Patent ID: 6847643

Claim:
A network, comprising a plurality of routers with inputs and outputs connected in network nodes, for switching data packets in the network, wherein at least some of said routers are configured to receive and aggregate a plurality of datastreams and to output at least one aggregated datastream, and wherein subject to a precondition that each datastream i supplied to a respective said router from outside the network is subject to a limiting bit rate r i and a number of burst bits b i , such that a number A i in (t 1 , t 2 ) of data bits received at an input of said router receiving the datastream i, between a time t 1 and a later time t 2 , satisfies the relationship A i in ( t 1 , t 2 ) ≦r i *( t 2 −t 1 ) +b I for any given observation time period (t 1 , t 2 ); each said router j is configured to control an output of data packets in an output datastream ia(j) aggregated by said router, for a limiting bit rate R ia(j) ag and for a predeterminable number of burst bits B ia(j) , a number A ia(j) out (t 1 , t 2 ) of data bits output at one output of said router j in the given observation time period in the output data stream ia(j) satisfies the relationship A ia(j) out ( t 1 , t 2 ) ≦R ia(j) ag *( t 2 −t 1 ) +B ia(j) where the limiting bit rate R ia(j) ag and the number of burst bits B ia(j) are independent of the observation time period (t 1 , t 2 ).