Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

The method and apparatus of the present invention solve the problem of scheduling the transmission of cells in packet switched networks having network connections requiring a minimum bandwidth at connection establishment. The method and the apparatus further support any mixed traffic flow including connections requiring a minimum bandwidth, a fixed reserved bandwidth or no bandwidth at connection establishment. Scheduling is controlled by a dual scheduling mechanism having a first scheduler, triggered by absolute time, for scheduling the minimum service connections up to a rate corresponding to their reserved minimum bandwidth, a second scheduler and a queue of minimum service connection identifiers for communication between the two scheduling schemes. With the dual scheduling mechanism of the present invention, the minimum bandwidth for connections reserving a minimum bandwidth at connection establishment is guaranteed in each point of the connection path and at any time, with the level of fairness of the scheduling of the remaining bandwidth depending on the quality of the second scheduler.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim