# US 10,873,882 B2 · System and method of a pause watchdog > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,873,882 B2 - Document ID: US10873882B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/793,420 - Filed: 2020-02-18 - Published: 2020-07-02 - Granted: 2020-12-22 - Earliest claimed: 2016-01-29 - Assignees: Arista Networks, Inc. - Applicants: Arista Networks, Inc. - Inventors: Kenneth James Duda; Michael Chih-Yen Wang - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10873882B2 ## CPC - H04W 28/12: using signalling between network elements - H04L 43/16: Threshold monitoring - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) ## Abstract A method and apparatus of a device that triggers a pause watchdog is described. In an exemplary embodiment, the device receives a pause message from a second network element on a first network element, where the pause message indicates that data should not be transmitted by the first network element. The device additionally triggers a pause watchdog on the first network element if the pause message is above a pause watchdog threshold, where the pause watchdog reduces the effect of the pause message. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A non-transitory machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause one or more processing units to perform a method to trigger a pause reduction component, the method comprising: receiving a pause message on a first network element, wherein the pause message is from a second network element and indicates that data should not be transmitted by the first network element to the second network element; and in response to receiving the pause message, triggering the pause reduction component on the first network element when a characteristic of the first network element is inadequate relative to a pause reduction threshold, wherein the pause reduction component reduces an effect of the pause message and the pause reduction threshold is based on at least one condition selected from the group consisting of: a particular number of pause messages, an inadequate drain rate of a queue associated with the second network element, and a queue occupancy of the queue associated with the second network element. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the pause reduction component reduces the effect of the pause message by causing the first network element to suppress the pause message such that the first network element continues to transmit data to the second network element. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the pause reduction component suppresses an outbound pause message to another network element. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the pause reduction component error disables a port coupling the second network element to the first network element. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the pause reduction component performs a drop on data being added to a queue associated with a port that couples the second network element to the first network element. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the pause reduction component performs a drop on data in a particular traffic class being added to a queue associated with a port that couples the second network element to the first network element. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the data in the particular traffic class is data destined for a device that is coupled to the second network element. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the pause message is an 802.3x pause message. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising: removing the pause reduction component. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the removing the pause reduction component occurs if the first network element detects an action selected from the group consisting of: the first network element not having received a further pause message after a first period of time, a second period of time has passed since an error disable of a port coupling the second network element has occurred, a queue associated with a port receiving the pause message is at or below a queue occupancy threshold, and the queue has a sufficient drain rate. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising: ignoring a pause message received by the first network element. ### Claim 12 A method to trigger a pause reduction component, the method comprising: receiving a pause message on a first network element, wherein the pause message is from a second network element and indicates that data should not be transmitted by the first network element to the second network element; and in response to receiving the pause message, triggering a pause reduction component on the first network element when a characteristic of the first network element is inadequate relative to a pause reduction threshold, wherein the pause reduction component reduces an effect of the pause message and the pause reduction threshold is selected from the group consisting of: a particular number of pause messages, an inadequate drain rate of a queue associated with the second network element, and a queue occupancy of the queue associated with the second network element. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein reducing the effect of the pause message comprises causing the first network element to suppress the pause message such that the first network element continues to transmit data to the second network element. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein reducing the effect of the pause message comprises suppressing an outbound pause message to another network element. ### Claim 15 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein reducing the effect of the pause message comprises disabling a port coupling the second network element to the first network element. ### Claim 16 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12 wherein reducing the effect of the pause message comprises performing a drop on data being added to a queue associated with a port that couples the second network element to the first network element. ### Claim 17 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein reducing the effect of the pause message comprises performing a drop on data in a particular traffic class being added to a queue associated with a port that couples the second network element to the first network element. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, wherein the data in the particular traffic class is data destined for a device that is coupled to the second network element. ### Claim 19 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the pause message is an 802.3x pause message. ### Claim 20 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, further comprising: removing the pause reduction component. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The method of claim 20, wherein the removing the pause reduction component occurs if the first network element detects an action selected from the group consisting of: the first network element not having received a further pause message after a first period of time, a second period of time has passed since an error disable of a port coupling the second network element has occurred, a queue associated with a port receiving the pause message is at or below a queue occupancy threshold, and the queue has a sufficient drain rate. ### Claim 22 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, further comprising: ignoring a pause message received by the first network element. ### Claim 23 A method to remove a pause reduction component, the method comprising: triggering the pause reduction component on a first network element, wherein the pause reduction component reduces an effect of a received pause message; detecting that a characteristic of the first network element is adequate relative to a pause reduction component removal threshold, wherein the pause reduction component removal threshold is based on at least one condition selected from the group consisting of: not receiving a pause message with a certain period of time, amount time passed since a port of the network element was error disabled, a queue associated with a port receiving a pause message has an acceptably low queue occupancy rate, and a sufficient drain of a queue; and in response to the detecting, removing a pause reduction component on the first network element. ### Claim 24 (depends on 23) The method of claim 23, wherein reducing the effect of the pause message comprises suppressing an outbound pause message to another network element. ### Claim 25 (depends on 23) The method of claim 23, wherein reducing the effect of the pause message comprises disabling a port coupling a second network element to the first network element. ### Claim 26 (depends on 23) The method of claim 23, wherein reducing the effect of the pause message comprises performing a drop on data being added to a queue associated with a port that couples a second network element to the first network element. ### Claim 27 (depends on 23) The method of claim 23, wherein reducing the effect of the pause message comprises performing a drop on data in a particular traffic class being added to a queue associated with a port that couples a second network element to the first network element. ### Claim 28 (depends on 27) The method of claim 27, wherein the data in the particular traffic class is data destined for a device that is coupled to the second network element.