Sliding Window Protocols

These protocols comes under the data link layer.data link layer. It provides services to the network layer. It’s a bidirectional protocol. It means sender deletes the frames when it gets the acknowledgment.

The essence of all sliding window protocols is that at any instant of time, the
sender maintains a set of sequence numbers corresponding to frames it is permitted
to send. These frames are said to fall within the sending window. Similarly,
the receiver also maintains a receiving window corresponding to the set of frames
it is permitted to accept. The sender’s window and the receiver’s window need
not have the same lower and upper limits or even have the same size.



The sequence numbers within the sender’s window represent frames that have
been sent or can be sent but are as yet not acknowledged. When new packet from network layer comes in to send, it is given highest no and the upper edge of window is advanced by 1. When the acknowledgment comes in, lower edge of the window is advanced by 1.

Since frames currently within the sender’s window may ultimately be lost or
damaged in transit, the sender must keep all these frames in its memory for possible
retransmission. The receiving data link layer’s window corresponds to the frames it may accept. When a frame whose sequence number is equal to the lower edge of the window is received, it is passed to the network layer, an acknowledgment is generated, and the window is rotated by one.

Types of sliding window protocols

- One-Bit sliding window protocols.
- Go Back N sliding window protocols.
- Selective Repeat sliding window.