Selective processing of damaged packets

Abstract

When a damaged packet has been forwarded to or towards a destination terminal, a forwarding device or a destination terminal will determine if the packet is damaged, and if it is damaged, determine whether the content of the packet is time-sensitive. If the content is time-sensitive, the damage to the packet is assessed, and if possible, an attempt to repair the damage is made. Repair may include correcting the damaged data or packet, deciding to use the damaged data because the damage is minimal, or replacing all or a part of the damaged data with a normalized set of data. If repair is not possible and replacement of the damaged portion is not available or desirable, the packet is discarded.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of handling a packet, comprising:
 determining whether the packet is a damaged packet or an undamaged packet;   when the packet is an undamaged packet, forwarding the packet on a first path for the packet determined based on forwarding information in the packet; and   when the packet is a damaged packet, forwarding the packet on an second path which is different from the first path toward a packet handler configured to handle the damaged packet responsive to damage detected in the damaged packet.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising marking the damaged packet as a damaged packet before forwarding the packet on the second path. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the packet handler is configured to handle the damaged packet responsive to damage detected in the damaged packet so as to reduce negative impact of the damaged packet. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the packet handler is configured to handle the damaged packet responsive to damage detected in the damaged packet by repairing at least some of the damage detected in the damaged packet. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the packet handler is configured to handle the damaged packet responsive to damage detected in the damaged packet by marking the damaged packet. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the packet handler is configured to handle the damaged packet responsive to damage detected in the damaged packet by discarding the damaged packet. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the packet handler is configured to handle the damaged packet responsive to damage detected in the damaged packet by:
 assessing the damage detected in the damaged packet; and   forwarding the damaged packet based on results of assessing the damage detected in the damaged packet.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 determining whether the packet is a damaged packet or an undamaged packet comprises determining whether a payload of the packet is damaged or undamaged; and   forwarding the packet on the second path comprises forwarding the packet toward a packet handler configured to ameliorate damage to the payload of the packet.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein processing the payload of the packet to ameliorate damage to the payload comprises correcting errors in the payload. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein processing the payload of the packet to ameliorate damage to the payload comprises replacing at least a portion of the damaged payload. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein determining whether a payload of the packet is damaged or undamaged comprises comparing a checksum of the packet to a checksum encoded in the packet. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the packet is being forwarded in a first protocol layer and the checksum is provided in a second protocol layer different from the first protocol layer. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining whether the packet has real-time content; and   forwarding the packet on the second path only when the packet is a damaged packet having real-time content.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein determining whether the packet has real-time content comprises determining whether the packet has real-time content based on a protocol being used to transport the content of the packet. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , comprising, discarding the packet when the packet is determined to be a damaged packet not having real-time content. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , comprising requesting retransmission of the packet when the packet is determined to be a damaged packet not having real-time content. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein real-time content comprises voice content. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein real-time content comprises video content. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein real-time content comprises audio content. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein real-time content comprises streamed media content. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1 , performed at an edge node of a packet forwarding network. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the packet processor is located at an intermediate node of a packet forwarding network.