Patent ID: 6078569
Filing Date: 2000-06-20
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method of controlling a configuration of a network of nodes interconnected by links, wherein messages have respective source and destination ones of the nodes, so that the respective source and destination nodes for each one of the messages define a node pair with which the message is associated, and wherein each node pair in the network has a determinable number of associated messages, comprising the steps of:a) calculating a total message time for a first configuration of the links;b) selecting a pair of the nodes having a minimum number of messages, and another pair of the nodes having a maximum number of messages, and defining a second configuration, wherein a link from the first configuration is moved from one of the selected pairs to the other one of the selected pairs;c) calculating a total message time for the second configuration of the links; andd) switching the network to the second configuration in response to the total message time for the second configuration being smaller than for the first configuration;wherein the links have first and second ends, so that a link's ends define a node pair with which the link is associated, and, for a given network configuration, each node pair in the network has a determinable number of associated links; and wherein steps a) and c) comprise the steps of:computing products of certain factors for each respective pair of nodes, the factors including: i) a certain delay time per link, ii) a number of links, and iii) a number of messages; andsumming the products to yield a total message time.