Patent ID: 8090841

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, at a receiver, a request for transmitting digital information, the request comprising transmission constraints, the transmission constraints comprising a start time indicating a time after which a transmission of the digital information is to begin and an end time indicating a time by which the transmission of the digital information is to be completed, the digital information comprising a number of packets; calculating, by a processing unit, an estimated time required to transmit the digital information based on the number of packets and a network speed; scheduling, by the processing unit, a transmit time for the transmission of the digital information based upon at least the start time, the end time, and the estimated time required to transmit; determining whether the estimated time required to transmit is less than or equal to the difference between the transmit time and the end time; in response to a determination that the estimated time required to transmit is less than or equal to the difference between the transmit time and the end time, accepting, by the processing unit, the digital information for transmission; and in response to a determination that the estimated time required to transmit is more than the difference between the transmit time and the end time, rejecting, by the processing unit, the digital information for transmission, where calculating, scheduling and determining are performed prior to the transmission of the digital information.