Methods, Systems, and Computer Program Products for Selectively Discarding Packets

A method for selectively discarding packets in a network device comprising:

• receiving packets employing one or more codecs in a queue in the network device;
• setting an upstream bandwidth saturation indicator for the queue when bandwidth demand of the packets in the queue exceeds available upstream bandwidth;
• identifying the one or more codecs employed in the packets in the queue when the upstream bandwidth saturation indicator indicates saturation;
• determining a packet discarding policy based on the one or more codecs via cross-referencing the one or more codecs to a codec policy table, wherein the codec policy table includes a list of codecs and an associated frame size;
• and
• discarding packets in accordance with the packet discarding policy.

A system for selectively discarding packets comprising:

• a network device in communication with at least one end-user client device, the network device including:
• a queue which receives packets employing one or more codecs, the packets from the at least one end-user client device;
• and
• a packet discarding agent performing:
• receiving an upstream bandwidth saturation indicator for the queue;
• identifying the one or more codecs employed in the packets in the queue when the upstream bandwidth saturation indicator indicates saturation;
• determining a packet discarding policy based on the one or more codecs;
• and
• discarding packets in accordance with the packet discarding policy.

A computer program product for selectively discarding packets in a network device, the computer program product comprising:

• a storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for implementing a method, the method comprising:
• receiving an upstream bandwidth saturation indicator for a queue in the network device;
• identifying one or more codecs employed in packets in the queue when the upstream bandwidth saturation indicator indicates saturation;
• determining a packet discarding policy based on the one or more codecs;
• and
• discarding packets in accordance with the packet discarding policy.