Patent ID: 9154421
Filing Date: 2015-10-06
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A network-based apparatus for imposing at least a prescribed minimum transit latency on data packets of a prescribed data type on a network, the apparatus comprising: at least one processor operative: (i) to receive a data packet of the prescribed data type; (ii) to determine an elapsed time since an arrival of the received data packet at the apparatus; (iii) when the elapsed time is equal to or greater than the prescribed minimum transit latency, to transmit the data packet; and (iv) when the elapsed time is less than the prescribed minimum transit latency, to wait an amount of time at least equal to a difference between the elapsed time and the prescribed minimum transit latency and then to transmit the data packet, thereby ensuring that the data packet is transmitted with a latency greater than or equal to the prescribed minimum transmit latency; memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory being configurable for storing data utilized by the at least one processor; and circuitry operative to receive a packet stream and to detect whether the packet stream comprises the data packets of the prescribed data type based on a traffic pattern analysis of the packet stream; wherein the minimum transit latency is imposed only on a specified percentage of the data packets of the prescribed data type, said specified percentage of the data packets of the prescribed data type being less than all of the data packets of the prescribed data type.