Event-driven flow control for a very high-speed switching node

An apparatus comprising:

• a resource;
• a plurality of devices operatively coupled to said resource, said plurality of devices sharing said resource;
• a first metering unit to evaluate the level of utilization of said resource;
• a timer to generate timing signal upon expiration of predefined time intervals;
• and
• an event reporting unit responsive to timing signal to generate an event signal to be forwarded to the plurality of devices if a threshold in said metering unit is exceeded.

An event-driven flow control method comprising

• providing in a network node at least one resource to be shared by a plurality of devices;
• providing, in said network node, event measuring units to measure events that change the occupancy of said resource;
• providing in said resource a resource metering unit that measures capacity of said resource;
• providing in said network node a timer;
• monitoring the event measuring unit and generating an event signal when a threshold in said event measuring unit is crossed;
• monitoring the resource metering unit and generating a partial status signal each time said timer elapses;
• and
• transmitting said partial status signal.