Patent ID: 9088520
Filing Date: 2015-07-21
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. An impairment unit, comprising: a network interface to receive network traffic from a network and to transmit impaired network traffic to the network; a traffic memory physically partitioned into a plurality of memory blocks and logically partitioned into a plurality of buffers associated respectively with each of a plurality of predefined impairment classes, one or more or the plurality of buffers defined to be limited-length queues a memory manager to assign memory blocks to each of the plurality of buffers on an as needed basis; the memory manager is configured to limit a number of memory blocks assigned to each limited length queue to a respective predetermined maximum number, a classifier to determine respective impairment classes of the received packets, the impairment class of each received packet being one of the predefined plurality of impairment classes; an enqueue manager to associate metadata with each received packet and store each received packet and associated metadata in the respective buffer associated with the respective impairment class, the enqueue manager configured to discard received packets if the impairment class of the received packets is associated with a limited-length queue that is full; and a dequeue manager configured to: retrieve metadata associated with head-end packets, head-end packets being packets at the head ends of the plurality of buffers, select one of the plurality of buffers based, at least in part, on the retrieved retrieve the head-end packet from the selected buffer, and provide the retrieved head-end packet to the network interface unit for transmission as impaired network traffic.