Patent · US Expired

Multi-level rate scheduler

US5835494A · kind A · utility

94Cited by
7References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 27, 1997
Grant dateNov 10, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 27, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L2012/5681
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for scheduling when each of a plurality of virtual connections supported by a transmit device will be serviced by the transmit device. The transmit device includes a transmission control unit that uses a plurality of calendars to schedule when each of the plurality of virtual connections will be serviced. Virtual connections with faster transfer rates are scheduled using higher granularity calendars, while virtual connections with slower transfer rates are scheduled using lower granularity calendars. Each entry in the calendars is associated with a time interval ("cell slot") during which the transmit device is able to service one virtual connection. During a given cell slot, linked lists associated with the calendar entries that correspond to the cell slot are added to a service queue, and the virtual connection at the head of the service queue is serviced. After a virtual connection is serviced, the next service time for the virtual connection is scheduled by attaching the virtual connection to the head of a linked list associated with the appropriate entry of the appropriate calendar. The appropriate entry is determined by incrementing a fixed…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.