Patent ID: 7310311

Claim:
A method for rate control used in an Ethernet switch comprising at least one port with an associated budget, the method comprising following steps in a predetermined period of accounting time: a. setting the associated budget as a predetermined value Q; b. examining if there is a packet to be tranceived via the port of the Ethernet switch; c. checking if size S of the packet is larger than the budget when examining result of the step b is yes; d. tranceiving the packet when checking result of the step c is no, and then modifying the budget as the budget minus S; and e. returning to the step b, wherein the budget is an outbound budget, and the tranceiving in the step d comprises outputting the packet, wherein if the checking result of the step c is yes, then the method further comprises a step c1 subsequent to the step c: c1. generating a uniform random number for determining whether to output the packet or reserve the packet until a next period of accounting time.