Patent ID: 7447977
Filing Date: 2008-11-04
Classification: H03M,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for controlling a provision of packets in a communication system comprising: a first data source that provides a source signal conveying information arranged in a set of packets comprising a first number of data packets and a second number of error-correction packets, a packet processing device that receives the source signal, stores information for at least some of the packets in the set of packets in a buffer having a buffer size, and transmits an output signal comprising packets of information of which at least some was stored in the buffer, wherein information for at least some of the packets in the set of packets is omitted from the output signal due to losses caused by the buffer being full, and a receiver that receives at least some of the packets in the output signal and applies an error correction process to these received packets to recover corrupted or missing information, wherein the method comprises: (a) receiving one or more signals conveying parameters representing the buffer size, the first and second numbers, an arrival probability that a packet from the first data source is received by the packet processing device during an interval of time, a transmission probability that the packet processing device successfully transmits a packet during the interval of time when the buffer is not empty, and an interference probability that a competing packet from any competing data source is received by the packet processing device during the interval of time; (b) deriving from the parameters a measure of loss probability that information in a data packet is lost and not recovered by the error correction process, wherein the measure of the loss probability is derived by a process that accounts for losses caused by the buffer being full and wherein either: (c) adapting the first number or the second number in response to the measure of the loss probability.