Traffic management in packet communications networks

A method of establishing new connections in a packet communications network including a plurality of switching nodes interconnected by transmission links, and in which data packets are transmitted over multilink paths between a source node and a destination node, said data packets each belonging to one of a plurality of classes of traffic, said method comprising the steps of

• storing, at each said node, a vector representation of the traffic load reserved for those connections in each of said plurality of classes of traffic to be transmitted on each transmission link terminating in said node,
• initiating a new connection in said network by propagating a connection request along the route selected for that connection, each said connection request including a vector representing the characteristics of said new connection including class of service for said new connection, and
• updating, in response to said connection request, said representation of traffic load for the class of traffic of said connection request and for all lower classes of traffic, said updating taking place by vector addition of said connection request vector to said vector representation of said traffic load at each of said nodes along said route.

A node for a packet communications network including a plurality of switching nodes interconnected by transmission links, and in which data packets are transmitted over multilink paths between a source node and a destination node, said data packets belonging to one of a plurality of classes of traffic, said packet communications network node comprising

• means for storing at said node a vector representation of the traffic load reserved for those connections in each of said plurality of classes of traffic to be transmitted on each transmission link terminating in said node,
• means for initiating a new connection from said node into said network by propagating a connection request from said node along the route selected for that connection, each said connection request including a vector representing the characteristics of said new connection including the class of service for said new connection, and
• means in said node responsive to a connection request from other nodes in said network for updating said representation of traffic load for the class of traffic of said connection request and for all lower classes of traffic, said updating taking place by vector addition of said connection request vector to said vector representation of said traffic load at said node.