Patent ID: 8817622

Claim:
A data network, comprising: a) a plurality of end systems; b) a plurality of line data buses connected to said end systems; and, c) a plurality of switches connected to said line data buses and to other switches via trunk data buses to define a star topology, said switches and end systems configured to operate asynchronously, each switch comprising: i. a plurality of switch ingress ports for receiving arrival data flow; ii. an aggregate flow monitor operatively associated with each said switch ingress port for monitoring the aggregate arrival data flow in defined traffic constraint envelopes containing frames; iii. an eligibility time computation mechanism for computing an eligibility time at which arriving frames to an ingress port will be conformant to said defined traffic envelope to the ingress port given past frame arrivals; iv. a holding mechanism for holding said arriving frames to the ingress port until the eligibility time is reached; and, v. a release mechanism for releasing the arriving frames for forwarding at the eligibility time, wherein said aggregate flow monitor, said eligibility time computation mechanism, said holding mechanism, and said release mechanism cooperate to provide an aggregate traffic shaping function, thus allowing the switch to enforce the traffic constraint envelope for each ingress port.