Patent · US Expired

Rate allocation system and method for ATM switched networks

US6359863B1 · kind B1 · utility

112Cited by
2References
18Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 24, 1998
Grant dateMar 19, 2002
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 24, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L2012/5632
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method for rate allocation within the individual switches of a communication network implementing a rate-based congestion control approach for best-effort traffic. The method enables a guaranteed minimum bandwidth to be allocated to each communication session or connection, in addition to fairly dividing the available bandwidth among the competing connections. The method also estimates the transmission rate of each connection, instead of relying on explicit indications provided by the connection, and uses this information in the computation of its fair share of bandwidth. The method also calculates the available bandwidth on the link where the bandwidth is allocated, by measuring the utilization of the link periodically. Finally, the method incorporates a mechanism to detect connections that remain idle and withdraw allocations from them so as to avoid under-utilization of the link bandwidth.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.