Method of local flow control in an asynchronous transfer mode network utilizing PNNI routing protocol

摘要

A method of performing flow control in a PNNI network wherein a node that becomes congested advertises this fact to the network thus eliminating additional call requests and other messages that it cannot handle due to the current load. The method utilizes the Maximum Cell Rate (MCR) and Available Cell Rate (ACR) parameters provided for in the PNNI standard. When the congestion level on a local node exceeds a predetermined threshold, a PTSE with MCR set to zero and ACR set to zero is advertised to the network. The PTSE causes nodes (originating nodes in particular) to not consider that node in route calculations. When the congestion level recedes on the local node, another PTSE is generated with the original MCR and ACR that existed before the congestion occurred causing the resumption of call request messages to be forwarded to the network.