Patent ID: 6285658
Filing Date: 2001-09-04
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method for allocating bandwidth in a connection-less network system having an arbitrary number of flows of packets, including zero, using a classification paradigm, said allocation method comprising the steps of:parsing a packet into a flow specification, wherein said flow specification contains at least one instance of any of the following:a protocol family designation,a direction of packet flow designation,a protocol type designation,a plurality of hosts,a plurality of ports,in http protocol packets, a pointer to a URL; thereupon,matching the flow specification of the parsing step to a plurality of hierarchically-recognized classes represented by a plurality of nodes, each node having a traffic specification and a mask, according to the mask; thereupon,having found a matching node in the matching step, associating said flow specification with one class of said plurality of hierarchically-recognized classes represented by a plurality nodes; andallocating bandwidth resources according to a policy associated with said class.