Patent ID: 8553545

Claim:
A network device-implemented method, comprising: receiving, by the network device, a packet associated with a quality of service priority class and with a connection to a user device, where the network device includes an output queue associated with the priority class of the packet; determining, by the network device and when the output queue is congested, whether the connection associated with the packet is a guaranteed bit rate (GBR) connection; queuing of the packet, by the network device and in response to the determination, according to a first action policy function when the connection associated with the packet is a GBR connection, wherein the first action policy function includes: determining whether resources are available for other priority classes, queuing, responsive to determining that the resources are available, the packet to a queue associated with one of the other priority classes, and dropping, responsive to determining that the resources are not available, the packet when a usage rate of the GBR connection to the user device is greater than a maximum bit rate value defined for the GBR connection; and queuing of the packet, by the network device according to a second action policy function, responsive to a determination that the connection associated with the packet is not a GBR connection, wherein the second action policy function includes, when a usage rate of the connection to the user device is greater than a maximum bit rate value defined for the connection: determining whether an aggregate usage rate for connections with the user device is greater than a maximum aggregate allowed usage rate, and delaying the packet when the aggregate usage rate for the connections with the user device is greater than the maximum aggregate allowed usage rate.