Patent ID: 8305899

Claim:
A method for transmitting data in a network comprising a plurality of nodes that link a source node and a sink node, said method comprising: receiving information at a first node of said network, said information received from a second node in said network that is downstream of said first node, said information indicating that said second node has sent a first packet to a third node in said network that is downstream of both said first node and said second node; sending a second packet from said first node to said second node in response to receiving said information at said first node; setting a status bit in a packet if a measure of buffer fullness at any node in said network that transmitted said packet is less than a first limit; and adjusting, by said sink node, a transmission rate at which said sink node receives packets from its upstream node if a number of packets received at said sink node that have said status bit set is greater than a second limit, wherein a rate at which packets are sent from said first node to said second node is adjusted according to said transmission rate established by said sink node.