Patent ID: 7626993

Claim:
A transmission device for transmitting data via a communication network, comprising: a buffer that stores packets disposed in a queue for transmission; requesting means for requesting transmission of a selected packet to a destination device a route on the communication network to which is determined when an instruction to transmit the selected packet is supplied from an application program or when the selected packet is not stored in said buffer, while a number of packets stored in said buffer is smaller than a first threshold value; determining means implemented by executing a first program, for determining whether the number of packets stored in said buffer is equal to or smaller than a second threshold value smaller than said first threshold value when the transmission of the selected packet is requested by said requesting means; storing control means implemented by executing a second program, for controlling storing of the selected packet in said buffer so as to store the selected packet in said buffer when said determining means determines that the number of packets stored in said buffer is equal to or smaller than said second threshold value, and so as not to store the selected packet in said buffer when said determining means determines that the number of packets stored in said buffer exceeds said second threshold value; and output control means implemented by executing a third program, for controlling output of the selected packet stored in said buffer to a control program for controlling transmission of the selected packet by physical layer hardware based on said queue when the transmission of the selected packet is requested by said requesting means.