Patent ID: 6388992
Filing Date: 2002-05-14
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method for controlling data traffic at an access node of a packet switching network, said data traffic being provided from sources which continue to transmit traffic only where acknowledgments of previously-transmitted traffic are received on a predetermined basis, said access node implementing a leaky bucket admission control mechanism in which tokens are added to the pool at a predetermined rate, said method comprising the steps of:receiving and temporarily storing each incoming packet; testing the number of tokens available in the token pool against first and second thresholds having values greater than zero; discontinuing acknowledgements of received packets where the test reveals the number of available tokens is less than the first threshold and packet acknowledgments are currently being provided to the packet source; resuming acknowledgments of received packets where the number of available tokens is greater than a second threshold and acknowledgments are currently not being provided to the packet source; and transmitting the stored packet and decrementing the token pool.