Patent ID: 7899068

Claim:
A network device, comprising: a first ingress card to receive a first data unit from a network and including a first upstream queue that queues the received first data unit; a switch fabric coupled to the ingress card and to a first egress card and to transfer data units from the ingress card to the first egress card; the first egress card including a first downstream queue for buffering the first data unit prior to forwarding the first data unit towards a destination via the network, the first egress card to: determine a first scheduling value as a function of a priority of the first downstream queue, a maximum size of the first downstream queue, and a current length of the first downstream queue, and send the first scheduling value to the first ingress card, where the first ingress card is further to schedule dequeuing of the first data unit from the first upstream queue based on the first scheduling value, where the first ingress card is further to receive a second data unit from the network and includes a second upstream queue that queues the received second data unit and further comprising: a second egress card that includes a second downstream queue for buffering the second data unit prior to forwarding the second data unit towards a destination via the network, the second egress card to: determine a second scheduling value as a function of a priority and current length of the second downstream queue, and send the second scheduling value to the first ingress card; and where the first ingress card is further to schedule dequeuing of the second data unit from the second upstream queue based on the second scheduling value.