AVB system bandwidth configuration

A communication system comprising:

• a talker device including:
• a transmission buffer for storing audio/video data blocks for transmission, and
• a communication interface configured to transmit packets via an AVB network;
• a listener device communicatively connected to the talker device and configured to receive the packets from the talker device;
• and
• a bridge device communicatively connected to the talker device and the listener device, the bridge device including one or more ports, each port supporting at least one of a plurality of traffic queues, each traffic queue being associated with a different type of traffic, the bridge device including a storage device storing instructions executable by a processor of the bridge device to:
• detect an incoming data stream from the talker device,
• identify a traffic type for the incoming data stream and assign the incoming data stream to a selected traffic queue of the plurality of traffic queues based on the identified traffic type,
• determine an amount of bandwidth to be used by the incoming data stream,
• update a bandwidth allocation for the selected traffic queue based on the determined amount of bandwidth to be used by the incoming data stream,
• determine if a change in at least one data stream passing through the bridge device is detected,
• if the change is not detected, maintain the updated bandwidth allocation for the selected traffic queue, and
• if the change is detected, identify a changed data stream passing through the bridge device and determine a further updated bandwidth allocation for a further selected traffic queue corresponding to one or more of a type and a class of traffic associated with the changed data stream.

A method for dynamically updating a bandwidth allocation for data streams flowing through a network device, the method comprising:

• detecting, at the network device, an incoming data stream from a talker device in a communication network;
• determining one or more of a type and a class of traffic associated with the incoming data stream;
• determining an amount of bandwidth to be used by the data stream based on one or more data stream characteristics;
• updating a bandwidth allocation for a selected traffic queue of a plurality of traffic queues supported by the network device, the selected traffic queue corresponding to one or more of the type and the class of traffic associated with the incoming data stream, the updated bandwidth allocation being based on the determined amount of bandwidth to be used by the data stream;
• transmitting the data stream to a listener device in the communication network according to the updated bandwidth allocation via a port associated with the selected traffic queue;
• determining if a change in at least one data stream passing through the network device is detected;
• if the change is not detected, maintaining the updated bandwidth allocation for the selected traffic queue;
• and
• if the change is detected, identifying a changed data stream passing through the network device and determining a further updated bandwidth allocation for a further selected traffic queue corresponding to one or more of a type and a class of traffic associated with the changed data stream.