Patent ID: 7809007

Claim:
A device, comprising: a memory system, comprising: a primary queue; a congestion queue; and a congestion queue control memory; wherein the device is configured to: receive one or more indications of congested paths, wherein the indications of congested paths specify output ports of downstream network devices that are congested; store data in one or more of a plurality of entries in the congestion queue control memory, wherein the data corresponds to the received one or more indications of congested paths; receive a group of packets and path information specifying a path within a network for the group of packets, wherein the path includes a plurality of downstream network devices to which the group of packets are to be transmitted, and wherein the path includes a first output port of a first one of the plurality of downstream network devices; store the received group of packets in the primary queue; perform a comparison of the path for the group of packets to entries in the plurality of entries in the congestion queue control memory; based at least in part on the comparison indicating congestion at the first output port of the first downstream network device, transfer the group of packets from the primary queue to the congestion queue.