Patent ID: 8566432

Claim:
A system for managing multiple rate guaranteed data stream requests, comprising: a memory; and one or more processors coupled to the memory, wherein the memory comprises program instructions executable by the one or more processors to implement: an admission controller that during operation negotiates a maximum stream rate with each of a plurality of rate guaranteed requesters, wherein a respective media stream client comprises each of the plurality of rate guaranteed requesters; and a disk scheduler, comprising: a guaranteed rate queue for queuing storage requests from said rate guaranteed requesters; and a bandwidth allocator coupled to said guaranteed rate queue, and further coupled to a storage system, wherein during operation said bandwidth allocator allocates a predetermined portion of the bandwidth of the storage system to said guaranteed rate queue; wherein during operation the admission controller admits an additional rate guaranteed request only if an aggregate of negotiated maximum stream rates for all current rate guaranteed requests and the additional rate guaranteed request does not exceed a calculated throughput, and denies the additional rate guaranteed request if the aggregate of the negotiated maximum stream rates for all current rate guaranteed requests and the additional rate guaranteed request exceeds the calculated throughput, wherein said calculated throughput is limited by said predetermined portion of the bandwidth of the storage system, wherein the bandwidth of the storage system is determined according to a characterized maximum sustainable throughput for the storage system.