TRANSMISSION DEVICE, TRANSMISSION METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM

• US 20130033985A1
• Filed: 04/13/2011
• Published: 02/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Nakagawa, Koichi, Kamada, Shinya
• Granted Patent: US 9,167,477 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/266 Stopping or restarting the source, e.g. X-on or X-off
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/29 using a combination of thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/30 in combination with information about buffer occupancy at either end or at transit nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/12 using signalling between network elements

Abstract

Flow control can be performed for every piece of end-to-end traffic. A transmission device includes a reception buffer which temporarily accumulates received transmission unit data, a signal generation section configured to generate a control signal for instructing to stop transmission of transmission unit data by designating another transmission device serving as an end point of a transmission side for traffic of the transmission unit data to be received by its own device as a transmission destination when an amount of accumulation in the reception buffer has exceeded a predetermined upper-limit threshold value, and a transmission section configured to transmit the control signal.

Claims

1. A transmission device comprising:

a reception buffer which temporarily accumulates received transmission unit data;

a signal generation section which generates a control signal for instructing to stop transmission of transmission unit data by designating another transmission device serving as an end point of a transmission side for traffic of the transmission unit data to be received by its own device as a transmission destination when an amount of accumulation in the reception buffer has exceeded a predetermined upper-limit threshold value; and

a transmission section which transmits the control signal.

2. The transmission device according to claim 1, wherein:

the signal generation section generates a control signal for instructing to resume the transmission of the transmission unit data by designating the other transmission device as the transmission destination, and

the transmission section transmits the control signal for instructing to resume the transmission of the transmission unit data.

3. The transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the signal generation section generates the control signal by setting a predetermined value in an operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) frame.

6. The transmission device according to claim 2, wherein the signal generation section generates the control signal by setting a predetermined value in an operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) frame.

4. A transmission method comprising:

a signal generation step of generating, by a transmission device having a reception buffer which temporarily accumulates received transmission unit data, a control signal for instructing to stop transmission of transmission unit data by designating another transmission device serving as an end point of a transmission side for traffic of the transmission unit data to be received by its own device as a transmission destination when an amount of accumulation in the reception buffer has exceeded a predetermined upper-limit threshold value; and

a transmission step of transmitting, by the transmission device, the control signal.

5. A computer program for causing a transmission device having a reception buffer which temporarily accumulates received transmission unit data to execute:

a signal generation step of generating a control signal for instructing to stop transmission of transmission unit data by designating another transmission device serving as an end point of a transmission side for traffic of the transmission unit data to be received by its own device as a transmission destination when an amount of accumulation in the reception buffer has exceeded a predetermined upper-limit threshold value; and

a transmission step of transmitting, by the transmission device, the control signal.