Internet Engineering Task Force                              Sally Floyd   
INTERNET-DRAFT                                                      ICIR   
draft-ietf-dccp-ccid3-10.txt                                Eddie Kohler 
draft-ietf-dccp-ccid3-09.txt                                Eddie Kohler
Expires: 7 September 2005                                           UCLA 
Expires: 20 June 2005                                               UCLA
                                                         Jitendra Padhye   
                                                      Microsoft Research   
                                                            7 March 2005 
                                                        20 December 2004
                                                                           
                                                                           
               Profile for DCCP Congestion Control ID 3:                   
                        TFRC Congestion Control                            
                                                                           
                                                                           
Status of this Memo                                                        
                                                                           
    This document is an Internet-Draft and is subject to all provisions    
    of section 3 of RFC 3667. By submitting this Internet-Draft, each      
    author represents that any applicable patent or other IPR claims of    
    which he or she is aware have been or will be disclosed, and any of    
    which he or she become aware will be disclosed, in accordance with     
    RFC 3668.                                                              
                                                                           
    Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering      
    Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that       
    other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-        
    Drafts.                                                                
                                                                           
    Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six         
    months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents   
    at any time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as            
    reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."   
                                                                           
    The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at                 
    http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt.                            
                                                                           
    The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at       
    http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.                                       
                                                                           
    This Internet-Draft will expire on 7 September 2005.                 
    This Internet-Draft will expire on 20 June 2005.                  
                                                                           
Copyright Notice                                                           
                                                                           
    Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). All Rights Reserved.        
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
Floyd/Kohler/Padhye                                             [Page 1]   
                                                                          
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Abstract                                                                   
                                                                           
    This document contains the profile for Congestion Control Identifier   
    3, TCP-Friendly Rate Control (TFRC), in the Datagram Congestion        
    Control Protocol (DCCP).  CCID 3 should be used by senders that want   
    a TCP-friendly sending rate, possibly with Explicit Congestion         
    Notification (ECN), while minimizing abrupt rate changes.              
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
Floyd/Kohler/Padhye                                             [Page 2]   
                                                                          
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    TO BE DELETED BY THE RFC EDITOR UPON PUBLICATION:                      
                                                                           
    Changes from draft-ietf-dccp-ccid3-08.txt:                             
                                                                           
    * Add description of data and sequence loss interval lengths.          
                                                                           
    * Change Loss Intervals option to include loss interval data           
    lengths.                                                               
                                                                           
    * Some rephrasing, as a result of working group feedback.              
                                                                           
    * Added section numbers to many references.                            
                                                                           
    * Referred to RFC 3448 for the definition of the first loss            
    interval, and for the definition of the beginning and end of a loss    
    interval.                                                              
                                                                           
    * Clarified that X_inrecv is in bytes per second, and changed          
    "X_inrecv - 3*s" to "X_inrecv - 3*s/RTT", to keep all of the units     
    straight.                                                              
                                                                           
    Changes from draft-ietf-dccp-ccid3-07.txt:                             
                                                                           
    * Loss Intervals is mandatory.                                         
                                                                           
    * Elapsed Time is mandatory, even if there's a Timestamp Echo.         
                                                                           
    * Send Loss Event Rate defaults to zero.                               
                                                                           
    * Rewrite Section 5.                                                   
                                                                           
    * IANA Considerations.                                                 
                                                                           
    * Wording nits.                                                        
                                                                           
    Changes from draft-ietf-dccp-ccid3-06.txt:                             
                                                                           
    * Moved the sections on Possible Changes to the Initial Window and     
    Other Possible Changes to TFRC to be the section on Possible Future    
    Changes to CCID3 in the appendix.                                      
                                                                           
    * Some rephrasing, as a result of Working Group Last Call.             
                                                                           
    * Specified the value of the inverted loss event rate when the loss    
    event rate is 0.  From a suggestion from David Vos.                    
                                                                           
    * Added that the optional procedure for estimated the RTT at the       
    receiver does not work when the inter-packet sending times are         
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
Floyd/Kohler/Padhye                                             [Page 3]   
                                                                          
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    greater than the RTT.  From a suggestion by Ladan Gharai.              
                                                                           
    Changes from draft-ietf-dccp-ccid3-05.txt:                             
                                                                           
    * Added a section on Response to Idle and Application-limited          
    Periods                                                                
                                                                           
    * Added a paragraph on the sending rate when no feedback is received   
    from the receiver.                                                     
                                                                           
    * Expanded on the discussion of the packet size s used in the TCP      
    throughput equation.                                                   
                                                                           
    * Some editing to improve the presentation.                            
                                                                           
    * Added to discussion of response to Data Dropped and Slow Receiver.   
                                                                           
    * Deleted the optional algorithm given in Section 8.7.1 for            
    receivers to estimate the RTT, and replaced it with one sentence.      
                                                                           
    * Added a section on Other Possible Changes to TFRC.                   
                                                                           
    Changes from draft-ietf-dccp-ccid3-04.txt:                             
                                                                           
    * Minor editing.                                                       
                                                                           
    * Said that implementations may check for apps that are manipulating   
    the packet size inappropriately.                                       
                                                                           
    * Deletes the maximum packet size of 1500 bytes.                       
                                                                           
    * Added discussion on using the CCVal counter for estimating the       
    round-trip time.                                                       
                                                                           
    * Changed the option number for the Loss Intervals option.             
                                                                           
    * Added the Intellectual Property Notice.                              
                                                                           
    Changes from draft-ietf-dccp-ccid3-03.txt:                             
                                                                           
    * Added more text to the section on Congestion Control on Data         
    Packets to make it more readable, and to summarize the key             
    mechanisms specified in the TFRC spec.                                 
                                                                           
    * Said that it is OK to use an initial sending rate of 2-4 pkts/RTT,   
    based on RFC 3390.  And that in the future an initial sending rate     
    of up to 8 pkts/RTT might be specified, for very small packets.        
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    * Receive Rate is measured in bytes per second, as RFC 3448            
    specifies.                                                             
                                                                           
    * New definition of Loss Intervals option, because old definition      
    was 24-bit-sequence-number specific; and add an example.               
                                                                           
    Changes from draft-ietf-dccp-ccid3-02.txt:                             
                                                                           
    * Added to the section on Application Requirements.                    
                                                                           
    * Added a section on Packet Sizes.                                     
                                                                           
    Changes from draft-ietf-dccp-ccid3-01.txt:                             
                                                                           
    * Added "Security Considerations" and "IANA Considerations"            
    sections.                                                              
                                                                           
    * Store Window Counter in the DCCP header's CCVal field, not a         
    separate option.                                                       
                                                                           
    * Add to the description of a loss interval in the Loss Intervals      
    option: a loss interval includes at most one round-trip time's worth   
    of possibly-marked packets, and at least one round-trip time's worth   
    of packets in all.                                                     
                                                                           
    * Added a description of when the loss event rate calculated by the    
    sender could differ from that calculated by the receiver.              
                                                                           
    * Window counter fixups.                                               
                                                                           
    * Add Use Loss Intervals and Use Loss Event Rate features, and         
    explain their interaction.                                             
                                                                           
    * Move Elapsed Time option to DCCP's main specification (and           
    simultaneously change its units to tenths of milliseconds). Allow      
    the use of either Elapsed Time or Timestamp Echo.                      
                                                                           
    * Clarify the definition of quiescence.                                
                                                                           
    * Change calculations for determining loss events to take window       
    counter wrapping into account.                                         
                                                                           
    Changes from draft-ietf-dccp-ccid3-00.txt:                             
                                                                           
    * Changed the guidelines to say that required acknowledgement          
    packets should include one or more of the following:  The Loss Event   
    Rate, Loss Intervals, or the Ack Vector.                               
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    * Added a separate section on "The Use of Ack Vectors".  This          
    section says that Ack-of-acks must be used when the Ack Vector is      
    used.                                                                  
                                                                           
    * Renamed the "ECN Nonce Option" to the "Loss Intervals" option, and   
    extended this option to include up to eight loss intervals.  This is   
    to enable more precise verification by the sender of the receiver's    
    feedback.                                                              
                                                                           
    * Added a section about "When should Ack Vector or Loss Intervals be   
    used?"  In progress.                                                   
                                                                           
    * Added a section about using the ECN Nonce to verify the receiver's   
    feedback.                                                              
                                                                           
    * Said that the ECN-Nonce feedback must be returned in every           
    required acknowledgement.                                              
                                                                           
    * Added a sentence saying that the TFRC spec "separately specifies     
    the minimum sending rate from rate reductions during an idle           
    period."                                                               
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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                             Table of Contents                             
                                                                           
    1. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10   
    2. Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10   
    3. Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11   
       3.1. Relationship with TFRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11   
       3.2. Example Half-Connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11   
    4. Connection Establishment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12   
    5. Congestion Control on Data Packets. . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12   
       5.1. Response to Idle and Application-limited                       
       Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14   
       5.2. Response to Data Dropped and Slow Receiver . . . . . . .  15   
       5.3. Packet Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16   
    6. Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16   
       6.1. Loss Interval Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17   
          6.1.1. Loss Interval Lengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19   
       6.2. Congestion Control on Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . .  20   
       6.3. Acknowledgements of Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . .  20   
       6.4. Quiescence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21   
    7. Explicit Congestion Notification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21   
    8. Options and Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21   
       8.1. Window Counter Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22   
       8.2. Elapsed Time Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  24   
       8.3. Receive Rate Option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  24   
       8.4. Send Loss Event Rate Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  24   
       8.5. Loss Event Rate Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25   
       8.6. Loss Intervals Option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25   
          8.6.1. Option Details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  26   
          8.6.2. Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  27   
    9. Verifying Congestion Control Compliance With ECN. . . . . . .  29   
       9.1. Verifying the ECN Nonce Echo . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  29   
       9.2. Verifying the Reported Loss Intervals and Loss                 
       Event Rate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  30   
    10. Implementation Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  30   
       10.1. Timestamp Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  30   
       10.2. Determining Loss Events at the Receiver . . . . . . . .  30   
       10.3. Sending Feedback Packets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  32   
    11. Security Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  34   
    12. IANA Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  34   
       12.1. Reset Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35   
       12.2. Option Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35   
       12.3. Feature Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35   
    13. Thanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  36 
    13. Thanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35
    A. Appendix: Possible Future Changes to CCID 3 . . . . . . . . .  36   
    Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  37   
    Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  37   
    Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  38   
    Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  38   
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    Intellectual Property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  39 
    Intellectual Property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  38
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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                               List of Tables                              
                                                                           
