Patent ID: 6707821
Filing Date: 2004-03-16
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method of interleaving the transmission of time-critical packets with the transmission of lower-priority packets across a common data link, the method comprising:maintaining time-critical packet arrival statistics; when a lower-priority packet becomes available for transmission across the data link, estimating the transmit time required for transmission of that packet; based on the time-critical packet arrival statistics and the estimated transmit time for the lower-priority packet, predicting whether the lower-priority packet can be selected for transmission across the data link without causing substantial delay to a time-critical packet that is not yet available for transmission across the data link; and when predicting whether the lower-priority packet can be selected for transmission without causing substantial delay indicates that transmission at the current time is acceptable, supplying the lower-priority packet to the data link, otherwise, parking the lower-priority packet and performing the predicting step again at a later time.