Patent ID: 7296206

Claim:
A communication device comprising: transmission means for transmitting a plurality of data segments to a destination device via a packet communication network, each of the plurality of data segments including a sequence number, the plurality of data segments being transmitted in sequence number order; receiving means for receiving an acknowledgement indicating a data segment to be received next; retransmission means for changing a transmission rate, and for retransmitting one of the plurality of data segments in a case that the communication device has not received an acknowledgement including an acknowledgement number greater than a sequence number included in the one of the plurality of data segments when a predetermined time elapses following transmission of the one of the plurality of data segments by the transmission means; control means for determining a subsequent data segment to be transmitted next, and for controlling a transmission rate on the basis of a category of the acknowledgement and information included in the acknowledgement, to transmit the subsequent data segment.