    Table 1: DCCP CCID 3 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21   
    Table 2: DCCP CCID 3 Feature Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22   
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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1.  Introduction                                                           
                                                                           
    This document contains the profile for Congestion Control Identifier   
    3, TCP-friendly rate control (TFRC), in the Datagram Congestion        
    Control Protocol (DCCP) [DCCP].  DCCP uses Congestion Control          
    Identifiers, or CCIDs, to specify the congestion control mechanism     
    in use on a half-connection.                                           
                                                                           
    TFRC is a receiver-based congestion control mechanism that provides    
    a TCP-friendly sending rate, while minimizing the abrupt rate          
    changes characteristic of TCP or of TCP-like congestion control [RFC   
    3448].  The sender's allowed sending rate is set in response to the    
    loss event rate, which is typically reported by the receiver to the    
    sender.  See Section 3 for more on application requirements.           
                                                                           
2.  Conventions                                                            
                                                                           
    The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",    
    "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this   
    document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.               
                                                                           
    All multi-byte numerical quantities in CCID 3, such as arguments to    
    options, are transmitted in network byte order (most significant       
    byte first).                                                           
                                                                           
    A DCCP half-connection consists of the application data sent by one    
    endpoint and the corresponding acknowledgements sent by the other      
    endpoint.  The terms "HC-Sender" and "HC-Receiver" denote the          
    endpoints sending application data and acknowledgements,               
    respectively.  Since CCIDs apply at the level of half-connections,     
    we abbreviate HC-Sender to "sender" and HC-Receiver to "receiver" in   
    this document.  See [DCCP] for more discussion.                      
    this document.  See DCCP for more discussion.                     
                                                                           
    For simplicity, we say that senders send DCCP-Data packets and         
    receivers send DCCP-Ack packets.  Both of these categories are meant   
    to include DCCP-DataAck packets.                                       
                                                                           
    The phrases "ECN-marked" and "marked" refer to packets marked ECN      
    Congestion Experienced unless otherwise noted.                         
                                                                           
    This document uses a number of variables from RFC 3448, including:     
                                                                           
    o  X_recv: The receive rate in bytes per second.  See [RFC 3448]       
       (Section 3.2.2).                                                    
                                                                           
    o  s: The packet size in bytes.  See [RFC 3448] (Section 3.1).         
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    o  p: The loss event rate.  See [RFC 3448] (Section 3.1).              
                                                                           
3.  Usage                                                                  
                                                                           
    CCID 3's TFRC congestion control is appropriate for flows that would   
    prefer to minimize abrupt changes in the sending rate, including       
    streaming media applications with small or moderate receiver           
    buffering before playback.  TCP-like congestion control, such as       
    that of DCCP's CCID 2 [CCID 2 PROFILE], halves the sending rate in     
    response to each congestion event, and thus cannot provide a           
    relatively smooth sending rate.                                        
                                                                           
    As explained in RFC 3448 (Section 1), the penalty of having smoother   
    throughput than TCP while competing fairly for bandwidth is that the   
    TFRC mechanism in CCID 3 responds slower than TCP or TCP-like          
    mechanisms to changes in available bandwidth.  Thus, CCID 3 should     
    only be used for applications with a requirement for smooth            
    throughput, in particular avoiding TCP's halving of the sending rate   
    in response to a single packet drop.  For applications that simply     
    need to transfer as much data as possible in as short a time as        
    possible, we recommend using TCP-like congestion control, such as      
    CCID 2.                                                                
                                                                           
    CCID 3 should also not be used by applications that change their       
    sending rate by varying the packet size, rather than varying the       
    rate at which packets are sent.  A new CCID will be required for       
    these applications.                                                    
                                                                           
3.1.  Relationship with TFRC                                               
                                                                           
    The congestion control mechanisms described here follow the TFRC       
    mechanism standardized by the IETF [RFC 3448].  Conformant CCID 3      
    implementations MAY track updates to the TCP throughput equation       
    directly, as updates are standardized in the IETF, rather than         
    waiting for revisions of this document.  However, conformant           
    implementations SHOULD wait for explicit updates to CCID 3 before      
    implementing other changes to TFRC congestion control.                 
                                                                           
3.2.  Example Half-Connection                                              
                                                                           
    This example shows the typical progress of a half-connection using     
    CCID 3's TFRC Congestion Control, not including connection             
    initiation and termination.  The example is informative, not           
    normative.                                                             
                                                                           
    1.  The sender transmits DCCP-Data packets, where the sending rate     
        is governed by the allowed transmit rate as specified in RFC       
        3448 (Section 3.2).  Each DCCP-Data packet has a sequence          
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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        number, and the DCCP header's CCVal field contains the window      
        counter value, used by the receiver in determining when multiple   
        losses belong in a single loss event.                              
                                                                           
        In the typical case of an ECN-capable half-connection, each        
        DCCP-Data and DCCP-DataAck packet is sent as ECN-Capable, with     
        either the ECT(0) or the ECT(1) codepoint set.  The use of the     
        ECN Nonce with TFRC is described in Section 9.                     
                                                                           
    2.  The receiver sends DCCP-Ack packets at least once per round-trip   
        time acknowledging the data packets, unless the sender is          
        sending at a rate of less than one packet per round-trip time,     
        as indicated by the TFRC specification RFC 3448 (Section 6).       
        Each DCCP-Ack packet uses a sequence number, identifies the most   
        recent packet received from the sender, and includes feedback      
        about the recent loss intervals experienced by the receiver.       
                                                                           
    3.  The sender continues sending DCCP-Data packets as controlled by    
        the allowed transmit rate.  Upon receiving DCCP-Ack packets, the   
        sender updates its allowed transmit rate as specified in RFC       
        3448 (Section 4.3).  This update is based upon a loss event rate   
        calculated by the sender, based on the receiver's loss intervals   
        feedback.  If it prefers, the sender can also use a loss event     
        rate calculated and reported by the receiver.                      
                                                                           
    4.  The sender estimates round-trip times and calculates a             
        nofeedback time, as specified in RFC 3448 (Section 4.4).  If no    
        feedback is received from the receiver in that time (at least      
        four round-trip times), the sender halves its sending rate.        
                                                                           
4.  Connection Establishment                                               
                                                                           
    The connection is initiated by the client using mechanisms described   
    in the DCCP specification [DCCP].  During or after CCID 3              
    negotiation, the client and/or server may want to negotiate the        
    values of the Send Ack Vector and Send Loss Event Rate features.       
                                                                           
5.  Congestion Control on Data Packets                                     
                                                                           
    CCID 3 uses the congestion control mechanisms of TFRC [RFC 3448].      
    The following discussion summarizes information from RFC 3448, which   
    should be considered normative except where specifically indicated.    
                                                                           
    Loss Event Rate                                                        
                                                                           
    The basic operation of CCID 3 centers around the calculation of a      
    loss event rate: the number of loss events as a fraction of the        
    number of packets transmitted, weighted over the last several loss     
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    intervals.  This loss event rate, a round-trip time estimate, and      
    the average packet size are plugged into the TCP throughput            
    equation, as specified in RFC 3448 (Section 3.1).  The result is a     
    fair transmit rate, close to what a modern TCP would achieve in the    
    same conditions.  CCID 3 senders are limited to this fair rate.        
                                                                           
    The loss event rate itself is calculated in CCID 3 using recent loss   
    interval lengths reported by the receiver.  Loss intervals are         
    precisely defined in Section 6.1.  In summary, a loss interval is up   
    to 1 RTT of possibly lost or ECN-marked data packets, followed by an   
    arbitrary number of non-dropped, non-marked data packets.  Thus,       
    long loss intervals represent low congestion rates.  The CCID 3 Loss   
    Intervals option is used to report loss interval lengths; see          
    Section 8.6.                                                           
                                                                           
    Other Congestion Control Mechanisms                                    
                                                                           
    The sender starts in a slow-start phase, roughly doubling its          
    allowed sending rate each round-trip time.  The slow-start phase is    
    ended by the receiver's report of a data packet drop or mark, after    
    which the sender uses the loss event rate to calculate its allowed     
    sending rate.                                                          
                                                                           
    RFC 3448 (Section 4) specifies an initial sending rate of one packet   
    per RTT (Round-Trip Time) as follows: The sender initializes the       
    allowed sending rate to one packet per second.  As soon as a           
    feedback packet is received from the receiver, the sender has a        
    measurement of the round-trip time, and then sets the initial          
    allowed sending rate to one packet per RTT.  However, while the        
    initial TCP window used to be one segment, RFC 2581 allows an          
    initial TCP window of two segments, and RFC 3390 allows an initial     
    TCP window of three or four segments (up to 4380 bytes).  RFC 3390     
    gives an upper bound on the initial window of                          
               min(4*MSS, max(2*MSS, 4380 bytes)).                         
    Translating this to the packet-based congestion control of CCID 3,     
    the initial CCID 3 sending rate is allowed to be at least two          
    packets per RTT, and at most four packets per RTT, depending on the    
    packet size.  The initial rate is only allowed to be three or four     
    packets per RTT when, in terms of segment size, that translates to     
    at most 4380 bytes per RTT.                                            
                                                                           
