Method and apparatus for rate-control of media streams with selectable discrete levels of quality in selective forwarding units

An apparatus for rate control of a multi-quality data stream using multiple, combined probing techniques, comprising:

• a forwarding engine configured to:
• receive a multi-quality data stream;
• a padding adder module configure to:
• add padding packets to the multi-quality data stream to determine which data stream of the multi-quality data stream to select to communicate data packets of the multi-quality data stream;
• a probing manager module configured to:
• add probing packets to the selected data stream of the multi-quality data stream to determine a bandwidth at which to communicate the selected data stream;
• and
• a sending engine configured to:
• communicate the selected data stream to receivers using the determined bandwidth.

An apparatus for rate control of a multi-quality data stream using multiple, combined probing techniques, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having stored therein at least one of programs or instructions executable by the processor to configure the apparatus to:
• receive a multi-quality data stream;
• add padding packets to the multi-quality data stream to determine which data stream of the multi-quality data stream to select to communicate data packets of the multi-quality data stream;
• add probing packets to the selected data stream of the multi-quality data stream to determine a bandwidth at which to communicate the selected data stream;
• and
• communicate the selected data stream to receivers using the determined bandwidth.