Method and apparatus for managing communications between nodes in a bi-directional ring network

摘要

A fairness scheme is disclosed for managing data flow between nodes in a bi-directional ring network. A method in accordance with the invention controls the output bandwidth of nodes in a bi-directional ring network by: identifying a congested span comprising a head node having a congested downstream link, and a plurality of chain nodes contributing to the congestion in the downstream link; adjusting the output bandwidth of the head node as a function of the congestion in the downstream link; and adjusting the output bandwidth of the chain nodes as a function of the congestion in the downstream link. <IMAGE>