METHOD OF SUPPORTING POWER CONTROL IN A COMMUNICATION NETWORK

摘要

A method of supporting power control in a communication network, said network including a plurality of network elements (1) that perform packet forwarding, wherein each network element (1) includes one or more ports - element ports (2) -, is characterized in the steps of assigning a flow table (4) to each of said network elements (1), wherein said flow table (4) includes flow entries (5) that specify via which element ports (2) to forward packets the network element (1) receives, deriving target sets from said flow tables (4), wherein a target set characterizes either a network element (1) as a whole - element target set - or an individual element port (2) - port target set - in terms of its utilization, and based on changes in the respective target sets, deciding on the enforcement of power states on said network elements (1) and/or said element ports (2).