A system includes interconnected computers and switching nodes. A source
computer for the virtual circuits schedules message transmissions on a
round-robin basis. Each switching node also forwards messages in a
round-robin manner, and a destination computer schedules processing of
received messages in a round-robin manner. In addition, messages are
transmitted in cells to reduce delays in short messages if long messages
are transmitted for one virtual circuit before transmission of a short
message for another virtual circuit. For each virtual circuit, the
destination computer and each switching node can generate a virtual
circuit flow control message to temporarily limit transmissions if the
resources being taken up by messages exceed predetermined thresholds. In
addition, each switching node or computer can generate link flow control
messages for transmission to neighboring devices to temporarily limit
transmissions if the resources taken up by all virtual circuits exceeds
predetermined thresholds.
