The TCP/IP Guide  9  TCP/IP Lower-Layer (Interface, Internet and Transport) Protocols (OSI Layers 2, 3 and 4)       9  TCP/IP Transport Layer Protocols            9  Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP)                 9  TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)                      9  TCP Fundamentals and General Operation

TCP Data Handling and Processing: Streams, Segments and Sequence Numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 TCP Ports, Connections and Connection Identification

TCP's Stream-Oriented Sliding Window Acknowledgment System

So, does TCP use this variation on PAR? Of course not! That would be too simple. Well, actually, the TCP sliding window system is very similar to this method, conceptually, which is why it is important for us to understand. However, it requires some adjustment. The main reason has to do with the way TCP handles data: the matter of stream orientation compared to message orientation discussed in the previous topic. The technique we have outlined involves explicit acknowledgments and (if necessary) retransmissions for messages. Thus, it would work well for a protocol that exchanged reasonably large messages on a fairly infrequent basis.

TCP, on the other hand, deals with individual bytes of data as a stream. Transmitting each byte one at a time and acknowledging each one at a time would quite obviously be absurd. It would require too much work, and even with overlapped transmissions (not waiting for an acknowledgment before sending the next piece of data) the result would be horribly slow.

Of course, this is why TCP doesn't send bytes individually, it divides them into segments. All of the bytes in a segment are sent together and received together, and thus acknowledged together. TCP uses a variation on the method we described above, where the identification of data sent and acknowledged is done using the sequence numbers we discussed in the previous topic. Instead of acknowledging using something like a message ID field, we acknowledge data using the sequence number of the last byte of data in the segment. Thus, we are dealing with a range of bytes in each case, the range representing the sequence numbers of all the bytes in the segment.

Imagine a newly-established TCP connection between Device A and Device B. Device A has a long stream of bytes to be transmitted, but Device B can't accept them all at once. So it limits Device A to sending a particular number of bytes at once in segments, until the bytes in the segments already sent have been acknowledged. Then Device A is allowed to send more bytes. Each device keeps track of which bytes have been sent and which not, and which have been acknowledged.

At any point in time we can take a “snapshot” of the process. If we do, we can conceptually divide the bytes that the sending TCP has in its buffer into four categories, viewed as a timeline (Figure 206):

1. Bytes Sent And Acknowledged: The earliest bytes in the stream will have been sent and acknowledged. These are basically “accomplished” from the standpoint of the device sending data. For example, let's suppose that 31 bytes of data have already been send and acknowledged. These would fall into Category #1.
   
   
2. Bytes Sent But Not Yet Acknowledged: These are the bytes that the device has sent but for which it has not yet received an acknowledgment. The sender cannot consider these “accomplished” until they are acknowledged. Let's say there are 14 bytes here, in Category #2.
   
   
3. Bytes Not Yet Sent For Which Recipient Is Ready: These are bytes that have not yet been sent, but which the recipient has room for based on its most recent communication to the sender of how many bytes it is willing to handle at once. The sender will try to send these immediately (subject to certain algorithmic restrictions we'll explore later). Suppose there are 6 bytes in Category #3.
   
   
4. Bytes Not Yet Sent For Which Recipient Is Not Ready: These are the bytes further “down the stream” which the sender is not yet allowed to send because the receiver is not ready. There are 44 bytes in Category #4.
   

   Figure 206: Conceptual Division of TCP Transmission Stream Into Categories

   
   

The receiving device uses a similar system to differentiate between data received and acknowledged, not yet received but ready to receive, and not yet received and not yet ready to receive. In fact, both devices maintain a separate set of variables to keep track of the categories into which bytes fall in the stream they are sending as well as the one they are receiving. This is explored in the topic describing the detailed sliding window data transfer procedure (yes, there’s even more on this subject!)

TCP Data Handling and Processing: Streams, Segments and Sequence Numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 TCP Ports, Connections and Connection Identification