Patent ID: 7315513

Claim:
A method of controlling a data flow rate R 0 for a specific flow across an enhancer link from a first network to a second network, wherein the enhancer link comprises first and second connection splitting nodes, each node being associated with a respective one of the first and second networks, the second connection splitting node including a buffer for storing data during transfer to the second network, the method comprising: determining flow rate statistics at the second node, the flow rate statistics including a flow buffer volume SBV s for the specific flow; feeding the flow rate statistics back to the first network, determining for the specific flow a data flow rate R i for data flowing from the second connection splitting node into the second network; and applying at the first connection splitting node a throttling value T to adjust the data flow rate R 0 such that R 0 =TR 1 ; and wherein, the throttling value T is determined in dependence upon the flow rate statistics; and the throttling value T is further determined in dependence upon a forcing factor P whereby a small amount of extra data in the specific flow is pushed across the enhancer link than that indicated by the flow rate of the second splitting node.