Patent ID: 7539139

Claim:
A method for transmitting data packets through a communications network, the data packets having a maximum allowable delay (mad), an average packet rate (apr), and an average packet size (aps) that are aggregated in a communications network node of the network in accordance with an aggregation strategy with timeout to a burst, the method comprising: buffering a first packet and subsequent packets until a first time has elapsed; and transmitting the buffered packets as a burst into the network, wherein the burst is transmitted via at least one switch of the network, with a number of channels (noc), a switching time (t S ), and a burst blocking probability (bbp), wherein the first time is between an upper and lower limit, wherein the upper limit (T u ) is determined by the formula: T u =110% ( mad* 2), wherein the lower limit (T l ) is determined by the formula T l = 90 ⁢ % × t s - E noc - 1 ⁡ ( bbp ) apr + aps ls E noc - 1 ⁡ ( bbp ) - apr · aps ls where E noc −1 is an inverse Erlang B formula for the noc and bbp, and where ls is a link speed.