Patent ID: 7545742

Claim:
An apparatus for controlling a port bandwidth in a network switch, comprising: a random variable generating section to generate a random variable, said random variable generating section comprising: a first random variable generating section to generate a first random variable by logically manipulating a plurality of bits in a random bit pattern and a plurality of frame lengths that divide a data frame into a plurality of frame length levels; a variable combining section to generate a length variable signal by logically manipulating one of the plurality of frame length levels responsive to a data frame length; and a second random variable generating section to generate the said random variable by logically manipulating the length variable signal and the first random variable; where said random variable decreases as the data frame length increases; a timer to count up to a time slot; a bandwidth control section to generate a bandwidth control signal for selectively transmitting the data frame to the port responsive to said random variable when the timer counts up to the time slot; and a transmitting section to transmit a transmit request signal to the bandwidth control section and to transmit the data frame responsive to the bandwidth control signal.