Patent ID: 7460543

Claim:
A method for a centralized coordinating node to schedule traffic in a network, requiring a stated level of quality of service, comprising: receiving stream specification requirements from a node wishing to initiate a traffic stream; performing stream admission control based on bandwidth requested by the node and resources available in the network; generating a traffic schedule based on a maximum duration available for the traffic requiring the quality of service, in the network having repeating frame durations comprising a period for the transmission of time bounded repetitive traffic and a period for randomly generated traffic; verifying conformance of a schedule based on the requirements of a maximum tolerable interval between medium grants, for all traffic streams; computing a reduction of required duration for coordinated transmission of traffic in a network frame and optimizing the schedule; broadcasting schedule information to all stations at a start of every network frame; computing a time required during each network frame for serving the traffic stream based on information specific to the network, including frame length and overheads associated with transmission, and parameters describing characteristics of the traffic stream; comparing required resources associated with the traffic stream with the available network resources to determine whether the traffic stream can be admitted; computing an integer number of medium grants of a maximum duration required during each network frame, to serve the traffic stream; and computing an actual transmission time using the integer number, accounting for a transmission rate, physical layer overheads, and a retransmission compensation factor.