    The sender's measurement of the round-trip time uses the Elapsed       
    Time and/or Timestamp Echo option contained in feedback packets, as    
    described in Section 8.2. The Elapsed Time option is required, while   
    the Timestamp Echo option is not required.  The sender maintains an    
    average round-trip time heavily weighted on the most recent            
    measurements.                                                          
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    Each DCCP-Data packet contains a sequence number.  Each DCCP-Data      
    packet also contains a window counter value, as described in Section   
    8.1 below.  The window counter is incremented by one every quarter     
    round-trip time.  The receiver uses it as a coarse-grained timestamp   
    to determine when a packet loss should be considered part of an        
    existing loss interval, or must begin a new loss interval.             
                                                                           
    Because TFRC is rate-based instead of window-based, and because        
    feedback packets can be dropped in the network, the sender needs       
    some mechanism for reducing its sending rate in the absence of         
    positive feedback from the receiver.  As described in Section 6, the   
    receiver sends feedback packets roughly once per round-trip time.      
    As specified in RFC 3448 (Section 4.3), the sender sets a nofeedback   
    timer to at least four round-trip times, or to twice the interval      
    between data packets, whichever is larger; if the sender hasn't        
    received a feedback packet from the receiver when the nofeedback       
    timer expires, then the sender halves its allowed sending rate.  The   
    allowed sending rate is never reduced below one packet per 64          
    seconds.  Note that not all acknowledgements are considered feedback   
    packets, since feedback packets must contain valid Loss Intervals,     
    Elapsed Time, and Receive Rate options.                                
                                                                           
    If the sender never receives a feedback packet from the receiver,      
    and as a consequence never gets to set the allowed sending rate to     
    one packet per RTT, then the sending rate is left at its initial       
    rate of one packet per second, with the nofeedback timer expiring      
    after two seconds.  The allowed sending rate is halved each time the   
    nofeedback timer expires.  Thus, if no feedback is received from the   
    receiver, the allowed sending rate is never above one packet per       
    second, and is quickly reduced below one packet per second.            
                                                                           
    The feedback packets from the receiver contain a Receive Rate option   
    specifying the rate at which data packets arrived at the receiver      
    since the last feedback packet.  The allowed sending rate can be at    
    most twice the rate received at the receiver in the last round-trip    
    time.  This may be less than the nominal fair rate if, for example,    
    the application is sending less than its fair share.                   
                                                                           
5.1.  Response to Idle and Application-limited Periods                     
                                                                           
    One consequence of the nofeedback timer is that the sender reduces     
    the allowed sending rate when the sender has been idle for a           
    significant period of time.  In RFC 3448 (Section 4.4), the allowed    
    sending rate is never reduced to less than two packets per round-      
    trip time as the result of an idle period.  In CCID 3, we revise       
    this to take into account the larger initial windows allowed by RFC    
    3390.  That is, the allowed sending rate is never reduced to less      
    than the RFC 3390 initial sending rate as the result of an idle        
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    period.  If the allowed sending rate is less than the initial          
    sending rate upon entry to the idle period, then it will still be      
    less than the initial sending rate when exiting the idle period.       
    However, the allowed sending rate should not be reduced to below the   
    initial sending rate because of reductions of the allowed sending      
    rate during the idle period itself.                                    
                                                                           
    The sender's allowed sending rate is limited to at most twice the      
    receive rate reported by the receiver.  Thus, after an application-    
    limited period, the sender can at most double its sending rate from    
    one round-trip time to the next, until it reaches the allowed          
    sending rate determined by the loss event rate.                        
                                                                           
5.2.  Response to Data Dropped and Slow Receiver                           
                                                                           
    A CCID 3 sender responds to packets acknowledged as Data Dropped as    
    described in [DCCP], with the following further clarifications.        
                                                                           
    o  Drop Code 2 ("receive buffer drop").  The allowed sending rate is   
       reduced by one packet per RTT for each packet newly acknowledged    
       as Drop Code 2, except that it is never reduced below one packet    
       per RTT as a result of Drop Code 2.                                 
                                                                           
    o  Adjusting the receive rate X_recv.  A CCID 3 sender SHOULD also     
       respond to non-network-congestion events, such as those implied     
       by Data Dropped and Slow Receiver options, by adjusting X_recv,     
       the receive rate reported by the receiver in Receive Rate options   
       (see Section 8.3).  The CCID 3 sender's allowed sending rate is     
       limited to at most twice the receive rate reported by the           
       receiver, via the "min(..., 2*X_recv)" clause in TFRC's             
       throughput calculations [RFC 3448] (Section 4.3). When the sender   
       receives one or more Data Dropped and Slow Receiver options, the    
       sender SHOULD adjust X_recv as follows:                             
                                                                           
       1.  Let X_inrecv equal the Receive Rate in bytes per second         
           reported by the receiver in the most recent acknowledgement.    
                                                                           
       2.  Let X_drop equal the upper bound on the sending rate implied    
           by Data Dropped and Slow Receiver options.  If the sender       
           receives a Slow Receiver option, which requests that the        
           sender not increase its sending rate for roughly a round-trip   
           time [DCCP], then X_drop should be set to X_inrecv.             
           Similarly, if the sender receives a Data Dropped option         
           indicating, for example, that three packets were dropped with   
           Drop Code 2, then the upper bound on the sending rate will be   
           decreased by at most three packets per RTT, by the sender       
           setting X_drop to                                               
                max(X_inrecv - 3*s/RTT, min(X_inrecv, s/RTT)).             
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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           Again, s is the packet size in bytes.                           
                                                                           
       3.  Set X_recv := min(X_inrecv, X_drop/2).                          
                                                                           
       As a result, the next round-trip time's sending rate will be        
       limited to at most 2*(X_drop/2) = X_drop.  The effects of the       
       Slow Receiver and Data Dropped options on X_recv will mostly        
       vanish by the round-trip time after that, which is appropriate      
       for this non-network-congestion feedback.  This procedure MUST      
       only be used for those Drop Codes not related to corruption (see    
       [DCCP]).  Currently, this is limited to Drop Codes 0, 1, and 2.     
                                                                           
5.3.  Packet Sizes                                                         
                                                                           
    CCID 3 is intended for applications that use a fixed packet size,      
    and that vary their sending rate in packets per second in response     
    to congestion.   CCID 3 is not appropriate for applications that       
    require a fixed interval of time between packets, and vary their       
    packet size instead of their packet rate in response to congestion.    
    However, some attention might be required for applications using       
    CCID 3 that vary their packet size not in response to congestion,      
    but in response to other application-level requirements.               
                                                                           
    The packet size s is used in the TCP throughput equation.  A CCID 3    
    implementation MAY calculate s as the segment size averaged over       
    multiple round trip times -- for example, over the most recent four    
    loss intervals, for loss intervals as defined in Section 6.1.          
    Alternately, a CCID 3 implementation MAY use the Maximum Packet Size   
    to derive s.  In this case, s is set to the Maximum Segment Size       
    (MSS), the maximum size in bytes for the data segment, not including   
    the default DCCP and IP packet headers.  Each packet transmitted       
    then counts as one MSS, regardless of the actual segment size, and     
    the TCP throughput equation can be interpreted as specifying the       
    sending rate in packets per second.                                    
                                                                           
    CCID 3 implementations MAY check for applications that appear to be    
    manipulating the packet size inappropriately.  For example, an         
    application might send small packets for a while, building up a fast   
    rate, then switch to large packets to take advantage of the fast       
    rate.  (Preliminary simulations indicate that applications may not     
    be able to increase their overall transfer rates this way, so it is    
    not clear this manipulation will occur in practice [V03].)             
                                                                           
6.  Acknowledgements                                                       
                                                                           
    The receiver sends an acknowledgement to the sender roughly once per   
    round-trip time, if the sender is sending packets that frequently.     
    This rate is determined by the TFRC protocol, specified in RFC 3448    
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    (Section 6).                                                           
                                                                           
    As specified in [DCCP], the acknowledgement number acknowledges the    
    greatest valid sequence number received so far on this connection.     
    ("Greatest" is, of course, measured in circular sequence space.)       
    Each acknowledgement required by TFRC also includes at least the       
    following options:                                                     
                                                                           
    1.  An Elapsed Time and/or Timestamp Echo option specifying the        
        amount of time elapsed since the arrival at the receiver of the    
        packet whose sequence number appears in the Acknowledgement        
        Number field.  These options are described in [DCCP] (Sections     
        13.2 and 13.1).                                                    
                                                                           
    2.  A Receive Rate option, defined in Section 8.3, specifying the      
        rate at which data was received since the last DCCP-Ack was        
        sent.                                                              
                                                                           
    3.  A Loss Intervals option, defined in Section 8.6, specifying the    
        most recent loss intervals experienced by the receiver.  (The      
        definition of a loss interval is provided below.)  From Loss       
        Intervals, the sender can easily calculate the loss event rate p   
        using the procedure described in RFC 3448 (Section 5.4).           
                                                                           
    Acknowledgements not containing at least these three options are not   
    considered feedback packets.                                           
                                                                           
    The receiver MAY also include other options concerning the loss        
    event rate, including Loss Event Rate, which gives the loss event      
    rate calculated by the receiver, defined in Section 8.5, and DCCP's    
    generic Ack Vector option, which reports the specific sequence         
    numbers of any lost or marked packets [DCCP] (Section 11.4).  Ack      
    Vector is not required by CCID 3's congestion control mechanisms:      
    the Loss Intervals option provides all the information needed to       
    manage the transmit rate and probabilistically verify receiver         
    feedback.  However, Ack Vector may be useful for applications that     
    need to determine exactly which packets were lost.                     
                                                                           
    If the HC-Receiver is also sending data packets to the HC-Sender,      
    then it MAY piggyback acknowledgement information on those data        
    packets more frequently than TFRC's specified acknowledgement rate     
    allows.                                                                
                                                                           
6.1.  Loss Interval Definition                                             
                                                                           
    As described in RFC 3448 (Section 5.2), a loss interval begins with    
    a lost or ECN-marked data packet; continues with at most one round     
    trip time's worth of packets that may or may not be lost or marked;    
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    and completes with an arbitrarily-long series of non-dropped, non-     
    marked data packets.  For example, here is a single loss interval,     
    assuming that sequence numbers increase as you move right:             
                                                                           
