Patent ID: 8121115

Claim:
A method for use in scheduling packet transmissions over a channel that reduces transmission delay jitter corresponding to a range of packet transmission delay times attributable to individual packet priority decisions made before a packet that is ready for transmission is actually transmitted, comprising: buffering one or more packets associated with a first packet flow prior to transmission over the channel; for each buffered packet: determining a transmission priority for the buffered packet; estimating, based on the determined transmission priority for the buffered packet, whether that buffered packet will have a buffering delay less than a threshold delay; if so, increasing the buffering delay for that buffered packet to compress the range of packet transmission delay times attributable to individual packet priority decisions by reducing the transmission priority for the buffered packet; and scheduling transmission of that buffered packet based on the increased buffering delay so that the buffered packet is buffered longer before being scheduled for transmission than the buffered packet would have been buffered at the transmission priority thereby compressing the range of packet transmission delay times attributable to individual packet priority decisions.