Importance

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Abstract

A flow control system is disclosed, for a transmitting node and a receiving node. The transmitting node and the receiving node are linked together through multiple connections or virtual circuits over a communications link. A flow control circuit in the transmitting node limits the amount of bandwidth used over each individual connection, and over all of the connections combined. In an example embodiment, a global counter is used to maintain the total amount of bandwidth consumed overall during a predetermined time period, and a global limit register limits the maximum amount of bandwidth allowed consumed by any single connection during the time period. When the global counter exceeds an upper threshold value, the global limit register is set to a minimum value representing the minimum amount of bandwidth guaranteed to each connection during the time period. If a connection transmits an amount of bandwidth greater than or equal to the value in the global limit register, further transmissions on that connection are disabled for the remainder of the current time period.

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First Claim