Patent ID: 7283532

Claim:
A hierarchical scheduler for use with an access network element having a fabric that is operable to switch a plurality of ingress flows, wherein each of said ingress flows comprises a plurality of cells and is aggregated in said access network element via a plurality of aggregation layers, comprising: means for determining a flow identifier (FID) for an ingress cell; means for segregating said ingress cell based on a service priority category; for each service priority category, means for selecting a winner cell for each aggregation layer and for forwarding said winner cell to next aggregation layer including means for selecting a winner cell from a plurality of contending cells at a subport level layer and means for selecting a winner cell from a plurality of contending cells at a bus level layer forwarded from said subport level layer; and means for arbitrating among winner cells from each service priority category in order to select an overall winner cell for emission through said fabric.