Packet flow control in a communication network based on flow control agents

摘要

A method for adapting a session between a source and a receiver through a network, whereas the session originating from a source is composed of a plurality of flows which together form the session, whereas the receiver may receive all or a subset of the flows of the session, whereas said session passes through a plurality of network nodes from said source to said receiver, whereas a plurality of adaptation agents are provided in said network, each adaptation agent being capable of running an adaptation mechanism by adding a flow to or dropping a flow from said session, each adaptation agent being responsible for one or more network nodes along the path from the source to said receiver, said method comprising: receiving by one of said adaptation agents network parameters indicating the network usage; running a deciding mechanism to decide by said adaptation agent how to adapt said session to said network usage; add or drop one or more flows to or from said session; inform a resource allocation mechanism provided in said network to allocate or release network resources in accordance with said added or dropped flow; inform upstream and/or downstream adaptation agents about the new session composition.