Patent ID: 9634916
Date: 2017-04-25
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method of signalling congestion being caused by data items received at a network element in a communications network, the network element having a queue having a length, the method comprising steps of: identifying, in respect of each of a plurality of received data items, whether or not said data item is capable of carrying a congestion indication; determining a first queue length characterisation, said first queue length characterisation being determined according to a first function such as to depend on measurements inferring the length of the queue at a plurality of different times; determining a second queue length characterisation, said second queue length characterisation being determined according to a second function such as to depend on a current or recent measurement inferring the length of the queue, the most recent queue length being more strongly weighted in said second function than it is in said first function; applying a sanction in respect of data items identified as not being capable of carrying congestion indications in dependence on said first queue length characterisation; and assigning congestion indications to data items identified as being capable of carrying congestion indications in dependence on said second queue length characterisation.