Patent ID: 8848527

Claim:
A method of distributing link state information by a node to a neighbor node in a communication network, the method comprising: implementing a link state routing protocol having a sliding window mechanism with a window size greater than one (1) for sending up to a predetermined maximum number of link state advertisement protocol messages to the neighbor node without receiving an acknowledgement for any of said link state advertisement protocol messages, wherein said window size is based at least in part on a round trip delay to the neighbor node; waiting a predetermined time period following a transmission of a first one of the link state advertisement protocol messages transmitted for an acknowledgement of the first one of the link state advertisement protocol messages transmitted, wherein the acknowledgement confirms correct receipt of the first one of the link state advertisement protocol messages transmitted; and retransmitting the first one of the link state advertisement protocol messages transmitted and at least one other link state advertisement protocol message transmitted subsequent to the first one of the link state advertisement protocol messages transmitted upon failing to receive an acknowledgement of the first one of the link state advertisement protocol messages transmitted within the predetermined time period following transmission of the first one of the link state advertisement protocol messages transmitted.