Method and system for sorting packets in a network

A computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions which are executable by a system, and which, when executed by the system, cause the system to:

• identify a plurality of flows according to a first flow rate and a second flow rate, each flow comprising a plurality of packets;
• sorting the flows associated with the first flow rate into a first FIFO (first-in-first-out) queue according to an arrival time order to generate a first sported list, the first sorted list having a first packet with an earliest packet arrival time located at a head of the first FIFO queue;
• sorting the flows associated with the second flow rate into a second FIFO queue according to the arrival time order to generate a second sorted list, the second sorted list having a packet with an earliest packet arrival time located at a head of the second FIFO queue;
• and
• compare the first packet of the first sorted list at the head of the first FIFO queue with the first packet of the second sorted list at the head of the second FIFO queue to determine which packet has an earlier deadline time.

A computer system, comprising:

• a bus;
• a data storage device coupled to said bus;
• and
• a processor coupled to said data storage device, said processor operable to receive instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
• identifying a plurality of flows according to a first flow rate and a second flow rate, each flow comprising a plurality of packets;
• sorting the flows associated with the first flow rate into a first FIFO (first-in-first-out) queue according to an arrival time order to generate a first sorted list, the first sorted list having a first packet with an earliest packet arrival time located at a head of the first FIFO queue;
• sorting the flows associated with the second flow rate into a second FIFO queue according to the arrival time order to generate a second sorted list, the second sorted list having a first packet with an earliest packet arrival time located at a head of the second FIFO queue;
• and
• comparing the first packet of the first sorted list at the head of the first FIFO queue with the first packet of the first sorted list at the head of the second FIFO queue to determine which packet has an earlier deadline time.

A method of sorting packets in a switch, comprising:

• grouping a plurality of flows according to a first bandwidth range and a second bandwidth range, each flow comprising a plurality of cells, a first cell in each flow associated with an arrival time;
• sorting the flows in the first bandwidth range according to an arrival time order to create a first sorted list;
• sorting the flows in the second bandwidth range according to the arrival time order to create a second sorted list;
• and
• selecting a cell from the first sorted list and the second sorted list based on a deadline time.

A method, comprising:

• identifying a plurality of flows according to a first flow rate and a second flow rate, each of the flows identified according to the first flow rate has a bandwidth in a first range, each of the flows identified according to the second flow rate has a bandwidth in a second range;
• sorting the flows associated with the first flow rate into a first FIFO (first-in-first-out) queue according to an arrival time order to generate a first sorted list, the first sorted list having a first packet with an earliest packet arrival time located at a head of the first FIFO queue;
• sorting the flows associated with the second flow rate into a second FIFO queue according to the arrival time order to generate a second sorted list, the second sorted list having a first packet with an earliest packet arrival time located at a head of the second FIFO queue;
• comparing the first packet of the first sorted list at the head of the first FIFO queue with the first packet of the second sorted list at the head of the second FIFO queue to select a packet with an earlier deadline time;
• and
• sending the packet with the earlier deadline time to a switch fabric.

A machine-readable medium having executable code to cause a machine to perform a method, the method comprising:

• grouping a plurality of flows according to a first bandwidth range and a second bandwidth range, each flow comprising a plurality of cells, a first cell in each flow associated with an arrival time;
• sorting the flows in the first bandwidth range according to an arrival time order to create a first sorted list;
• sorting the flows in the second bandwidth range according to the arrival time order to create a second sorted list;
• and
• selecting a cell from the first sorted list and the second sorted list based on a deadline time.

A computer system, comprising:

• a bus;
• a data storage device coupled to said bus;
• and
• a processor coupled to said data storage device, said processor operable to receive instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
• grouping a plurality of flows according to a first bandwidth range and a second bandwidth range, each flow comprising a plurality of cells, a first cell in each flow associated with an arrival time;
• sorting the flows in the first bandwidth range according to an arrival time order to create a first sorted list;
• sorting the flows in the second bandwidth range according to the arrival time order to create a second sorted list;
• and
• selecting a cell from the first sorted list and the second sorted list based on a deadline time.