Patent ID: 9749244
Date: 2017-08-29
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method of operating a packet subnetwork comprising: a. partitioning of one or more physical links into a number of aggregates, where each aggregate is assigned an amount of capacity and at least one aggregate is assigned to one or more donor aggregates co-existing on the same said link or links as the said assigned aggregates, so that any one of the at least one aggregate may increase its capacity by borrowing capacity from one or more of its said donor aggregates, or may decrease its capacity by giving back capacity to one or more of the donor aggregates; b. receiving one or more communication packets indicative of a commencement of a packet communication through a subnet, said packet communication comprising a flow consisting of a plurality of packets; c. responsive to recognition of the commencement of a new packet flow, storing a flow identifier, enabling identification of packets belonging to said commenced packet communication flow and associating that flow identifier with one or more of the said aggregates, including or excluding the said donor aggregates; d. responsive to recognition of the commencement of said new flow, retrieving policy information relating to any initial or sustained QoS treatment of the flow; e. responsive to recognition of the commencement of said new flow, and to retrieved policy information, determining an initial or sustained discard probability from: vi. the associated stored policy information corresponding to the said new flow; and vii. packet counters, byte counters, or rate counters of any aggregate group of flows to which this flow belongs that are being monitored with respect to one or more traffic load criteria, f. responsive to a policy determination, and a QoS treatment determination, related to flow identity, retrieving said policy determination and QoS treatment determination associated with the flow of a latest arriving packet, and determining if one or several pre-determined thresholds or limits have been reached, or will be reached if the latest arriving packet is transmitted, that provide indications of a change in one or more capacity requirements of aggregates associated with the flow of this said latest arriving packet; g. responsive to said determination that one or more pre-determined thresholds or limits have been reached on said aggregate associated with the flow of the latest arriving packet, causing an indication to be observable that an increase or decrease in capacity is required for that aggregate and a corresponding decrease or increase of capacity is required of one or more donor aggregates associated with that aggregate; and h. enabling immediate transfer of said latest arriving packet subject only to said determination of the discard probability associated with the flow identity of said latest arriving packet.