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Abstract

An admission controller and its method of operation for controlling admission of data flows into an aggregate data flow are described. Admitted data flows are aggregated into an aggregate data flow for transmission by a router, for example, over a data network. The aggregate data flow typically follows a pre-established path through the network; for example a multi-protocol label switched (MPLS) path. The path has minimum and maximum bandwidth limits assigned to it. The admission controller controls admission of new data flows into the aggregate data flow by granting or denying new session requests for the new data flows. Congestion notifications received from the network and bandwidth limits of the path are considered in determining whether to grant or deny a new session request. In this way, the admission controller provides elastic sharing of network bandwidth among data flows without exacerbating network congestion and while remaining within the path's bandwidth limits. The data flows may include transaction oriented traffic.

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