Patent ID: 8355329
Filing Date: 2013-01-15
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A packet relay device for relaying packets flowing through a network, comprising: a receiving portion that receives packets from the network; a clock generation portion that generates a clock signal of a prescribed frequency as a standard for operation of the packet relay device; a timer portion that counts up a timer value over a first number of clock cycles based on the clock signal; a relay control portion that receives the timer value from the timer portion, and relays the received packets to a destination specified by header information of the packets while limiting the amount of packets forwardable per a predetermined increment of the timer value to a prescribed amount of packets; a power control portion that controls the clock generation portion to reduce the frequency of the clock signal to 1/N, so as to reduce power consumption by the packet relay device, where N is a real number greater than 1; wherein: when switching a power mode from a normal mode to a power saving mode based on amount of packets received by the receiving portion, the power control portion generates an instruction for both the timer portion and the clock generation portion; the clock generation portion reduces the frequency of the clock signal to 1/N in response to the instruction from the power control portion; and the timer portion includes: