Appeal No. 2004-1703
Application No. 09/333,269
Newman discloses “a method and apparatus for reactive
congestion control in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network
where the network is formed by the interconnection of nodes.
Each of the nodes includes a forward path for transfer of
information from source to destination through the network and a
return path for returning explicit congestion control signals”
(col. 5, line 64 - col. 6, line 3). Newman “employs a backward
explicit congestion notification (BECN). When a queue exceeds a
threshold, a request is made to send congestion signals, in the
form of (BECN) cells, back to the sources of the virtual channels
currently submitting traffic to it. On receipt of a BECN cell on
a particular virtual channel, a source reduces it[s] transmission
rate for the indicated virtual channel” (col. 6, lines 8-14).
The examiner argues that “[m]onitoring the queue length is
‘estimating a data occupancy level (col. 54, line 8) of at least
a portion of the data network based at least on a rate of traffic
units passing from said input to said output (col. 54, lines 5-
6), when the data occupancy level reaches a certain threshold
(col. 54, line 9) said control unit being operative to generate a
control signal (BECN) instrumental to cause a reduction in the
data occupancy level.’ (col. 54, line 10)” (answer, page 6). The
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