Multicast flow control

A network switch comprising:

• first port circuitry to exchange first flow control cells on a plurality of virtual circuits;
• second port circuitry to exchange flow control cells on another virtual circuit;
• data extraction circuitry to extract flow control data from the first flow control cells and the flow control cells, the data extraction circuitry further to create one or more database records to store flow control data for a forward flow control cell received from a source virtual circuit, and for each of a plurality of backward flow control cells received from a plurality of destination virtual circuits associated with the source virtual circuit;
• control circuitry operatively coupling the first and second port circuitry, the control circuitry comprising circuitry to receive the first flow control cells, circuitry to aggregate the first flow control cell data to generate an aggregate flow control cell including flow control data retrieved from at least one of the one or more database records, and circuitry to send the aggregate flow control cell to the second port circuitry for transmission on the other virtual circuit.

An information cell transmission method comprising:

• receiving a forward flow control cell at a switch from a source virtual circuit at a first time;
• receiving a plurality of backward flow control cells at the switch from a plurality of destination virtual circuits associated with the source virtual circuit;
• storing flow control data from at least one of the forward flow control cell and the plurality of backward flow control cells, the flow control data associated with the source virtual circuit;
• and
• at a second time greater than the first time by a pre-determined time interval, generating an aggregate backward flow control cell based on the flow control data associated with the source virtual circuit.

An article comprising a machine-readable medium storing instructions operable to cause one or more machines to perform operations comprising:

• receiving a forward flow control cell at a switch from a source virtual circuit;
• receiving a plurality of backward flow control cells at the switch from a plurality of related destination virtual circuits;
• storing flow control data from the forward flow control cell and the plurality of backward flow control cells in one or more database records associated with the source virtual circuit, the one or more database records included in a database;
• querying the database for flow control data associated with the source virtual circuit;
• and
• generating an aggregate backward flow control cell based on the flow control data associated with the source virtual circuit.