METHOD OF SUPPORTING POWER CONTROL IN A COMMUNICATION NETWORK

A method of supporting power control in a communication network, the network including a plurality of network elements (1) that perform packet forwarding, wherein each network element (1) includes one or more ports-element ports (2)-, is characterized in the steps of assigning a flow table (4) to each of the network elements (1), wherein the flow table (4) includes flow entries (5) that specify via which element ports (2) to forward packets the network element (1) receives, deriving target sets from the flow tables (4), wherein a target set characterizes either a network element (1) as a whole-element target set-or an individual element port (2)-port target set-in terms of its utilization, and based on changes in the respective target sets, deciding on the enforcement of power states on the network elements (1) and/or the element ports (2).