Fair bandwidth allocation based on configurable service classes

A computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for causing a programmable processor to:

• store a packet to one of a plurality of hold queues;
• monitor a loading condition of a transmit queue by monitoring an amount of data residing within the transmit queue;
• dynamically determine a time epoch based on the loading condition by (i) computing a transmission time to deliver the amount of data in the transmit queue, (ii) computing a system load in units of time by comparing the transmission time to a constant lower limit and selectively setting the system load based on the comparison, and (iii) computing the time epoch based on the system load and a previous time epoch, wherein selectively setting the system load comprises setting the system load equal to the transmission time when the transmission time exceeds the constant lower limit;
• and
• transfer, at the dynamically determined time epoch, the packet from the one of the plurality of hold queues to the transmit queue for delivery to a network device via a downstream channel.

A network device comprising

• a static number of hold queues;
• a transmit queue;
• and
• a control unit that stores packets from a variable number of service flows to one of the static number of hold queues, monitors a loading condition of the transmit queue by monitoring an amount of data in the transmit queue, dynamically determines a time epoch based on the loading condition by (i) computing a transmission time to deliver the amount of data in the transmit queue, (ii) computing a system load in units of time by comparing the transmission time to a constant lower limit and selectively setting the system load based on the comparison, and (iii) computing the time epoch based on the system load and a previous time epoch, and transfers, at the dynamically determined time epoch, the packet from the one of the static number of hold queues to the transmit queue for delivery to a network device via a downstream channel,
• wherein the control unit selectively sets the system load by setting the system load equal to the transmission time when the transmission time exceeds the constant lower limit.

A system comprising:

• a cable modem;
• and
• a cable modem termination system comprising:
• a downstream scheduler that includes a transmit queue,
• a load monitor that monitors a loading condition of the transmit queue by monitoring an amount of data residing within the transmit queue and dynamically determines a time epoch based on the loading condition by (i) computing a transmission time to deliver the amount of data in the transmit queue, (ii) computing a system load in units of time by comparing the transmission time to a constant lower limit and selectively setting the system load based on the comparison, and (iii) computing the time epoch based on the system load and a previous time epoch,
• wherein the load monitor selectively sets the system load by setting the system load equal to the transmission time when the transmission time exceeds the constant lower limit, and
• a queue assignment module that stores a packet to one of a plurality of hold queues, and transfers, at the dynamically determined time epoch, the packet from the one of the plurality of hold queues to the transmit queue for delivery to the cable modem via a downstream channel.