Abstract: A system for controlling traffic in a digital communication network to avoid data loss due to congestion utilizes an integrated credit-based and rate-based traffic control approach, and adjusts the rate at which data is transmitted from a source in accordance with feedback in the form of rate and credit adjustment information from a network reflecting the ability of the network to transmit data and the destination to receive data. In one embodiment, a source end system sends out resource management cells composed of various fields containing rate and credit information. The intermediate systems of the network and the destination end system update the corresponding fields according to their congestion status and send the resource management cells back to the source end system so that the source end system controls the data transmission accordingly.

Abstract: In connection-oriented packet or cell switching networks, a data transmission system and scheduling protocol utilizes both synchronous transmission and asynchronous transmission in an alternating pattern to provide each user with both a guaranteed transmission bandwidth or capacity to accommodate real-time communications, and bandwidth sharing among users to increase network utilization, while simultaneously eliminating network congestion to avoid data losses. The synchronous time slots provide for the bandwidth guarantees, while the asynchronous time slots are used to transmit data when a part of a previous synchronous time slot is not used. The asynchronous time slots also permit asynchronous data transmission using unallocated time within a given time frame. In one embodiment, time frames for data transmission are provided in which each time frame is composed of synchronous transmission times interspersed with asynchronous transmission times.