METHOD FOR CONTROLLING DATA FLOW ASSOCIATED WITH A COMMUNICATIONS NODE

A communications node admits the receive data message to the buffer memory if the receive arriving message falls within the capacity range of a class of the receive data messages and if the buffer memory is not congested. A state detector detects if the buffer memory is congested by evaluating the occupancy rate of the buffer memory, or otherwise. The capacity range determines the utilization of buffer memory by a particular class of data messages, which may be defined in accordance with an estimated economic value rating of the data messages.