Patent ID: 6373818
Filing Date: 2002-04-16
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
In a data communication network including a data link control protocol, a plurality of interconnected frame handlers (FH) and a plurality of terminating equipments (TE) each connected to a frame handler by a data link control identifier (DLCI), a method for converting a window based data link flow control to a rate based flow control comprising the steps:in the network generating an adaptive committed information rate (ACIR) for indicating the data transmission capacity of the network and transmitting it to the terminating equipments (TE); in at least one of the terminating equipments establishing a first window having an open and a closed data transmission state in accordance with the data link control protocol and controlling the open or closed data transmission state of the first window in accordance with the data link control protocol; establishing a second window having an open or closed data transmission state and controlling the open or closed data transmission state of the second window in response to a predetermined received ACIR; queuing data frames when either the first or second window is in a closed state; and, periodically opening the second window and dequeuing any queued frames.