Methods and systems providing fair queuing and priority scheduling to enhance quality of service in a network

A computer program product for limiting latency for latency-critical network traffic, comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium having computer-readable program code means embodied in said medium, said computer-readable program code means comprising:
• computer readable program code means for receiving at a queue structure a plurality of data packets associated with at least one source, wherein said queue structure comprises a plurality of queues, and wherein each queue of said plurality of queues is ranked in said queue structure;
• computer readable program code means for identifying an attribute associated with one of said plurality of data packets;
• and
• computer readable program code means for determining a queue of said plurality of queues to receive said one of said plurality of data packets, wherein said queue is identified based upon said attribute, and wherein said queue is ranked in said queue structure based at least in part upon said attribute;
• computer readable program code means for placing said one of said plurality of data packets into said queue;
• and
• computer readable program code means for dequeuing said one of said plurality of data packets from said queue structure based at least in part upon the rank of said queue in said queue structure.

A system for limiting latency for latency-critical network traffic, comprising:

• a queue structure comprising a plurality of ranked queues, wherein said queue structure receives a plurality of data packets from a source;
• an enqueue agent, wherein said enqueue agent identifies an attribute associated with one of said plurality of data packets, and wherein said enqueue agent determines a queue of said plurality of queues to receive said one of said plurality of data packets, wherein said queue is identified based upon said attribute, and wherein said queue is ranked in said queue structure based at least in part upon said attribute;
• and
• a dequeue agent, wherein said dequeuing agent dequeues said one of said plurality of data packets from said queue structure based at least in part upon the rank of said queue in said queue structure.