Patent ID: 7457297

Claim:
A communications device for use on a communications network, the device capable of transferring data packets received at an input port to an output port, the device comprising: an input configured to allow specification of first and second configuration parameters, each of said first and the second configuration parameters indicating a queue mode; a first configurable queue associated with said first configuration parameter and in communication with said input port and said output port; and a second configurable queue associated with said second configuration parameter in communication with said input port and said output port, wherein each of said first and second queues is configurable, by each of said first and second configuration parameters, to independently operate in one of a fairness-based mode, wherein a fairness-based queue is serviced when egress bandwidth is available, and a priority-based mode, wherein a priority-based queue with packets for dequeuing is serviced before a fairness-based queue is serviced when priority-based mode dequeuing constraints are met.