Importance

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Abstract

A scalable solution to managing fairness in a congested hierarchical switched system is disclosed. The solution comprises a means for managing fairness during congestion in a hierarchical switched system comprising a first level arbitration system and a second level arbitration system of a stage. The first level arbitration system comprises a plurality of arbitration segments that arbitrate between information flows received from at least one ingress point based upon weights associated with those information flows (or the ingress points). Each arbitration segment determines an aggregate weight from each active ingress point providing the information flows to the segment and forwards a selected information flow along with the aggregate weight (in-band or out-of-band) to the second level arbitration system. The second level arbitration system then arbitrates between information flows received from the arbitration segments of the first level arbitration system based upon the aggregate weights received along with those information flows. The second level arbitration system then forwards a selected information flow to an egress point of the stage. The stage may, for example, comprise a portion of a switch, a switch, or a switch network.

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First Claim