Patent ID: 7693128

Claim:
A method, in a network node, for managing a packet for transmission comprising: determining one or more quality of service (QoS) statistics for previously transmitted data by calculating the QoS statistics; selecting a packet from a data stream; estimating scheduling information for the packet based upon the QoS statistics and a QoS parameter value for the data stream; and assigning the scheduling information to the packet by associating the scheduling information and the packet in a transmission queue, wherein the estimating scheduling information comprises estimating an earliest transmission time (tx) for the packet based upon one of the QoS statistics and the QoS parameter value, and determining a maximum allowed time delay (T) for the packet and wherein the estimating an earliest transmission time (tx) comprises estimating the earliest transmission time (tx) that will maintain an average bit transmission rate for the data stream that is equal to or below a QoS parameter value for an average bit rate for the data stream.