Patent ID: 7471688

Claim:
A method comprising: determining first transmit schedules for first cells, second transmit schedules for second cells, and third transmit schedules for third cells based on service rates and maximum port rates; storing the first transmit schedules and the second transmit schedules in a shaped data structure comprising slots, wherein the slots in the shaped data structure comprise a must send field for storing the first transmit schedules and a could send field storing the second transmit schedules; storing the third transmit schedules in an unshaped data structure; and selecting cells for transmission based on the first, second, and third transmit schedules so that the first transmit schedules for the first cells take priority over the second transmit schedules for the second cells and the third transmit schedules for the third cells and the second transmit schedules for the second cells take priority over the third transmit schedules for the third cells, wherein storing the first transmit schedules comprises determining if a service rate associated with a cell is constant bit rate (CBR), if the associated service rate is determined to be CBR, identifying from among the slots in the shaped data structure, an earliest open slot, and entering into the must send field of the earliest open slot a virtual circuit index for the virtual circuit associated with the cell, if the associated service rate is determined not to be CBR, determining if the service rate associated with the cell is real-time variable bit rate (rt-VBR), if the associated service rate is determined to be rt-VBR, determining if an earliest open time slot available for the rt-VBR cell in the shaped data structure is near in time to a latest cell transmit time, if the earliest open time slot available for the rt-VBR cell in the shaped data structure is determined not to be near in time to a latest cell transmit time, entering the virtual circuit index associated with the rt-VBR cell into the unshaped data structure, and if the earliest open time slot available for the rt-VBR cell in the shaped data structure is determined to be near in time to a latest cell transmit time, entering the virtual circuit index associated with the rt-VBR cell into a could-send field of a slot in the shaped data structure.