol stack is augmented to recognize when a particular packet stream is to be processed in this manner.