Patent ID: 7263063

Claim:
In a network comprising a plurality of router nodes connected in the network by communication links, a method of providing quality of service assurances for transmitting packets over a channel, the method comprising: defining a plurality of classes, each of the classes representing an aggregate behavior of packets; allocating to each of the classes a nominal departure rate at which the packets of that class are transmitted when an available bandwidth of the channel is operating at an anticipated nominal bandwidth; and assuring each of the classes a minimum allocation of the available bandwidth for transmitting packets of that class as a rate priority percentage if the available bandwidth of the channel is operating at less than the nominal bandwidth, such that with the nominal departure rate and the rate priority-based minimum allocation working concurrently, actual bandwidth allocated to a given class at a given time is no less than the minimum allocation, but no more than the nominal departure rate, wherein at least one of: the nominal departure rate or the minimum allocation is dynamically changeable.