Patent ID: 8625429

Claim:
A scheduler configured to schedule packets in a plurality of flows to a corresponding one of a plurality of interfaces, each of the packets including a flow identifier for identifying a corresponding one of the plurality of flows, the scheduler comprising: a processor; memory having stored thereon instructions, which when executed by the processor implement the steps of: assigning sections within a predefined range to corresponding ones of the plurality of interfaces; selecting an ephemeral port number associated with the flow to be used as the flow identifier by comparing port numbers for each packet and selecting a larger one of the port numbers, wherein an ephemeral port range is higher than a predefined known port range; for each packet, applying a hash function to the flow identifier to obtain a hash value, the hash function configured to evenly distribute the hash value within the predefined range; and for each packet, determining in which of the sections the hash value falls and identifying the corresponding one of the plurality of interfaces accordingly.