Patent ID: 9426085
Filing Date: 2016-08-23
CPC Classification: H04L,H04W

Claim Text:
1. An apparatus, comprising: a first switch associated with a stage of a switch fabric, the first switch configured to receive a first data unit having a destination address of a destination device from a source device, the first switch configured to store the first data unit in a queue, the first switch configured to define a message when an available capacity of the queue falls below a predetermined capacity threshold, the first switch configured to include a congestion root indicator in the message, the congestion root indicator indicating that the first switch is a congestion root, when the available capacity of the queue is decreasing and the first switch is sending data units substantially at a maximum rate, the first switch configured to include a congestion victim indicator in the message, the congestion victim indicator indicating that the first switch is a victim of congestion, when the available capacity of the queue is decreasing and the first switch is sending data units at a rate below the maximum rate, the first switch configured to send the message to the source device such that (1) the source device sends a second data packet having the destination address of the destination device to a second switch associated with the stage of the switch fabric and not to the first switch when the message includes the congestion root indicator, and (2) the source device reduces a data rate at which data packets of a data flow associated with the destination address are sent from the source device when the message includes the congestion victim indicator.