Patent ID: 6977895

Claim:
A method for controlling congestion in a networking device having a plurality of input interface queues, said method comprising: estimating, in each sampling state, a data arrival rate for each of the plurality of input interface queues with respect to incoming data packets received on corresponding input interfaces, and obtaining a set of estimated arrival rates for the plurality of the input interface queue; determining, for each polling state associated with a respective sampling state, the sequence in which the plurality of input interface queues should be polled and the quantity of data to be processed from each of the plurality of input interface queues each time the input interface queue is polled, using the set of estimated data arrival rates of-the plurality of input interface queues, wherein said sequence indicates an order in which each of said input interface queues should be polled during a single polling cycle, wherein the order includes an indication of where each of the input interface queues should be polled in relation to every other of the input interface queues; and polling, in each polling state, the plurality of the input interface queues in accordance with the determined sequence and quantity.