Method and apparatus for bandwidth management of aggregate data flows

A method for forwarding aggregate traffic streams from a transmission device towards a destination point, an aggregate traffic stream being comprised of a plurality of packets, said transmission device comprising:

• an input for receiving the aggregate traffic streams;
• an output for forwarding the aggregate traffic streams to the destination point;
• said method comprising:
• a) generating for each packet of each aggregate traffic stream passing from said input to said output a unique packet identifier for distinguishing the respective packet from all of the other packets, by extracting at least a portion of the contents of the respective packet to serve as said packet identifier, wherein said at least a portion of the contents of the respective packet is not specifically designated for packet identification purposes within the respective packet;
• b) maintaining a record of the generated packet identifiers;
• c) forwarding the aggregate traffic streams to the destination point without adding any data elements to the packets of the aggregate traffic streams.

A transmission device for forwarding aggregate traffic streams towards a destination point, an aggregate traffic stream being comprised of a plurality of packets, said transmission device comprising:

• input means for receiving the aggregate traffic streams in the transmission device;
• output means for releasing the aggregate traffic streams from the transmission device toward the destination point;
• control means operative to regulate a rate at operative to:
• a) generate for each packet of each aggregate traffic stream passing from said input means to said output means a unique packet identifier for distinguishing the respective packet from all of the other packets, by extracting at least a portion of the contents of the respective packet to serve as said packet identifier, wherein said at least a portion of the contents of the respective packet is not specifically designated for packet identification purposes within the respective packet;
• b) maintain a record of the generated packet identifiers;
• c) forward the aggregate traffic streams to the destination point without adding any data elements to the packets of the aggregate traffic streams.

A data transmission system comprising:

• a plurality of transmission nodes;
• each of said plurality of transmission nodes comprising:
• a) an input for receiving aggregate traffic streams, each aggregate traffic stream being comprised of a plurality of packets;
• b) an output for forwarding the aggregate traffic streams to a destination point;
• c) a control unit operative to:
• i) generate for each packet of each aggregate traffic stream passing from said input to said output a unique packet identifier for distinguishing the respective packet from all of the other packets, by extracting at least a portion of the contents of the respective packet to serve as said packet identifier, wherein said at least a portion of the contents of the respective packet is not specifically designated for packet identification purposes within the respective packet;
• ii) maintain a record of the generated packet identifiers;
• iii) forward the aggregate traffic streams to the destination point without adding any data elements to the packets of the aggregate traffic streams.