               Lossy Part                                                  
                <= 1 RTT   __________ Lossless Part __________             
              /          \/                                   \            
              *----*--*--*-------------------------------------            
              ^    ^  ^  ^                                                 
             losses or marks                                               
                                                                           
                                                                           
    Note that a loss interval's lossless part might be empty, as in the    
    first interval below:                                                  
                                                                           
             Lossy Part   Lossy Part                                       
              <= 1 RTT     <= 1 RTT   _____ Lossless Part _____            
            /          \/           \/                         \           
            *----*--*--***--------*-*---------------------------           
            ^    ^  ^  ^^^        ^ ^                                      
            \_ Int. 1 _/\_____________ Interval 2 _____________/           
                                                                           
                                                                           
    As in RFC 3448 (Section 5.2), the length of the lossy part MUST be     
    <= 1 RTT.  CCID 3 uses window counter values, not receive times, to    
    determine whether multiple packets occurred in the same RTT, and       
    thus belong to the same loss event; see Section 10.2.  A loss          
    interval whose lossy part lasts for more than 1 RTT, or whose          
    lossless part contains a dropped or marked data packet, is invalid.    
                                                                           
    A missing data packet doesn't begin a new loss interval until          
    NDUPACK packets have been seen after the "hole", where NDUPACK = 3.    
    Thus, up to NDUPACK of the most recent sequence numbers (including     
    the sequence numbers of any holes) might temporarily not be part of    
    any loss interval, while the implementation waits to see whether a     
    hole will be filled.  See RFC 3448 (Section 5.1) and RFC 2581          
    (Section 3.2) for further discussion of NDUPACK.                       
                                                                           
    As specified by RFC 3448 (Section 5), all loss intervals except the    
    first begin with a lost or marked data packet, and all loss            
    intervals are as long as possible, subject to the validity             
    constraints above.                                                     
                                                                           
    Lost and ECN-marked non-data packets may occur freely in the           
    lossless part of a loss interval.  (Non-data packets consist of        
    those packet types that cannot carry application data, namely DCCP-    
    Ack, DCCP-Close, DCCP-CloseReq, DCCP-Reset, DCCP-Sync, and DCCP-       
    SyncAck.)  In the absence of better information, a receiver MUST       
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    conservatively assume that every lost packet was a data packet, and    
    thus must occur in some lossy part.  DCCP's NDP Count option can       
    help the receiver determine whether a particular packet contained      
    data; see [DCCP] (Section 7.7).                                        
                                                                           
6.1.1.  Loss Interval Lengths                                              
                                                                           
    RFC 3448 defines the TFRC congestion control mechanism in terms of a   
    one-way transfer of data, with data packets going from the sender to   
    the receiver and feedback packets going from the receiver back to      
    the sender.  However, CCID 3 applies in a context of two half-         
    connections, with DCCP-Data and and DCCP-DataAck packets from one      
    half-connection sharing sequence number space with DCCP-Ack packets    
    from the other half-connection.  For the purposes of CCID 3            
    congestion control, loss interval lengths should only include data     
    packets, and exclude the acknowledgement packets from the reverse      
    half-connection; but it's also useful to report the total number of    
    packets in each loss interval (for example, to facilitate ECN Nonce    
    verification).                                                         
                                                                           
    CCID 3's Loss Intervals option thus reports two lengths for each       
    loss interval.  An interval's sequence length is the total number of   
    packets the sender transmitted during the interval, and is easily      
    calculated in DCCP as the greatest packet sequence number in the       
    interval minus the greatest packet sequence number in the preceding    
    interval (or, if there is no preceding interval, the initial           
    sequence number in the CCID 3 half-connection).  An interval's data    
    length is the number used in TFRC's loss event rate calculation, as    
    defined in RFC 3448 (Section 5), and is calculated as follows.         
                                                                           
    For all loss intervals except the first, the data length equals the    
    sequence length minus the number of non-data packets the sender        
    transmitted during the loss interval, except that the minimum data     
    length is one packet.  In the absence of better information, an        
    endpoint MUST conservatively assume that the loss interval contained   
    only data packets, in which case the data length equals the sequence   
    length.  To achieve greater precision, the sender can calculate the    
    exact number of non-data packets in an interval by remembering which   
    sent packets contained data; the receiver can count non-data packets   
    received or received ECN-marked, and for packets that were not         
    received, it may be able to discriminate between lost data packets     
    and lost non-data packets using DCCP's NDP Count option.               
                                                                           
    For the first loss interval, the data length is undefined until the    
    first loss event.  RFC 3448 (Section 6.3.1) specifies how the first    
    loss interval's data length is calculated once the first loss event    
    has occurred; this calculation uses X_recv, the most recent receive    
    rate, as input.  Until this first loss event, the loss event rate is   
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    zero, as is the data length reported for the interval in the Loss      
    Intervals option.                                                      
                                                                           
    The first loss interval's data length might be less than, equal to,    
    or even greater than its sequence length.  Any other loss interval's   
    data length must be less than or equal to its sequence length.         
                                                                           
    A sender MAY use the loss event rate or loss interval data lengths     
    as reported by the receiver, or it MAY recalculate loss event rate     
    and/or loss interval data lengths based on receiver feedback and       
    additional information.  For example, assume the network drops a       
    DCCP-Ack packet with sequence number 50.  The receiver might then      
    report a loss interval beginning at sequence number 50.  If the        
    sender determined that this loss interval actually contained no lost   
    or ECN-marked data packets, then it might coalesce the loss interval   
    with the previous loss interval, resulting in a larger allowed         
    transmit rate.                                                         
                                                                           
6.2.  Congestion Control on Acknowledgements                               
                                                                           
    The rate and timing for generating acknowledgements is determined by   
    the TFRC algorithm [RFC 3448] (Section 6).  The sending rate for       
    acknowledgements is relatively low -- roughly once per round-trip      
    time -- so there is no need for explicit congestion control on         
    acknowledgements.                                                      
                                                                           
6.3.  Acknowledgements of Acknowledgements                                 
                                                                           
    TFRC acknowledgements don't generally need to be reliable, so the      
    sender generally need not acknowledge the receiver's                   
    acknowledgements.  When Ack Vector is used, however, the sender,       
    DCCP A, MUST occasionally acknowledge the receiver's                   
    acknowledgements so that the receiver can free up Ack Vector state.    
    When both half-connections are active, the necessary                   
    acknowledgements will be contained in A's acknowledgements to B's      
    data.  If the B-to-A half-connection goes quiescent, however, DCCP A   
    must send an acknowledgement proactively.                              
                                                                           
    Thus, when Ack Vector is used, an active sender MUST acknowledge the   
    receiver's acknowledgements approximately once per round-trip time,    
    within a factor of two or three, probably by sending a DCCP-DataAck    
    packet.  No acknowledgement options are necessary, just the            
    Acknowledgement Number in the DCCP-DataAck header.                     
                                                                           
    The sender MAY choose to acknowledge the receiver's acknowledgements   
    even if they do not contain Ack Vectors.  For instance, regular        
    acknowledgements can shrink the size of the Loss Intervals option.     
    Unlike the Ack Vector, however, the Loss Intervals option is bounded   
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    in size (and receiver state), so acks-of-acks are not required.        
                                                                           
6.4.  Quiescence                                                           
                                                                           
    This section describes how a CCID 3 receiver determines that the       
    corresponding sender is not sending any data, and therefore has gone   
    quiescent.  See [DCCP] (Section 11.1) for general information on       
    quiescence.                                                            
                                                                           
    Let T equal the greater of 0.2 seconds and two round-trip times.  (A   
    CCID 3 receiver has a rough measure of the round-trip time, so that    
    it can pace its acknowledgements.)  The receiver detects that the      
    sender has gone quiescent after T seconds have passed without          
    receiving any additional data from the sender.                         
                                                                           
7.  Explicit Congestion Notification                                       
                                                                           
    CCID 3 supports Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) [RFC 3168].     
    In the typical case of an ECN-capable half-connection (where the       
    receiver's ECN Incapable feature is set to zero), the sender will      
    use the ECN Nonce for its data packets, as specified in [DCCP]         
    (Section 12.2).  Information about the ECN Nonce MUST be returned by   
    the receiver using the Loss Intervals option, and any Ack Vector       
    options MUST include the ECN Nonce Sum.  The sender MAY maintain a     
    table with the ECN nonce sum for each packet, and use this             
    information to probabilistically verify the ECN nonce sums returned    
    in Loss Intervals or Ack Vector options.  Section 9 describes this     
    further.                                                               
                                                                           
8.  Options and Features                                                   
                                                                           
    CCID 3 can make use of DCCP's Ack Vector, Timestamp, Timestamp Echo,   
    and Elapsed Time options, and its Send Ack Vector and ECN Incapable    
    features.  In addition, the following CCID-specific options are        
    defined for use with CCID 3.                                           
                                                                           
                   Option                        DCCP-   Section           
          Type     Length     Meaning            Data?  Reference          
          -----    ------     -------            -----  ---------          
         128-191              Reserved                                     
           192        6       Loss Event Rate      N      8.5              
           193     variable   Loss Intervals       N      8.6              
           194        6       Receive Rate         N      8.3              
         195-255              Reserved                                     
                                                                           
                       Table 1: DCCP CCID 3 Options                        
                                                                           
    The "DCCP-Data?" column indicates that all currently defined           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    CCID 3-specific options MUST be ignored when they occur on DCCP-Data   
    packets.                                                               
                                                                           
    The following CCID-specific feature is also defined.                   
                                                                           
                                        Rec'n Initial        Section       
      Number   Meaning                  Rule   Value  Req'd Reference      
      ------   -------                  -----  -----  ----- ---------      
      128-191  Reserved                                                    
        192    Send Loss Event Rate      SP      0      N      8.4         
      193-255  Reserved                                                    
                                                                           
