Method and apparatus for load balancing on a priority level basis over shared communications channels of a communications system

A method, comprising:

• determining inroute channels of a communications system, which are available as transmission channels, for transmission of traffic flows of one or more terminal devices;
• determining priority levels of the traffic flows;
• determining a traffic load for each of the available inroute channels based at least in part on the priority levels of the traffic flows;
• generating a load vector reflecting traffic loads for each of the available inroute channels based at least in part on the priority levels;
• determining a load balancing target, based at least in part on the load vectors, to load balance the traffic flows over the available inroute channels;
• and
• assigning the traffic flows to the available inroute channels based at least in part on the priority levels and the load balancing target.

An apparatus, comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one memory including computer program code,
• the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,
• determine priority levels for a plurality of traffic flows of one or more terminals,
• generate a load vector for each of a plurality of transmission channels of a communications system,
• determine a centroid point for the generated load vectors, wherein the centroid point serves as a load balancing target for load balancing the traffic flows over the transmission channels, and
• assign each of the traffic flows to a respective one of the transmission channels based at least in part on the determined priority levels and the determined centroid point.

An apparatus, comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one memory including computer program code,
• the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,
• determine inroute channels of a communications system, which are available as transmission channels, for transmission of traffic flows of one or more terminal devices,
• determine priority levels of the traffic flows;
• determine a traffic load for each of the available inroute channels based at least in part on the determined priority levels of the traffic flows;
• generate a load vector reflecting traffic loads for each of the available inroute channels based at least in part on the determined priority levels;
• determine a load balancing target, based at least in part on the generated load vectors, to load balance the traffic flows over the available inroute channels;
• and
• assign each of the traffic flows to a respective one of the available inroute channels based at least in part on the determined priority levels and the determined load balancing target.