Queue management for networks employing pause time based flow control
US6618357B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 1, 1999 |
| Grant date | Sep 9, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 1, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L67/62
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
In pause time based flow control systems having station-level granularity, a station or switch may detect congestion or incipient congestion and send a flow control frame to an upstream station, commanding that upstream station to temporarily stop (pause) sending data for a period of time specified in the flow control frame. The traffic pause gives the downstream station time to empty its buffers of at least some of the excess traffic it has been receiving. Since each downstream station operates independently in generating flow control frames, it is possible for the same upstream station to receive multiple, overlapping pause commands. If an upstream station which is already paused receives subsequent flow control frames from the same downstream station that triggered the pause, the upstream station's pause timer is rewritten using the pause times in the successive flow control frames. If the upstream station receives flow control frames from different downstream stations, the upstream station updates the pause timer only if the pause time in the most recent flow control message is greater than the remaining part of the previously established pause time.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.