                   Table 2: DCCP CCID 3 Feature Numbers                    
                                                                           
    The column meanings are described in [DCCP] (Table 4).  "Rec'n Rule"   
    defines the feature's reconciliation rule, where "SP" means server-    
    priority.  "Req'd" specifies whether every CCID 3 implementation       
    MUST understand a feature; Send Loss Event Rate is optional, in that   
    it behaves like an extension [DCCP] (Section 15).                      
                                                                           
8.1.  Window Counter Value                                                 
                                                                           
    The data sender stores a 4-bit window counter value in the DCCP        
    generic header's CCVal field on every data packet it sends.  This      
    value is set to 0 at the beginning of the transmission, and            
    generally increased by 1 every quarter of a round-trip time, as        
    described in RFC 3448 (Section 3.2.1).  For reference, the DCCP        
    generic header is as follows (diagram repeated from [DCCP], which      
    also shows the generic header with a 24-bit Sequence Number field).    
                                                                           
     0                   1                   2                   3         
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1       
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+      
    |          Source Port          |           Dest Port           |      
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+      
    |  Data Offset  | CCVal | CsCov |           Checksum            |      
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+      
    | Res | Type  |1|   Reserved    |  Sequence Number (high bits)  .      
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+      
    .                  Sequence Number (low bits)                   |      
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+      
                                                                           
    The CCVal field has enough space to express 4 round-trip times at      
    quarter-RTT granularity.  The sender MUST avoid wrapping CCVal on      
    adjacent packets, as might happen, for example, if two data-carrying   
    packets were sent 4 round-trip times apart with no packets             
    intervening.  Therefore, the sender SHOULD use the following           
    algorithm for setting CCVal.  The algorithm uses three variables:      
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    "last_WC" holds the last window counter value sent, "last_WC_time"     
    is the time at which the first packet with window counter value        
    "last_WC" was sent, and "RTT" is the current round-trip time           
    estimate.  last_WC is initialized to zero, and last_WC_time to the     
    time of the first packet sent.  Then, before sending a new packet,     
    proceed like this:                                                     
                                                                           
      Let quarter_RTTs = floor((current_time - last_WC_time) / (RTT/4)).   
      If quarter_RTTs > 0, then:                                           
          Set last_WC := (last_WC + min(quarter_RTTs, 5)) mod 16, and      
          Set last_WC_time := current_time.                                
      Set the packet header's CCVal field to last_WC.                      
                                                                           
    When this algorithm is used, adjacent data-carrying packets' CCVal     
    counters never differ by more than five, modulo 16.                    
                                                                           
    The window counter value may also change as feedback packets arrive.   
    In particular, after receiving an acknowledgement for a packet sent    
    with window counter WC, the sender SHOULD increase its window          
    counter, if necessary, so that subsequent packets have window          
    counter value at least (WC + 4) mod 16.                                
                                                                           
    The CCVal counters are used by the receiver to determine whether       
    multiple losses belong to a single loss event, to determine the        
    interval to use for calculating the receive rate, and to determine     
    when to send feedback packets.  None of these procedures require the   
    receiver to maintain an explicit estimate of the round-trip time.      
    However, implementors who wish to keep such an RTT estimate may do     
    so using CCVal.  Let T(I) be the arrival time of the earliest valid    
    received packet with CCVal = I.  (Of course, when the window counter   
    value wraps around to the same value mod 16, we must recalculate       
    T(I).)  Let D = 2, 3, or 4, and say that T(K) and T(K+D) both exist    
    (packets were received with window counters K and K+D).  Then the      
    value (T(K+D) - T(K)) * 4/D MAY serve as an estimate of the round-     
    trip time.  Values of D = 4 SHOULD be preferred for RTT estimation.    
    Concretely, say that the following packets arrived:                    
                                                                           
    Time:       T1  T2  T3 T4  T5           T6  T7   T8  T9                
           ------*---*---*-*----*------------*---*----*--*---->            
    CCVal:      K-1 K-1  K K   K+1          K+3 K+4  K+3 K+4               
                                                                           
    Then T7 - T3, the difference between the receive times of the first    
    packet received with window counter K+4 and the first packet           
    received with window counter K, is a reasonable round-trip time        
    estimate.  Because of the necessary constraint that measurements can   
    only come from packet pairs whose CCVals differ by at most 4, this     
    procedure does not work when the inter-packet sending times are        
    significantly greater than the RTT, resulting in packet pairs whose    
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    CCVals differ by 5.  Explicit RTT measurement techniques, such as      
    Timestamp and Timestamp Echo, should be used in that case.             
                                                                           
8.2.  Elapsed Time Options                                                 
                                                                           
    The data receiver MUST include an elapsed time value on every          
    required acknowledgement.  This helps the sender distinguish between   
    network round-trip time, which it must include in its rate             
    equations, and delay at the receiver due to TFRC's infrequent          
    acknowledgement rate, which it need not include.  The elapsed time     
    value is included in one, or possibly two, ways:                       
                                                                           
    1.  If at least one recent data packet (i.e., a packet received        
        after the previous DCCP-Ack was sent) included a Timestamp         
        option, then the receiver SHOULD include the corresponding         
        Timestamp Echo option, with Elapsed Time value.                    
                                                                           
    2.  In any case, the receiver MUST include an Elapsed Time option.     
                                                                           
    All these option types are defined in the main DCCP specification      
    [DCCP].                                                                
                                                                           
8.3.  Receive Rate Option                                                  
                                                                           
    +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+                
    |11000010|00000110|            Receive Rate           |                
    +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+                
     Type=194   Len=6                                                      
                                                                           
    This option MUST be sent by the data receiver on all required          
    acknowledgements.  Its four data bytes indicate the rate at which      
    the receiver has received data since it last sent an                   
    acknowledgement, in bytes per second.  To calculate this receive       
    rate, the receiver sets t to the larger of the estimated round-trip    
    time and the time since the last Receive Rate option was sent.         
    (Received data packets' window counters can be used to produce a       
    suitable RTT estimate, as described in Section 8.1.)  The receive      
    rate then equals the number of data bytes received in the most         
    recent t seconds, divided by t.                                        
                                                                           
    Receive Rate options MUST NOT be sent on DCCP-Data packets, and any    
    Receive Rate options on received DCCP-Data packets MUST be ignored.    
                                                                           
8.4.  Send Loss Event Rate Feature                                         
                                                                           
    The Send Loss Event Rate feature lets CCID 3 endpoints negotiate       
    whether the receiver MUST provide Loss Event Rate options on its       
    acknowledgements.  DCCP A sends a "Change R(Send Loss Event Rate,      
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    1)" option to ask DCCP B to send Loss Event Rate options as part of    
    its acknowledgement traffic.                                           
                                                                           
    Send Loss Event Rate has feature number 192, and is server-priority.   
    It takes one-byte Boolean values.  DCCP B MUST send Loss Event Rate    
    options on its acknowledgements when Set Loss Event Rate/B is one,     
    although it MAY send Loss Event Rate options even when Send Loss       
    Event Rate/B is zero.  Values of two or more are reserved.  A CCID 3   
    half-connection starts with Send Loss Event Rate equal to zero.        
                                                                           
8.5.  Loss Event Rate Option                                               
                                                                           
    +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+                
    |11000000|00000110|          Loss Event Rate          |                
    +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+                
     Type=192   Len=6                                                      
                                                                           
    The option value indicates the inverse of the loss event rate,         
    rounded UP, as calculated by the receiver.  Its units are data         
    packets per loss interval.  Thus, if the Loss Event Rate option        
    value is 100, then the loss event rate is 0.01 loss events per data    
    packet (and the average loss interval contains 100 data packets).      
    When each loss event has exactly one data packet loss, the loss        
    event rate is the same as the data packet drop rate.                   
                                                                           
    See [RFC 3448] (Section 5) for a normative calculation of loss event   
    rate.  Before any losses have occurred, when the loss event rate is    
    zero, the Loss Event Rate option value is set to                       
    "11111111111111111111111111111111" in binary (or equivalently, to      
    2^32 - 1).  The loss event rate calculation uses loss interval data    
    lengths, as defined in Section 6.1.1.                                  
                                                                           
    Loss Event Rate options MUST NOT be sent on DCCP-Data packets, and     
    any Loss Event Rate options on received DCCP-Data packets MUST be      
    ignored.                                                               
                                                                           
8.6.  Loss Intervals Option                                                
                                                                           
    +--------+--------+--------+--------...--------+--------+---           
    |11000001| Length |  Skip  |   Loss Interval   | More Loss             
    |        |        | Length |                   | Intervals...          
    +--------+--------+--------+--------...--------+--------+---           
     Type=193                         9 bytes                              
                                                                           
    Each 9-byte Loss Interval contains three fields, as follows:           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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      ____________________ Loss Interval _____________________             
     /                                                        \            
    +--------...-------+--------...--------+--------...--------+           
    | Lossless Length  |E|   Loss Length   |    Data Length    |           
    +--------...-------+--------...--------+--------...--------+           
           3 bytes            3 bytes             3 bytes                  
                                                                           
    The receiver reports its observed loss intervals using a Loss          
    Intervals option.  (Section 6.1 defines loss intervals.)  This         
    option MUST be sent by the data receiver on all required               
    acknowledgements.  The option reports up to 28 loss intervals seen     
    by the receiver (although TFRC currently uses at most the latest 9     
    of these).  This lets the sender calculate a loss event rate and       
    probabilistically verify the receiver's ECN Nonce Echo.                
                                                                           
    The Loss Intervals option serves several purposes.                     
                                                                           
    o  The sender can use the Loss Intervals option to calculate the       
       Loss Event Rate.                                                    
                                                                           
    o  Loss Intervals information is easily checked for consistency        
       against previous Loss Intervals options, and against any Loss       
       Event Rate calculated by the receiver.                              
                                                                           
    o  The sender can probabilistically verify the ECN Nonce Echo for      
       each Loss Interval, reducing the likelihood of misbehavior.         
                                                                           
