Patent ID: 8213453

Claim:
A network device comprising: a processor to: receive user information that relates to a Quality of Service (QoS) for network traffic passing through the network device; calculate an average traffic rate through the network device, the processor, when calculating calculate the average traffic rate, being further to: set a queue in the network device to a first rate limit; measure a drop rate of the queue based on the first rate limit; and repeatedly lower the first rate limit and measure the drop rate based on repeatedly lowering the first rate limit; measure traffic patterns through the network device, the measured traffic patterns including usage parameters relating to the average traffic rate; generate a template based on the measured traffic patterns and based on the user information; receive data from a first physical link; process the data to determine destination information for the data; and transmit the data on a second physical link in accordance with the destination information, an order of transmission of the data being prioritized according to a policy defined by the template.