Patent ID: 7120159

Claim:
A packet transmission apparatus comprising: a plurality of queues each having a different priority; a packet transmitting unit operable to extract a packet from any one of said plurality of queues, thereby transmitting the extracted packet; a packet receiving unit operable to receive a packet that has arrived; a transferring unit operable to transfer the packet received at said packet receiving unit; a classifying device operable to transfer the packet transferred from said transferring unit to any one of said plurality of queues in accordance with a priority of the packet transferred from said transferring unit; and a controlling unit operable to judge whether said plurality of queues is in a congestion state or in a non-congestion state, wherein said transferring unit is further operable to alternatively transfer the packet received by said packet receiving unit directly to any one of said plurality of queues in the non-congestion state and transfer the packet received by said packet receiving unit to said classifying device in the congestion state.