Patent ID: 7593318

Claim:
A method comprising: storing a header information describing a plurality of packets to be successively transmitted from a first agent to a second agent in network, wherein the header information is stored within the first agent; starting transmission of the plurality of packets autonomously by the first agent to the second agent, beginning with a header packet that includes the header information; updating the stored header information within the first agent each time the first agent learns of a packet from the plurality of packets that is successfully received by the second agent in order to create updated header information describing a remainder of the plurality of packets not yet known by the first agent to have been successfully received by the second agent; modifying the header packet using the updated header information each time the stored header information is updated to form an updated header packet; and restarting transmission of the plurality of packets autonomously by the first agent to the second agent following a disconnect event, beginning with the updated header packet, followed by a first packet of the remainder of the plurality of packets not yet known by the first agent to have been successfully received by the second agent prior to the disconnect event, wherein the updated header information was updated within the first agent prior to the disconnect.