Patent ID: 7831970

Claim:
A method comprising: determining, by a scheduler in a network, an appointment size A, a period P, and an associated value of N=P/A, for a mathematical group Z N that represents a resource in the network; assigning, by the scheduler to the resource, a homogeneous rate I for a first flow <J 1 > that comprises a plurality of tasks of different rates that are to be performed by the resource, wherein J 1 =N/I; selecting, by the scheduler, a coset representative k of a first subgroup of the mathematical group Z N , wherein the selecting is based on a first rate R 1 of a second flow <J 2 > k that comprises a first subset of the plurality of tasks, and wherein J 2 =N/R 1 ; scheduling by the scheduler, the flow <J 2 > k to be serviced by the resource during appointments k, k+J 2 , k+2*J 2 . . . k+((N/J 2 )-1)*J 2 ); selecting, by the scheduler, a coset representative j of a second subgroup of the mathematical group Z N , wherein the selecting is based on a second rate R 2 of a third flow <J 3 > i that comprises a second subset of the plurality of tasks, and wherein J 3 =N/R 2 ; and scheduling, by the scheduler, the flow <J 3 > i to be serviced by the resource during appointments j, j+J 3 , j+2*J 3 . . .j+((N/J 3 )-1)*J 3 ); wherein the flow <J 1 > is synthesized by the union of flow <J 2 > k and flow <J 3 > j , and wherein the resource performs at the homogeneous rate I.