Patent ID: 7567508

Claim:
A method for providing delay bound and prioritized packet dropping, the method comprising: providing a queue configured to deliver packets in FIFO order; limiting the size of said queue by a threshold based on a specified delay bound; receiving a packet having a precedence level; queuing said received packet if said threshold is not exceeded; and if said threshold is exceeded, dropping a packet from said queue having a precedence level less than that of the precedence level of said received packet or dropping said received packet if all packets in said queue have a precedence level greater than that of said received packet; wherein said queue comprises at least one lower precedence queue and at least one higher precedence queue and dropping a packet having a precedence level less than that of the precedence level of said received packet comprises: incrementing a counter at said lower precedence queue that indicates the number of transmit slots said lower precedence queue owes to said higher precedence queue; and incrementing a counter at said higher precedence queue that indicates the number of transmit slots owed by said lower precedence queue.