Routing method and system for a high speed packet switching network

摘要

The present invention is related to high speed packet switching networks and, more particularly, to a process for selecting an optimal path for packets transmission without bandwidth reservation in communication systems supporting both bandwidth-reserved and non-bandwidth-reserved connections. Non-reserved network connections do not have bandwidth set aside either implicitly or explicitly. The lowest delay priority is assigned to non-reserved traffic and the networks drops non-reserved packets when their buffer overflow at intermediate links. Because the data profile over the connections is bursty and non deterministic, reserved traffic does not lead to a full links utilization except on peaks. Therefore, non-reserved traffic can be transmitted when some bandwidth is available on the links. The purpose of an efficient bandwidth management is to reserve on the links as many bandwidth as possible with a guaranteed quality of service, and to use the inherent remaining bandwidth to transport traffic from the users who are just expecting a "best effort" service. The Path Selection algorithm for non-reserved connections comprises the step of weighing each transmission link with a weighing function dependent of both reserved non-reserved traffic. <IMAGE>