Patent ID: 7016301
Filing Date: 2006-03-21
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: switching data traffic having packets of data of a plurality of sizes between a first number of local area network (LAN) ports and a second number of wide area networks (WAN) links of a router resource; assigning a portion of the second number of WAN links to one of the first number of LAN ports; determining a bandwidth availability for the one of the first number of LAN ports from the bandwidth availability of the assigned portion of the second number of WAN links; throttling back the one of the first number of LAN ports to control utilization of the router resource at an entry point to the router resource according to the bandwidth availability of the assigned portion of the second number of WAN links and according to an assigned portion of an overall global switching capacity of the router resource; and permitting individual ones of the LAN ports to exceed their fair share of the switching capacity of the router resource if a current switching load due to traffic from all of the LAN ports is less than a maximum switching capacity for the router resource.