Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
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4/8/2010
TCP is a connection-based, stream-oriented delivery service with end-to-end error detection and correction. Connection-based means that a communication session between hosts is established before exchanging data. A host is any device on a TCP/IP network identified by a logical IP address.
TCP provides reliable data delivery and ease of use. Specifically, TCP notifies the sender of packet delivery, guarantees that packets are delivered in the same order in which they were sent, retransmits lost packets, and ensures that data packets are not duplicated.
Windows Embedded CE networking functionality relies upon the TCP transport many operations, including:
- Access to the Internet using HTTP.
- Access to remote file servers and print servers.
- Synchronization with the desktop computer.
- Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) services.
TCP can only be used for one-to-one communications.
TCP uses a checksum on both the headers and data of each segment to reduce the chance of network corruption going undetected.
For information about how to conserve battery power, see TCP/IP Best Practices.