    Loss Intervals options MUST NOT be sent on DCCP-Data packets, and      
    any Loss Intervals options on received DCCP-Data packets MUST be       
    ignored.                                                               
                                                                           
8.6.1.  Option Details                                                     
                                                                           
    The Loss Intervals option contains information about between one and   
    28 consecutive loss intervals, always including the most recent loss   
    interval.  Intervals are listed in reverse chronological order.        
    Should more than 28 loss intervals need to be reported, then           
    multiple Loss Intervals options can be sent; the second option         
    begins where the first left off, and so forth.  The options MUST       
    contain information about at least the most recent NINTERVAL + 1 = 9   
    loss intervals unless (1) there have not yet been NINTERVAL + 1 loss   
    intervals, or (2) the receiver knows, because of the sender's          
    acknowledgements, that some previously-transmitted loss interval       
    information has been received.  In this second case, the receiver      
    need not send loss intervals that the sender already knows about,      
    except that it MUST transmit at least one loss interval regardless.    
    The NINTERVAL parameter is equal to "n" as defined in RFC 3448         
    (Section 5.4).                                                         
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    Loss interval sequence numbers are delta-encoded starting from the     
    Acknowledgement Number.  Therefore, Loss Intervals options MUST NOT    
    be sent on packets without an Acknowledgement Number.                  
                                                                           
    The first byte of option data is Skip Length, which indicates the      
    number of packets up to and including the Acknowledgement Number       
    that are not part of any Loss Interval.  As discussed above, Skip      
    Length must be less than or equal to NDUPACK = 3.                      
                                                                           
    Loss Interval structures follow Skip Length.  Each Loss Interval       
    consists of a Lossless Length, a Loss Length, an ECN Nonce Echo (E),   
    and a Data Length.                                                     
                                                                           
    Lossless Length, a 24-bit number, specifies the number of packets in   
    the loss interval's lossless part.                                     
                                                                           
    Loss Length, a 23-bit number, specifies the number of packets in the   
    loss interval's lossy part.  The sum of the Lossless Length and the    
    Loss Length equals the loss interval's sequence length.  Receivers     
    SHOULD report the minimum valid Loss Length for each loss interval,    
    making the first and last sequence numbers in each lossy part          
    correspond to lost or marked data packets.                             
                                                                           
    The ECN Nonce Echo, stored in the high-order bit of the 3-byte field   
    containing Loss Length, equals the one-bit sum (exclusive-or, or       
    parity) of data packet nonces received over the loss interval's        
    lossless part (which is Lossless Length packets long).  If Lossless    
    Length is 0, the receiver is ECN-incapable, or the Lossless Length     
    contained no data packets, then the ECN Nonce Echo MUST be reported    
    as 0.                                                                  
                                                                           
    Finally, Data Length, a 24-bit number, specifies the loss interval's   
    data length, as defined in Section 6.1.1.                              
                                                                           
8.6.2.  Example                                                            
                                                                           
    Consider the following sequence of packets, where "-" represents a     
    safely delivered packet and "*" represents a lost or marked packet.    
                                                                           
    Sequence                                                               
     Numbers: 0         10        20        30        40  44               
              |         |         |         |         |   |                
              ----------*--------***-*--------*----------*-                
                                                                           
    Assuming that packet 43 was lost, not marked, this sequence might be   
    divided into loss intervals as follows:                                
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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              0         10        20        30        40  44               
              |         |         |         |         |   |                
              ----------*--------***-*--------*----------*-                
              \________/\_______/\___________/\_________/                  
                  L0       L1         L2          L3                       
                                                                           
    A Loss Intervals option sent to acknowledge this set of loss           
    intervals, on a packet with Acknowledgement Number 44, might contain   
    the bytes 193,39,2, 0,0,10, 128,0,1, 0,0,10, 0,0,8, 0,0,5, 0,0,10,     
    0,0,8, 0,0,1, 0,0,8, 0,0,10, 128,0,0, 0,0,15.  This option is          
    interpreted as follows.                                                
                                                                           
    193 The Loss Intervals option number.                                  
                                                                           
    39  The length of the option, including option type and length         
        bytes.  This option contains information about (39 - 3)/9 = 4      
        loss intervals.                                                    
                                                                           
    2   The Skip Length is 2 packets.  Thus, the most recent loss          
        interval, L3, ends immediately before sequence number 44 - 2 + 1   
        = 43.                                                              
                                                                           
    0,0,10, 128,0,1, 0,0,10                                                
        These bytes define L3.  L3 consists of a 10-packet lossless part   
        (0,0,10), preceded by a 1-packet lossy part.  Continuing to        
        subtract, the lossless part begins with sequence number 43 - 10    
        = 33, and the lossy part begins with sequence number 33 - 1 =      
        32.  The ECN Nonce Echo for the lossless part, namely packets 33   
        through 42, inclusive, equals 1.  The interval's data length is    
        10, so the receiver believes that the interval contained exactly   
        one non-data packet.                                               
                                                                           
    0,0,8, 0,0,5, 0,0,10                                                   
        This defines L2, whose lossless part begins with sequence number   
        32 - 8 = 24; whose lossy part begins with sequence number 24 - 5   
        = 19; whose ECN Nonce Echo (for packets [24,31]) equals 0; and     
        whose data length is 10.                                           
                                                                           
    0,0,8, 0,0,1, 0,0,8                                                    
        L1's lossless part begins with sequence number 11, its lossy       
        part begins with sequence number 10, its ECN Nonce Echo (for       
        packets [11,18]) equals 0, and its data length is 8.               
                                                                           
    0,0,10, 128,0,0, 0,0,15                                                
        L0's lossless part begins with sequence number 0, it has no        
        lossy part, its ECN Nonce Echo (for packets [0,1]) equals 1, and   
        its data length is 15.  (This must be the first loss interval in   
        the connection; otherwise, a data length greater than the          
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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        sequence length would be invalid.)                                 
                                                                           
9.  Verifying Congestion Control Compliance With ECN                       
                                                                           
    The sender can use Loss Intervals options' ECN Nonce Echoes (and       
    possibly any Ack Vectors' ECN Nonce Echoes) to probabilistically       
    verify that the receiver is correctly reporting all dropped or         
    marked packets.  Even if ECN is not used (the receiver's ECN           
    Incapable feature is set to one), the sender could still check on      
    the receiver by occasionally not sending a packet, or sending a        
    packet out-of-order, to catch the receiver in an error in Loss         
    Intervals or Ack Vector information.  This is not as robust or as      
    non-intrusive as the verification provided by the ECN Nonce,           
    however.                                                               
                                                                           
9.1.  Verifying the ECN Nonce Echo                                         
                                                                           
    To verify the ECN Nonce Echo included with a Loss Intervals option,    
    the sender maintains a table with the ECN nonce sum for each data      
    packet.  As defined in RFC 3540, the nonce sum for sequence number S   
    is the one-bit sum (exclusive-or, or parity) of data packet nonces     
    over the sequence number range [I,S], where I is the initial           
    sequence number.  Let NonceSum(S) represent this nonce sum for         
    sequence number S, and let NonceSum(I - 1) equal 0.  Then the Nonce    
    Echo for a loss interval [Left Edge, Left Edge + Offset) should        
    equal the following one-bit sum:                                       
                                                                           
       NonceSum(Left Edge - 1) + NonceSum(Left Edge + Offset - 1).         
                                                                           
    Since an ECN Nonce Echo is returned for the lossless part of each      
    Loss Interval, a misbehaving receiver -- meaning a receiver that       
    reports a lost or marked data packet as "received non-marked", to      
    avoid rate reductions -- has only a 50% chance of guessing the         
    correct Nonce Echo for each loss interval.                             
                                                                           
    To verify the ECN Nonce Echo included with an Ack Vector option, the   
    sender maintains a table with the ECN nonce value sent for each        
    packet.  The Ack Vector option explicitly says which packets were      
    received non-marked; the sender just adds up the nonces for those      
    packets using a one-bit sum, and compares the result to the Nonce      
    Echo encoded in the Ack Vector's option type.  Again, a misbehaving    
    receiver has only a 50% chance of guessing an Ack Vector's correct     
    Nonce Echo.  [DCCP] (Appendix A) describes this further.               
    Alternatively, an Ack Vector's ECN Nonce Echo may also be calculated   
    from a table of ECN nonce sums, rather than ECN nonces.  If the Ack    
    Vector contains many long runs of non-marked, non-dropped packets,     
    the nonce sum-based calculation will probably be faster than a         
    straightforward nonce-based calculation.                               
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    Note that Ack Vector's ECN Nonce Echo is measured over both data       
    packets and non-data packets, while the Loss Intervals option          
    reports ECN Nonce Echoes for data packets only.                        
                                                                           
9.2.  Verifying the Reported Loss Intervals and Loss Event Rate            
                                                                           
    Besides probabilistically verifying the ECN Nonce Echoes reported by   
    the receiver, the sender may also verify the loss intervals and any    
    loss event rate reported by the receiver, if it so desires.            
    Specifically, the Loss Intervals option explicitly reports the size    
    of each loss interval as seen by the receiver; the sender can verify   
    that the receiver is not falsely combining two loss events into one    
    reported Loss Interval by using saved window counter information.      
    The sender can also compare any Loss Event Rate option to the loss     
    event rate it calculates using the Loss Intervals option.              
                                                                           
    We note that in some cases the loss event rate calculated by the       
    sender could differ from an explicit Loss Event Rate option sent by    
    the receiver.  In particular, when a number of successive packets      
    are dropped, the receiver does not know the sending times for these    
    packets, and interprets these losses as a single loss event.  In       
    contrast, if the sender has saved the sending times or window          
    counter information for these packets, then the sender can determine   
    if these losses constitute a single loss event, or several             
    successive loss events.   Thus, with its knowledge of the sending      
    times of dropped packets, the sender is able to make a more accurate   
    calculation of the loss event rate.  These kinds of differences        
    SHOULD NOT be misinterpreted as attempted receiver misbehavior.        
                                                                           
