Patent ID: 7542415

Claim:
An apparatus for performing a packet flow control in a device for connecting to a plurality of remote devices, said apparatus comprising: a plurality of port interface devices configured to transmit packets to and receive packets from the remote devices, respectively; a packet memory configured to store packets from each of the plurality of port interface devices; a plurality of port controllers configured to generate a packet flow control request signal, which is active when the packet memory is in an overflow condition, and to generate a packet transmission request signal, which is active when a packet stored in the packet memory is to be transmitted to at least one of the remote devices; and a plurality of media access control (MAC) devices configured to execute a packet flow control operation when the packet flow control request signal generated by the port controllers is active, wherein the packet flow control operation comprises transmitting a given bit stream to the remote devices via the respective port interface devices, and stopping the transmission of the given bit stream and transmitting the packet from the packet memory when the packet transmission request signal becomes active while the packet flow control request signal is active.