The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 04, 2000
Filed:
May. 04, 1998
James A Bauman, San Jose, CA (US);
Cabletron Systems, Inc., Rochester, NH (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for controlling the flow of variable-length packets to a multiport switch involve accessing forwarding information in a memory based at least partially on layer 4 information from a packet and then forwarding the packet only if the packet is within a bandwidth consumption limit that is specified in the forwarding information. In a preferred embodiment, a credit bucket algorithm is used to ensure that packet flows are within specified bandwidth consumption limits. The preferred method for implementing the credit bucket algorithm to control flows of packets involves first receiving a particular packet from a flow and then stripping the layer 2 header information from the packet. The layer 3 and layer 4 information from the packet is then used to look-up flow-specific forwarding and flow control information in a memory that stores a linked list of table entries that includes the fields necessary to implement the credit bucket algorithm. The credit bucket algorithm is implemented in embedded devices within an application-specific integrated circuit, allowing the control of packet flows based on the application of the flow.