Patent ID: 7158528

Claim:
A method of selecting one of a plurality of queues for service, at least one of the plurality of queues associated with a first traffic class, the method comprising the steps of: (a) identifying each first traffic class (FTC) queue having at least one enqueued cell as an occupied FTC queue wherein at least one FTC queue is provisioned for burst scheduling of multiple cells when serviced; (b) identifying an occupied FTC queue provisioned for burst scheduling as a super-occupied FTC queue when the number of cells enqueued is greater than a specified number; (c) setting as eligible for service each occupied FTC queue based on a FTC scheduling algorithm, wherein, for step (c), the FTC scheduling algorithm is a shaped virtual clock algorithm; and (d) selecting for service an eligible FTC queue based on a corresponding sub-priority of each eligible FTC queue, wherein: each FTC queue is assigned a sub-priority based on a service level of a connection associated with enqueued cells; when the super-occupied queue is serviced, the number of cells dequeued is based on a burst size; and for step (c), each FTC queue has a corresponding down counter and service period value, wherein step (c) further comprises the steps of, during a scheduling interval, counting down from the service period value to a predefined value, and setting the corresponding FTC queue as eligible when the down counter reaches the predefined value.