Patent ID: 8059540

Claim:
A network component comprising: a processor configured to vary a plurality of transmission rates at a rate greater than zero, wherein each of the transmission rates correspond to one of a plurality of nodes that send data over an aggregated link, wherein the aggregated link comprises a plurality of parallel links individually coupled to the network component and to a common destination node, wherein each transmission rate is varied to an adjusted transmission rate by sending a message comprising the adjusted transmission rate to the corresponding node, and wherein each adjusted transmission rate is related to each node's committed rate by: aEIRi =((Î»%Ã—the aggregated link's bandwidth capacityâˆ’the sum of the nodes' committed rates)/the number of nodes)+CIRi, where aEIRi is the adjusted transmission rate of node i, CIRi is the committed rate of node i, and Î»% is a percentage value.