Method and termination node for bundling multiple messages into a packet
The invention relates to a method and a termination node for bundling multiple messages into a packet having a predetermined maximum size. The total size of messages received from an upper layer is checked if it is large enough to fill the maximum-sized packet. If not, the receipt of further messages is waited for a bundling delay time and if the bundling delay time has expired the messages received during said delay time are bundled into the packet. In order to ensure primarily a maximal bundling efficiency and secondarily a lowest possible delay time for the received messages before they are bundled the bundling delay time is calculated in response to an average arrival rate and an average size of the previously received messages such that the bundling delay time corresponds to an average time to fill the packet of the predetermined maximum size.
1. A method of operating a node for terminating a transport protocol of a communications network by bundling multiple messages into a packet having a predetermined maximum size, the method comp sir the steps of:
receiving said messages from an upper layer of the transport protocol;
determining an average arrival rate and an average size of the received messages before bundling them;
checking if the total size of the received messages is large enough to fill the packet;
waiting for the receipt of further messages for a bundling delay time if the total size of the received messages is not large enough to fill the packet of predetermined size, wherein the bundling delay time is calculated from the determined average arrival rate and avers size of the received messages such that the bundling delay time corresponds to an average time to fill the packet of the predetermined maximum size irrespective of variations in arrival rates and sizes of received messages; and
bundling the received messages into the packet when the bundling delay time has expired.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determination of the average arrival rate and average size of received messages is continually updated and the method is continually repeated with the updated average values.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the bundling delay time D is calculated as:
D
:=
min
(
S
max
R
_
·
S
_
,
D
max
)
wherein:
S max : represents the maximum packet size;
R : represents the average message arrival rate;
S : represents the average message size; and
D max : represents the maximum bundling delay time.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the average message arrival rate and the average message size is iteratively calculated according to a moving average.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the transport layer protocol is the stream control transmission protocol (SCTP).