Patent ID: 8009699

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a receiver module for receiving a data packet from a network; a compression module, coupled to said receiver module, for encoding a predetermined header field value within said data packet, wherein encoding includes determining a shifting interval of header field values associated with previously received data packets, the shifting interval being calculated as a function of a shifting parameter dependent on a maximum out of order range value (K) of data packets to be encoded with a minimum header size and a number of least significant bits (k) used to transmit said encoded header field value, wherein said shifting parameter is equal to K, if k is equal to or less than a first value, and wherein said shifting parameter is equal to 2 k-5 +K, if k is greater than the first value; and a transmitter module, coupled to said compression module, for transmitting said encoded header field value to a destination unit for restoring said data packet.