Method and system of an application program interface for abstracting network traffic control components to application programs

A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of:

• receiving a registration message from an application program as a request to establish a connection with a network;
• assigning a client identification to the application program responsive to the registration message;
• saving the client identification to identify the application program for subsequent calls;
• receiving an open interface message from the application program as a request to open an interface that controls network traffic;
• assigning an interface identification to the interface opened in response to the open interface message;
• saving the interface identification to identify the interface for subsequent calls;
• communicating a control instruction to a traffic control component to open the interface;
• and
• returning the interface identification to the application program to indicate that the interface has been opened.

A method for providing network traffic control to at least one application program sending data over a plurality of network connections comprising the steps of:

• receiving an enumerate interfaces message from the application program as a request to obtain a list of available interfaces that control network traffic;
• querying a traffic control component to obtain the list of available interfaces responsive to the enumerate interfaces message;
• deciphering response data including the list of available interfaces from the traffic control component;
• and
• providing the deciphered response data with the list to the application program;
• wherein one interface from the list is linked to a first network connection and another interface from the list is linked to a second network connection, and the first network connection uses a different network protocol from the second network connection.

A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of:

• receiving an enumerate interfaces message from the application program as a request to obtain a list of available interfaces that control network traffic over a plurality of network connections;
• querying a traffic control component to obtain the list of available interfaces responsive to the enumerate interfaces message;
• deciphering response data including the list of available interfaces from the traffic control component;
• and
• providing the deciphered response data with the list to the application program;
• wherein one interface from the list is linked to a first network connection and another interface from the list is linked to a second network connection, wherein the first network connection is different from the second network connection.

A computer system for providing network traffic control to at least one application program sending data over a plurality of network connections comprising:

• a traffic control interface for assigning an interface identification to an interface opened by the application program, and saving the interface identification to identify the opened interface for subsequent calls;
• a packet scheduler for scheduling data transmissions through the plurality of network connections;
• and
• a generic packet classifier for classifying data transmissions through the plurality of network connections;
• wherein the plurality of network connections includes interfaces using different communication protocols.