Patent ID: 8040807

Claim:
A system for managing traffic flow for transport over a plurality of communication channels on a shared access cable network, the system comprising: at least one processor; at least one interface operable to provide a communication link to at least one network device; and memory; the system being operable to: receive a first packet, the first packet having associated therewith a first service flow identifier representing a first service flow associated with the first packet, the first service flow comprising a Media Access Control layer data stream for transport of packets between a cable network service provider and a first cable modem; identify a first channel group associated with the first service flow, the first channel group comprising a plurality of communication channels which have been allocated for use in transporting data traffic associated with the first service flow, wherein at least one of the plurality of communication channels is also included within a second channel group; determine a packet size value representing a size of the first packet or of a first portion thereof; select, using a first set of selection criteria, a first selected channel of the first channel group; update, using the packet size value, a first selected channel traffic usage value representing an amount of total traffic allocated for transport over the first selected channel during a first time interval; and determine, using the first selected channel traffic usage value data, first channel group traffic shaping rate data representing an amount of bandwidth allocated for transport of packets associated with service flows associated with the first channel group.