Patent ID: 8873389

Claim:
A method to facilitate congestion control in a packet switched network comprising a plurality of nodes including a packet source node, the method comprising: at the packet source node, maintaining a plurality of link-layer packet destination groups for each of at least some of a plurality of packets being provided, at above a link-layer, from the packet source node to destination nodes via at least one node of the network; at the packet source node, receiving at least one pause packet from another node of the network, the pause packet indicating one of the packet destination groups; and at the packet source node, moderating transmission, from the packet source node, of packets destined for a destination in the packet destination group indicated by the received pause packet, wherein moderating transmission, from the packet source node, of packets destined for a destination in the packet destination group indicated by the received pause packet includes setting a particular non-zero rate of transmission, from the packet source node, of packets destined for a destination in the packet destination group indicated by the received pause packet.