10.  Implementation Issues                                                 
                                                                           
10.1.  Timestamp Usage                                                     
                                                                           
    CCID 3 data packets need not carry Timestamp options.  The sender      
    can store the times at which recent packets were sent; the             
    Acknowledgement Number and Elapsed Time option contained on each       
    required acknowledgement then provide sufficient information to        
    compute the round trip time.  Alternatively, the sender MAY include    
    Timestamp options on a limited subset of its data packets.  The        
    receiver will respond with Timestamp Echo options including Elapsed    
    Times, allowing the sender to calculate round-trip times without       
    storing timestamps at all.                                             
                                                                           
10.2.  Determining Loss Events at the Receiver                             
                                                                           
    The window counter is used by the receiver to determine if multiple    
    lost packets belong to the same loss event.  The sender increases      
    the window counter by one every quarter round-trip time.  This         
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    section describes in detail the procedure for using the window         
    counter to determine when two lost packets belong to the same loss     
    event.                                                                 
                                                                           
    Section 3.2.1 of RFC 3448 specifies that each data packet contains a   
    timestamp, and gives as an alternative implementation a "timestamp"    
    that is incremented every quarter of an RTT, as is the window          
    counter in CCID 3.  However, Section 5.2 in RFC 3448 on "Translation   
    from Loss History to Loss Events" is written in terms of timestamps,   
    not in terms of window counters.  In this section, we give an          
    procedure for the translation from loss history to loss events that    
    is explicitly in terms of window counters.                             
                                                                           
    To determine whether two lost packets with sequence numbers X and Y    
    belong to different loss events, the receiver proceeds as follows.     
    Assume Y > X in circular sequence space.                               
                                                                           
    o  Let X_prev be the greatest valid sequence number received with      
       X_prev < X.                                                         
                                                                           
    o  Let Y_prev be the greatest valid sequence number received with      
       Y_prev < Y.                                                         
                                                                           
    o  Given a sequence number N, let C(N) be the window counter value     
       associated with that packet.                                        
                                                                           
    o  Packets X and Y belong to different loss events if there exists a   
       packet with sequence number S so that X_prev < S <= Y_prev, and     
       the distance from C(X_prev) to C(S) is greater than 4.  (The        
       distance is the number D so that C(X_prev) + D = C(S) (mod          
       WCTRMAX), where WCTRMAX is the maximum value for the window         
       counter -- in our case, 16.)                                        
                                                                           
       That is, the receiver only considers losses X and Y as separate     
       loss events if there exists some packet S received between X and    
       Y, with the distance from C(X_prev) to C(S) greater than 4.  This   
       complex calculation is necessary to handle the case where window    
       counter space wrapped completely between X and Y.  Generally, the   
       receiver can simply check whether the distance from C(X_prev) to    
       C(Y_prev) is greater than 4;  if so, then X and Y belong to         
       separate loss events.                                               
                                                                           
    Window counters can help the receiver to disambiguate multiple         
    losses after a sudden decrease in the actual round-trip time.  When    
    the sender receives an acknowledgement acknowledging a data packet     
    with window counter i, the sender increases its window counter, if     
    necessary, so that subsequent data packets are sent with window        
    counter values of at least i+4.  This can help minimize errors on      
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    the part of the receiver of incorrectly interpreting multiple loss     
    events as a single loss event.                                         
                                                                           
    We note that if all of the packets between X and Y are lost in the     
    network, then X_prev and Y_prev are both set to X-1, and the series    
    of consecutive losses is treated by the receiver as a single loss      
    event.  However, the sender will receive no DCCP-Ack packets during    
    a period of consecutive losses, and the sender will reduce its         
    sending rate accordingly.                                              
                                                                           
    As an alternative to the window counter, the sender could have sent    
    its estimate of the round-trip time to the receiver directly in a      
    round-trip time option; the receiver would use the sender's round-     
    trip time estimate to infer when multiple lost or marked packets       
    belong in the same loss event.  In some respects, a round-trip time    
    option would give a more precise encoding of the sender's round-trip   
    time estimate than does the window counter.  However, the window       
    counter conveys information about the relative *sending* times for     
    packets, while the receiver could only use the round-trip time         
    option to distinguish between the relative *receive* times (in the     
    absence of timestamps).  That is, the window counter will give more    
    robust performance when there is a large variation in delay for        
    packets sent within a window of data.  Slightly more speculatively,    
    a round-trip time option might possibly be used more easily by         
    middleboxes attempting to verify that a flow was using conformant      
    end-to-end congestion control.                                         
                                                                           
10.3.  Sending Feedback Packets                                            
                                                                           
    In CCID 3, the window counter is used by the receiver to decide when   
    to send feedback packets.  RFC 3448 (Sections 6.1 and 6.2) specifies   
    that the TFRC receiver sends a feedback packet when the new loss       
    event rate p is less that the old value.  This rule is followed by     
    CCID 3.                                                                
                                                                           
    In addition, RFC 3448 (Section 6.2) specifies that the receiver uses   
    a feedback timer to decide when to send additional feedback packets.   
    If the feedback timer expires, and data packets have been received     
    since the previous feedback was sent, then the receiver sends a        
    feedback packet.  When the feedback timer expires, the receiver        
    resets the timer to expire after R_m seconds, where R_m is the most    
    recent estimate of the round-trip time received from the sender.       
    This section describes how CCID 3 uses the window counter instead of   
    the feedback timer to determine when to send additional feedback       
    packets.                                                               
                                                                           
    Whenever the receiver sends a feedback message, the receiver sets a    
    local variable last_counter to the greatest received value of the      
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    window counter since the last feedback message was sent, if any data   
    packets have been received since the last feedback message was sent.   
    If the receiver receives a data packet with a window counter value     
    greater than or equal to last_counter + 4, then the receiver sends a   
    new feedback packet.  ("Greater" and "greatest" are measured in        
    circular window counter space.)                                        
                                                                           
    This procedure ensures that when the sender is sending less than one   
    packet per round-trip time, then the receiver sends a feedback         
    packet after each data packet.  Similarly, this procedure ensures      
    that when the sender is sending several packets per round-trip time,   
    then the receiver will send a feedback packet each time that a data    
    packet arrives with a window counter more than four greater than the   
    window counter when the last feedback packet was sent.  Thus, the      
    feedback timer is not necessary when the window counter is used.       
                                                                           
    However, the feedback timer still could be useful in some rare cases   
    to prevent the sender from unnecessarily halving its sending rate.     
    In particular, one could construct scenarios where the use of the      
    feedback timer at the receiver would prevent the unnecessary           
    expiration of the nofeedback timer at the sender.  Consider the case   
    below, in which a feedback packet is sent when a data packet arrives   
    with a window counter of K.                                            
                                                                           
     Window                                                                
     Counters: K   K+1 K+2 K+3 K+4 K+5 K+6  ...  K+15 K+16 K+17 ...        
               |   |   |   |   |   |   |         |    |    |               
     Data      |   |   |   |   |   |   |         |    |    |               
     Packets   |   |   |   |   |   |   |         |    |    |               
     Received:   - -  ---  -                ...   - - -- -  -- --  -       
                 |                |               |    |    |        |     
                 |                |               |    |    |        |     
     Events:     1:               2:              3:   4:   5:       6:    
                "A"                              "B"  Timer "B"            
                sent                             sent       received       
                                                                           
          1:  Feedback message A is sent.                                  
          2:  A feedback message would have been sent if feedback timers   
              had been used.                                               
          3:  Feedback message B is sent.                                  
          4:  Sender's nofeedback timer expires.                           
          5:  Feedback message B is received at the sender.                
          6:  Sender's nofeedback timer would have expired if feedback     
              timers had been used, and the feedback message at 2 had      
              been sent.                                                   
                                                                           
    The receiver receives data after the feedback packet has been sent,    
    but has received no data packets with a window counter between K+4     
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    and K+14.  A data packet with a window counter of K+4 or larger        
    would have triggered sending a new feedback packet, but no feedback    
    packet is sent until time 3.                                           
                                                                           
    The TFRC protocol specifies that after a feedback packet is            
    received, the sender sets a nofeedback timer to at least four times    
    the round-trip time estimate.  If the sender doesn't receive any       
    feedback packets before the nofeedback timer expires, then the         
    sender halves its sending rate.  In the figure, the sender receives    
    feedback message A (time 1), then sets the nofeedback timer to         
    expire roughly four round-trip times later (time 4).  The sender       
    starts sending again just before the nofeedback timer expires, but     
    doesn't receive the resulting feedback message until after its         
    expiration, resulting in an unnecessary halving of the sending rate.   
    If the connection had used feedback timers, the receiver would have    
    sent a feedback message when the feedback timer expired at time 2,     
    and the halving of the sending rate would have been avoided.           
                                                                           
    For implementors who wish to implement a feedback timer for the data   
    receiver, we suggest estimating the round-trip time from the most      
    recent data packet as described in Section 8.1.  We note that this     
    procedure does not work when the inter-packet sending times are        
    greater than the RTT.                                                  
                                                                           
11.  Security Considerations                                               
                                                                           
    Security considerations for DCCP have been discussed in [DCCP], and    
    security considerations for TFRC have been discussed in RFC 3448       
    (Section 9).  The security considerations for TFRC include the need    
    to protect against spoofed feedback, and the need for protection       
    mechanisms to protect the congestion control mechanisms against        
    incorrect information from the receiver.                               
                                                                           
    In this document we have extensively discussed the mechanisms the      
    sender can use to verify the information sent by the receiver.  As     
    the document described, ECN may be used with CCID 3.  When ECN is      
    used, the receiver must use either Ack Vector or Loss Intervals to     
    return ECN Nonce information to the sender.  When ECN is not used,     
    then, as Section 9 shows, the sender could still use various           
    techniques that might catch the receiver in an error in reporting      
    congestion, but this is not as robust or as non-intrusive as the       
    verification provided by the ECN Nonce.                                
                                                                           
