Patent ID: 7330900

Claim:
A method of processing packets of a plurality of real-time media streams at a network node, the method comprising: determining a desired maximum latency for processing the plurality of media streams at the network node, each media stream being characterized by a packet rate that is substantially equal to a corresponding nominal packet rate and by packet arrival times that are generally non-deterministic, the inverse of the nominal packet rate being a frame interval; processing each stream in processing units, each processing unit being equal to a predetermined number of sequential packets of the stream; assigning the packets of a number of the respective media streams to a digital signal processor (DSP) at the network node, the DSP having sufficient processing capacity to process the packets of up to a predetermined maximum number of the media streams within the frame interval with real-time constraints, wherein the number of media streams assigned to the DSP is less than the predetermined maximum number and no greater than a quotient of the desired maximum processing latency which is less than the frame interval and a DSP processing latency for a single processing unit; buffering the packets of each media stream for sequential processing of the processing units by the DSP; and in the DSP, continually processing, by processing unit, the buffered packets of the media streams assigned to the DSP.