Assured Related Packet Transmission, Delivery and Processing

A method comprising:

• receiving, from a sender, a first group of packets associated with a first application, the first group having associated first grouping information specifying at least a first threshold for delivery of packets associated with the first group;
• storing the first associated grouping information;
• receiving a second group of packets associated with a second application, the second group having associated second grouping information;
• storing the second associated grouping information;
• processing the first group of packets in accordance with the first grouping information;
• processing the second group of packets in accordance with the second grouping information;
• and
• determining to drop more than the first threshold number of packets of the first group.

A method comprising:

• receiving, by a network device, first grouping information data describing a first group of packets, the first grouping information data comprising a first group identifier, a first maximum number of packets that may be dropped from the first group of packets, and instructions for actions to be performed if more than the first maximum number of packets is dropped;
• receiving, by the network device, the first group of packets associated with the first group identifier;
• determining, by the network device, to drop at least one packet of the first group of packets;
• dropping, by the network device, the at least one packet of the first group of packets;
• and
• determining, based on the dropping of the at least one packet, if the dropping exceeds the maximum number of packets that may be dropped.