12.  IANA Considerations                                                   
                                                                           
    This specification defines the value 3 in the DCCP CCID namespace      
    managed by IANA.  This assignment is also mentioned in [DCCP].         
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    CCID 3 also introduces three sets of numbers whose values should be    
    allocated by IANA, namely CCID 3-specific Reset Codes, option types, 
    allocated by IANA.  We refer to allocation policies, such as      
    and feature numbers.  These ranges will prevent any future           
    Standards Action, outlined in RFC 2434, and most registries reserve
    CCID 3-specific allocations from polluting DCCP's corresponding      
    some values for experimental and testing use [RFC 3692].          
    global namespaces; see [DCCP] (Section 10.3).  However, we note that 
    this document makes no particular allocations from the Reset Code    
    range, except for experimental and testing use [RFC 3692].  We refer
    to the Standards Action policy outlined in RFC 2434.                 
                                                                           
12.1.  Reset Codes                                                         
                                                                           
    Each entry in the DCCP CCID 3 Reset Code registry contains a           
    CCID 3-specific Reset Code, which is a number in the range 128-255;    
    a short description of the Reset Code; and a reference to the RFC      
    defining the Reset Code.  Reset Codes 184-190 and 248-254 are          
    permanently reserved for experimental and testing use.  The            
    remaining Reset Codes -- 128-183, 191-247, and 255 -- are currently    
    reserved, and should be allocated with the Standards Action policy,  
    reserved, and should be allocated with the IETF Consensus policy, 
    which requires IESG review and approval and standards-track IETF RFC 
    which requires RFC publication (not necessarily standards-track). 
    publication.                                                         
                                                                           
12.2.  Option Types                                                        
                                                                           
    Each entry in the DCCP CCID 3 option type registry contains a          
    CCID 3-specific option type, which is a number in the range 128-255;   
    the name of the option, such as "Loss Intervals"; and a reference to   
    the RFC defining the option type.  The registry is initially           
    populated using the values in Table 1, in Section 8.  This document    
    allocates option types 192-194, and option types 184-190 and 248-254   
    are permanently reserved for experimental and testing use.  The        
    remaining option types -- 128-183, 191, 195-247, and 255 -- are        
    currently reserved, and should be allocated with the Standards       
    currently reserved, and should be allocated with the IETF Consensus
    Action policy, which requires IESG review and approval and         
    policy, which requires RFC publication (not necessarily standards-
    standards-track IETF RFC publication.                              
    track).                                                           
                                                                           
12.3.  Feature Numbers                                                     
                                                                           
    Each entry in the DCCP CCID 3 feature number registry contains a       
    CCID 3-specific feature number, which is a number in the range         
    128-255; the name of the feature, such as "Send Loss Event Rate";      
    and a reference to the RFC defining the feature number.  The           
    registry is initially populated using the values in Table 2, in        
    Section 8.  This document allocates feature number 192, and feature    
    numbers 184-190 and 248-254 are permanently reserved for               
    experimental and testing use.  The remaining feature numbers --        
    128-183, 191, 193-247, and 255 -- are currently reserved, and should   
    be allocated with the Standards Action policy, which requires IESG 
    be allocated with the IETF Consensus policy, which requires RFC   
    review and approval and standards-track IETF RFC publication.      
    publication (not necessarily standards-track).                    
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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13.  Thanks                                                                
                                                                           
    We thank Mark Handley for his help in defining CCID 3.  We also        
    thank Mark Allman, Aaron Falk, Ladan Gharai, Sara Karlberg, Greg       
    Minshall, Arun Venkataramani, David Vos, Yufei Wang, Magnus            
    Westerlund, and members of the DCCP Working Group for feedback on      
    versions of this document.                                             
                                                                           
A.  Appendix: Possible Future Changes to CCID 3                            
                                                                           
    There are a number of cases where the behavior of TFRC as specified    
    in RFC 3448 does not match the desires of possible users of DCCP.      
    These include the following:                                           
                                                                           
    1.  The initial sending rate of at most four packets per RTT, as       
        specified in RFC 3390.                                             
                                                                           
    2.  The receiver's sending of an acknowledgement for every data        
        packet received, when the receiver receives less than one packet   
        per round-trip time.                                               
                                                                           
    3.  The sender's limitation of at most doubling the sending rate       
        from one round-trip time to the next (or more specifically, of     
        limiting the sending rate to at most twice the reported receive    
        rate over the previous round-trip time).                           
                                                                           
    4.  The limitation of halving the allowed sending rate after an idle   
        period of four round-trip times (possibly down to the initial      
        sending rate of two to four packets per round-trip time).          
                                                                           
    5.  Another change that is needed is to modify the response function   
        used in RFC 3448 (Section 3.1) to match more closely the           
        behavior of TCP in environments with high packet drop rates [RFC   
        3714].                                                             
                                                                           
    One suggestion for higher initial sending rates is that of an          
    initial sending rate of up to eight small packets per RTT, when the    
    total packet size, including headers, is at most 4380 bytes.           
    Because the packets would be rate-paced out over a round-trip time,    
    instead of sent back-to-back as they would be in TCP, an initial       
    sending rate of eight small packets per RTT with TFRC-based            
    congestion control would be considerably milder than the impact of     
    an initial window of eight small packets sent back-to-back in TCP.     
    As Section 5.1 describes, the initial sending rate also serves as a    
    lower bound for reductions of the allowed sending rate during an       
    idle period.                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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    We note that with CCID 3, the sender is in slow-start in the           
    beginning, and responds promptly to the report of a packet loss or     
    mark.  However, in the absence of feedback from the receiver, the      
    sender can maintain its old sending rate for up to four round-trip     
    times.  One possibility would be that for an initial window of eight   
    small packets, the initial nofeedback timer would be set to two        
    round-trip times instead of four, so that the sending rate would be    
    reduced after two round-trips without feedback.                        
                                                                           
    Research and engineering will be needed to investigate the pros and    
    cons of modifying these limitations in order to allow larger initial   
    sending rates, to send fewer acknowledgements when the data sending    
    rate is low, to allow more abrupt changes in the sending rate, or to   
    allow a higher sending rate after an idle period.                      
                                                                           
Normative References                                                       
                                                                           
    [DCCP] E. Kohler, M. Handley, and S. Floyd.  Datagram Congestion       
        Control Protocol, draft-ietf-dccp-spec-09.txt, work in progress,   
        November 2004.                                                     
                                                                           
    [RFC 2119] S. Bradner. Key Words For Use in RFCs to Indicate           
        Requirement Levels. RFC 2119.                                      
                                                                           
    [RFC 2434] T. Narten and H. Alvestrand.  Guidelines for Writing an     
        IANA Considerations Section in RFCs.  RFC 2434.                    
                                                                           
    [RFC 2581] M. Allman, V. Paxson, and W. Stevens.  TCP Congestion       
        Control.  RFC 2581.                                                
                                                                           
    [RFC 3168] K.K. Ramakrishnan, S. Floyd, and D. Black. The Addition     
        of Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) to IP. RFC 3168.         
        September 2001.                                                    
                                                                           
    [RFC 3390] M. Allman, S. Floyd, and C. Partridge.  Increasing TCP's    
        Initial Window.  RFC 3390.                                         
                                                                           
    [RFC 3448] M. Handley, S. Floyd, J. Padhye, and J. Widmer, TCP         
        Friendly Rate Control (TFRC): Protocol Specification, RFC 3448,    
        Proposed Standard, January 2003.                                   
                                                                           
    [RFC 3692] T. Narten.  Assigning Experimental and Testing Numbers      
        Considered Useful.  RFC 3692.                                      
                                                                           
Informative References                                                     
                                                                           
    [CCID 2 PROFILE] S. Floyd and E. Kohler. Profile for DCCP Congestion   
        Control ID 2: TCP-like Congestion Control, draft-ietf-dccp-        
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
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        ccid2-08.txt, work in progress, November 2004.                     
                                                                           
    [MAF04] A. Medina, M. Allman, and S. Floyd. Measuring Interactions     
        Between Transport Protocols and Middleboxes. ACM SIGCOMM/USENIX    
        Internet Measurement Conference, Sicily, Italy, October 2004.      
        URL "http://www.icir.org/tbit/".                                   
                                                                           
    [RFC 3540] N. Spring, D. Wetherall, and D. Ely.  Robust Explicit       
        Congestion Notification (ECN) Signaling with Nonces.  RFC 3540.    
                                                                           
    [RFC 3714] S. Floyd and J. Kempf, Editors.  IAB Concerns Regarding     
        Congestion Control for Voice Traffic in the Internet.  RFC 3714.   
                                                                           
    [V03] Arun Venkataramani, August 2003.  Citation for acknowledgement   
        purposes only.                                                     
                                                                           
Authors' Addresses                                                         
                                                                           
    Sally Floyd <floyd@icir.org>                                           
    ICSI Center for Internet Research                                      
    1947 Center Street, Suite 600                                          
    Berkeley, CA 94704                                                     
    USA                                                                    
                                                                           
    Eddie Kohler <kohler@cs.ucla.edu>                                      
    4531C Boelter Hall                                                     
    UCLA Computer Science Department                                       
    Los Angeles, CA 90095                                                  
    USA                                                                    
                                                                           
    Jitendra Padhye <padhye@microsoft.com>                                 
    Microsoft Research                                                     
    One Microsoft Way                                                      
    Redmond, WA 98052                                                      
    USA                                                                    
                                                                           
Full Copyright Statement                                                   
                                                                           
    Copyright (C) The Internet Society 2004.  This document is subject     
    to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and      
    except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights.      
                                                                           
    This document and the information contained herein are provided on     
    an "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE          
    REPRESENTS OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE   
    INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR    
    IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF     
    THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED     
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
Floyd/Kohler/Padhye                                            [Page 38]   
                                                                          
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    WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.     
                                                                           
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