Method and apparatus for delaying packets being sent from a component of a packet switching system
US6728211B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 7, 2000 |
| Grant date | Apr 27, 2004 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 7, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L49/3027
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Methods and apparatus are also disclosed for responding to received flow control messages indicating a previously congested port is now in a non-congested state. Many different components that have packets to send to a particular output will receive an indication that they are now allowed to send these packets at roughly the same time as the other components. If all components start sending at the same time, then the packet switch might become congested, possibly very quickly. If the packet switch cannot respond and transmit flow control messages to all of these sources fast enough, certain internal buffers could overflow and thus packets might be lost. On implementation causes components to start sending to the destination at varying times to gradually increase the traffic being sent to the destination. In this manner, the traffic in the packet switch gradually rises which allows buffers within the packet switch to drain while new traffic is arriving, and allows the packet switch time to react and throttle-back the traffic in a reasonable manner should paths leading to the output become congested.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.