Patent ID: 8154996

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving at a first flow control module at a receive side of a physical link a first request to suspend transmission of a first data from a queue within a transmit side of a first stage of queues and to suspend transmission via a path including the physical link, a portion of the first stage of queues, and a portion of a second stage of queues; receiving a second request at the first flow control module to suspend transmission of at least a portion of a second data queued at the queue within the transmit side of the first stage of queues; defining a suspension time value based on the first request and based on the second request, the suspension time value representing a period of time for suspending transmission of the first data and the second data from the queue within the transmit side of the first stage of queues; and sending from the first flow control module, in response to the first request and the second request, a flow control signal to a second flow control module configured to schedule transmission of the first data from the queue within the transmit side of the first stage of queues, the flow control signal being associated with a first control loop including the path and differing from a second control loop that excludes the first stage of queues, the flow control signal including the suspension time value.