System and method for adjusting the window size of a TCP packet through network elements

1. A method for adjusting the window size of a TCP communications session on a packet network, the method comprising:

determining network performance information associated with a communications path between a sending network element and a receiving network element wherein communications over the communications path are conducted using an Ethernet protocol;

storing the network performance information in a packet;

communicating the packet to the sending element;

adjusting the window size of the TCP communications session in response to the communicated packet; and

delaying said adjusting said window size to increase a wait versus transmit time for an acknowledgement data packet to accommodate packet network link lengths.

2. The method for adjusting the window size of a TCP session on a packet network of claim 1 further comprising an intermediate network element in communication with one of said sending network element and receiving network element:

determining network performance information between said intermediate network element and one of said sending network element and receiving network element on said packet network;

concatenating said network performance information into said packet;

transmitting said data packets to one of said sending network element and receiving network element; and

adjusting said window size of said TCP session based on said network performance information.

3. The method for adjusting the window size of a TCP session on a packet network of claim 2 further comprising:

storing said transmitted data packets by at least one of said intermediate network element, sending network element, and receiving network element for re-transmission to one of the other of said intermediate network element, sending network element, and receiving network element in the event of receiving an unacknowledged data packet.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining network performance information includes determining first network performance information associated with packets that each include data for real-time applications and second network performance information associated with both the packets that include data for real-time applications and packets that include data for non-real time applications.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the network performance information includes determining data indicative of a total number of data packets communicated over the path in at least one direction and data indicative of a total amount of bandwidth of data communicated over the path.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the network performance information includes determining data indicative of a total number of data packets that each include data for real-time applications communicated over the path in at least one direction and data indicative of a total amount of bandwidth of data for real-time applications communicated over the path.

7. The method for adjusting the window size of a TCP session on a packet network of claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether at least one network performance information value of said packet network exceeds a predetermined threshold value; and

communicating an instruction in an acknowledgement data packet to said receiving network element to adjust said window size of said data packet.

8. The method for adjusting the window size of a TCP session on a packet network of claim 1 wherein one of said sending network element and receiving network element includes a ITU-T Y.1731 model configured to separately count total data packets and data packets including real-time content.

9. A system for adjusting the window size of a TCP session on a packet network, the system comprising:

means for determining network performance information associated with a communications path between a sending network element and a receiving network element, wherein communications over the communications path are conducted using an Ethernet protocol;

means for storing the network performance information in a packets;

means for communicating the packet to the sending element;

means for adjusting the window size of the TCP communications session in response to the communicated packet; and

means for delaying said means for adjusting said window size to increase a wait versus transmit time for an acknowledgement data packet to accommodate packet network link lengths.

10. The system for adjusting the window size of a TCP session on a packet network of claim 9 further comprising an intermediate network element in communication with one of said sending network element and receiving network element comprising:

means for determining network performance information between said intermediate network element and one of said sending network element and receiving network element on said packet network;

means for concatenating said network performance information into said packet;

means for transmitting said data packets to one of said sending network element and receiving network element; and

means for adjusting said window size of said TCP session based on said network performance information.

11. The system for adjusting the window size of a TCP session on a packet network of claim 10 further comprising:

means for storing said transmitted data packets by at least one of said intermediate network element, sending network element, and receiving network element for re-transmission to one of the other of said intermediate network element, sending network element, and receiving network element in the event of receiving an unacknowledged data packet.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the means for determining network performance information includes means for determining first network performance information associated with packets that each include data for real-time applications and second network performance information associated with both the packets that include data for real-time applications and packets that include data for non-real time applications.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the means for determining the network performance information includes means for determining data indicative of a total number of data packets communicated over the path in at least one direction and data indicative of a total amount of bandwidth of data communicated over the path.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the means for determining the network performance information includes means for determining data indicative of a total number of data packets that each include data for real-time applications communicated over the path in at least one direction and data indicative of a total amount of bandwidth of data for real-time applications communicated over the path.

15. The system for adjusting the window size of a TCP session on a packet network of claim 9 further comprising:

means for determining whether at least one network performance information value of said packet network exceeds a predetermined threshold value; and

means for communicating an instruction in an acknowledgement data packet to said receiving network element to adjust said window size of said data packet.

16. The system for adjusting the window size of a TCP session on a packet network of claim 9 wherein one of said sending network element and receiving network element includes a ITU-T Y.1731 module configured to separately count total data packets and data packets including real-time content.