Patent ID: 7136353

Claim:
A method for managing a plurality of connections between a sender and a receiver within a network communication system, the method comprising: determining a current transmission rate for each of the plurality of connections; calculating a host-level transmission rate by summing the current transmission rates associated with the plurality of connections; allocating the host-level transmission rate among the plurality of connections based on a ratio of a weight associated with each connection and a sum of the weights for the plurality of connections; selecting data packets for transmission such that each selected data packet is associated with the connection having a highest difference between the allocated transmission rate and an actual transmission rate for the connection, the actual transmission rate being determined from the number of selected data packets transmitted over the connection over a predetermined time period; and transmitting the selected data packets from the sender over the associated connections in response to each expiration of a transmission timer, the period of the transmission timer having a period corresponding to the host-level transmission rate.