Patent ID: 7289514

Claim:
A method for scheduling a plurality of data traffic flows in a communication network to generate a bandwidth limited aggregate data traffic flow, comprising: (i) scheduling data traffic flows of a first category of data traffic with a first scheduler, a data traffic flow of said first category having a first bandwidth capacity associated therewith and at least one data traffic flow of a second category of data traffic associated therewith, said at least one data traffic flow of said second category being scheduled with a second scheduler; (ii) for said data traffic flow of said first category, determining whether any portion of said first bandwidth capacity associated therewith is unused and sending a message to said second scheduler indicative of availability of said unused portion; and (iii) scheduling said at least one data traffic flow of said second category with said second scheduler using said unused portion as indicated by said message and combining output from said first scheduler and said second scheduler to thereby generate said bandwidth limited aggregate data flow.