Patent ID: 8797887

Claim:
An intermediate node for controlling the treatment of data packets traversing an already established path across a data network from a provider node to a receiver node, each said node including at least one configurable data processor coupled to memory and input/output circuits, the data network comprising said intermediate node, at least one upstream node located upstream from said intermediate node, said provider node being an upstream node, and a plurality of downstream nodes located downstream from said intermediate node, said receiver node being one of said downstream nodes, at least one of the upstream nodes being configured to provide data packets to said intermediate node via at least a portion of the path between the provider node and the intermediate node, at least one of the upstream nodes also being configured to provide path characterization information to said intermediate node via said at least a portion of the path between the provider node and the intermediate node, said path characterization information being indicative of a state of a dynamic path characteristic which is changeable as the data packets traverse the path, currently received instances of said path characterization information being dependent on information previously fed back from the receiver node to the provider node based on at least one prior instance of path characterization information that was modified as a function of an actual downstream path characteristic encountered during its prior transmission from the provider node to the receiver node along a downstream portion of the path from the intermediate node, and said downstream nodes being arranged to receive said data packets via respective downstream portions of paths between the intermediate node and the receiver node; said intermediate node comprising: an input circuit configured to receive data packets from an upstream node; a data processor configured to receive path characterization information from an upstream node, and for deriving therefrom information representing an actual characteristic of at least a portion of the downstream path between the intermediate node and the receiver node; said data processor also being configured to locally control selection at said intermediate node, in dependence on said derived information representing said actual characteristic of at least a portion of the downstream path, a preferred manner of future treatment for data packets to be forwarded onward downstream from the intermediate node towards the receiver node; and an output circuit configured to forward data packets to a downstream node according to said locally selected preferred manner.