Patent ID: 8565249

Claim:
A queue management method, comprising: setting a packet age threshold equal to a first value; while the packet age threshold is equal to the first value, using the packet age threshold in a queue management process for managing a queue for queuing packets transmitted from a communication device; in response to the detection of a first predetermined event, setting the packet age threshold equal to a second value, wherein the step of detecting, the first predetermined event comprises one or more of: (a) detecting that a packet transmission process executing in the communication device has transitioned from a first state to a second state, (b) detecting an event that suggests the packet transmission process has transitioned from the first state to the second state, (c) detecting that the packet transmission process will transition from the first state to the second state, and (d) detecting an event that suggests the packet transmission process will transition from the first state to the second state; while the packet age threshold is equal to the second value, using the packet age threshold in the queue management process for managing the queue; in response to the detection of a second predetermined event, setting the packet age threshold equal to the first value; and after the detection of the second predetermined event and while the packet age threshold is equal to the first value, using the packet age threshold in the queue management process, wherein the step of detecting the second predetermined event comprises one or more of: (a) detecting that the packet transmission process has transitioned back to the first state; (b) detecting an event that suggests the packet transmission process has transitioned back to the first state; (c) detecting that the packet transmission process will transition back to the first state; and (d) detecting an event that suggests the packet transmission process will transition back to the first state, and wherein the step of detecting an event that suggests the packet transmission process has transitioned back to the first state comprises determining whether the rate at which packets are arriving at the queue is increasing exponentially.