Patent ID: 8660001
Filing Date: 2014-02-25
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A packet scheduling method, comprising: calculating first bandwidth for each subscriber to fairly share total bandwidth set for the transmission of packets between multiple subscribers; calculating second bandwidth for each flow to fairly share the first bandwidth between one or more flows that belong to each of the multiple subscribers; scheduling a packet of each of the one or more flows based on the second bandwidth; fairly distributing the bandwidth not being used between the multiple subscribers in response to there being bandwidth not being used within the total bandwidth; and fairly distributing the bandwidth not being used between one or more flows that share the second bandwidth in response to in there being bandwidth not being used within the second bandwidth, wherein the scheduling comprises: calculating an estimated time of arrival (ETA) of a (k+1)-th packet based on the second bandwidth and a length of a current k-th packet; comparing an actual time of arrival of the (k+1)-th packet with the ETA of the (k+1)-th packet in response to the (k+1)-th packet being received; and scheduling the (k+1)-th packet based on the results of the comparing, wherein the comparing comprises: comparing the ETA of the (k+1)-th packet with a first time that is obtained by adding the actual time of arrival of the (k+1)-th packet and burst tolerance, which is allowed time for a burst of packets; and discarding the (k+1)-th packet in response to the ETA of the (k+1)-th packet being later than the first time, wherein the scheduling comprises: discarding the (k+1)-th packet in response to the ETA of the (k+1)-th packet being later than the first time; and comparing the ETA of the (k+1)-th packet with a second time that is obtained by subtracting a “rearrangement limit time” for the expected time of arrival from the actual time of arrival of the (k+1)-th packet in response to the ETA of the (k+1)-th packet not being later than the first time.