Patent ID: 8446823

Claim:
A method of managing multiple data streams transported through a common communications resource in a packet network, wherein data flowing through said resource travels in both directions, and wherein each stream is subject to data peaks, comprising: establishing logical two-way connections through the common communications resource between one or more near endpoints and one or more far endpoints, determining an undelayed round trip delay for each said logical two-way connection, determining the maximum round trip delay among all said logical two-way connections, preparing each of said data streams for transmission over respective said logical connections from a said near endpoint to a said far endpoint, determining the location of said data peaks in said data streams, transmitting said data streams over said respective logical two-way connections to said one or more far endpoints, and delaying the transmission of one or more of said data streams that are transmitted over a said logical two-way connection having an undelayed round trip delay less than the maximum round trip delay by an amount dependent on the location of said peaks to reduce the degree of coincidence in the data peaks of different streams without increasing the maximum round trip delay for the logical two-way connections.