Patent ID: 8542598

Claim:
An apparatus for providing information relating to congestion at a network element caused by data units intended to be forwarded across a telecommunications network by the network element, the apparatus comprising: a load-data receiver for receiving load data relating to data units intended to be forwarded by the network element; a rate-data obtainer for obtaining data indicative of a configurable rate, said configurable rate relating to a rate at which data units are to be forwarded by the network element; a first register operable to have stored therein a first metric which may be updated to levels between two predetermined thresholds of the first register; a second register operable to have stored therein a second metric which may be updated to levels between two predetermined thresholds of the second register; first updater operable to update the metric in at least one of said first and second registers in dependence on said load data, said first updater being operable to update the first register in the event that such an update is insufficient to cause the metric stored in the first register to cross a first predetermined threshold thereof, and in the event that such an update would be sufficient to cause the metric stored in the first register to cross said first predetermined threshold thereof, to update the second register in the event that such an update is insufficient to cause the metric stored in the second register to cross a first predetermined threshold thereof; second updater operable to update the metric in at least one of said first and second registers in dependence on the configurable rate, said second updater being operable to update the second register in the event that such an update is insufficient to cause the metric stored in the second register to cross a second predetermined threshold thereof, and in the event that such an update would be sufficient to cause the metric stored in the second register to cross said second predetermined threshold thereof, to update the first register in the event that such an update would not cause the metric stored in the first register to cross a second predetermined threshold thereof; and a congestion indication provider responsive to said first updater and operable to provide an indication of a primary level of congestion in the event that an update by said first updater to either of said first and second registers would be sufficient to cause the metric stored in that register to cross its first respective threshold.