Patent ID: 8588070

Claim:
A method for scheduling packets belonging to a plurality of packet flows received at a router, wherein in said method a single packet queue is used for storing said packets, said single packet queue being adapted to be divided into a variable number of successive sections, each section being of variable size and a section load threshold for each flow of said plurality of flows being allocated to each section, for each packet received from a given flow, the method comprising: b1) checking whether said single packet queue has an existing section which already stores a last received packet belonging to said given flow; b2) if no existing section has been identified at step b1), storing said received packet in a first section of said variable number of successive sections; b3) if an existing section has been identified at step b1), b31) either storing said received packet in said existing section if an amount of data currently stored in said existing section for said given flow is less than said corresponding section load threshold; or b32) if said existing section is the last section created within said single packet queue, creating a new section which immediately follows said existing section, and storing said received packet in said new section; b33) if said existing section is not the last section created within said single packet queue, storing said received packet in the section which immediately follows said existing section.