Burst traffic smoothing for SIP processing elements

A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to:

• determine a drop function value based on a current loading of the dispatch queue;
• evaluate the drop function value to determine if one or more data packets are to be dropped;
• and
• drop one or more data packets of a first type if the evaluation indicates that one or more data packets are to be dropped, wherein:
• data packets of a second type are always added to the dispatch queue regard less of whether the evaluation indicates that one or more data packets are to be dropped, and
• the drop function specifies a probability that a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) container will keep any given User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packet for a determined dispatch queue length.

An apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
• determine a drop function value based on a current loading of a dispatch queue associated with the processor;
• evaluate the drop function value to determine if one or more data packets are to be dropped;
• and
• drop one or more data packets eta first type if the evaluation indicates that one or more data packets are to be dropped, wherein:
• data packets of a second type are always added to the dispatch queue regardless of whether the evaluation indicates that one or more data packets are to be dropped, and
• the drop function specifies a probability that a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) container will keep any given User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packet for a determined dispatch queue length.