Patent ID: 8767547
Filing Date: 2014-07-01
Classification: H04L,Y02D

Abstract:
1. A method of operating a packet subnetwork within a network system, comprising: receiving one or more communication packets indicative of a commencement of a packet flow through said subnetwork, said commenced packet flow comprising a plurality of packets; upon receipt of said one or more communication packets, retrieving policy information relating to an initial or sustained QoS treatment of the commenced packet flow, wherein said policy information is either derived from packet header information at any level of encapsulation or is derived from policy attributes associated with a physical link on which a packet of the commenced packet flow arrived or will depart, or is associated with flow aggregates, which encompass the commenced packet flow; wherein the method further comprises, in response to receipt of said one or more communication packets, and based on the retrieved policy information, permitting transfer of the commenced packet flow subject to per-flow rate and burst limits and per-aggregate flow rate and burst limits of the flow aggregates, which encompass the commenced packet flow, wherein the method further comprises, in response to receipt of said one or more communication packets, causing each said packet to be delayed prior to transmission towards its destination; and, in response to a receipt of a new communication packet that causes a threshold of burst tolerance or packet jitter to be reached or exceeded on a flow or group of flows, identifying among the said delayed packets belonging to the flow or group of flows and the new packet, which, if any of the packets, has an associated vulnerable to discard state or has the lowest preference priority compared to the others; selecting a single packet randomly chosen among any that are vulnerable to discard or, if none, randomly among any that have a common lowest preference priority; wherein in response to the said packet selection changing the flow state of the corresponding flow such that the flow is vulnerable to discard.