US 7,609,709 B2 · Video aware traffic management

Abstract

A multiplexer selectively chooses packets for discarding during periods of congestion. In a first embodiment, thresholds for fill levels of a FIFO queue are set for a plurality of priority types. As thresholds are exceeded, incoming packet below a set priority level will be prevented from entering the queue and packets at the front of the queue below the set priority will be discarded. In a second embodiment, packets within a queue may be marked for deletion. A forward/discard list assigns an index to a new packet and maintains a list of the stream associated with each packet. A priority index list maintains a list of packets for each priority type by index number. A video metadata buffer stores the metadata for each enqueued packet. A physical video buffer stores the packets. When an incoming packet cannot be enqueued, packets of lower priority are detected by reference to the index list and marked for discard.

Claims28

Dependent claims

A multiplexer for broadband subscriber access, comprising:

a memory queue for storing packets of video information;
a plurality of control flags associated with respective priority, each flag indicating whether a respective predetermined threshold has been met by packets stored in the memory, each threshold being associated with a time-to-dequeue parameter indicative of an expected time period for passing a packet through the multiplexer;
and
input circuitry for selectively storing an incoming packet in the memory queue responsive to the control flags and a priority associated with the incoming packet.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Video aware traffic management

Life of this patent

Video aware traffic management

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims28