ADAPTIVE TRANSMIT RATE CONTROL SCHEDULER

• Main Author: MCALPINE, GARY, L
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 10.06.2009
• Subjects: ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; SELECTING; TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHICCOMMUNICATION

An adaptive rate control scheduler multiplexes virtual circuit data stream elements for transmission onto a network from a network node. The rate control scheduler is an adaptive circuit that utilizes a schedule table (having multiple time windows) and a set of virtual circuit (VC) specific rate control parameters to supply a transmit controller with a stream of tokens (each of which represents an active VC). The order in which tokens are supplied to the transmit controller is based upon their respective time slot locations in the schedule table. Each time a token is processed by the transmit scheduler, a target time for the next processing of the VC represented by the token is calculated, based upon the stored VC-specific parameters. The token is then inserted into the schedule table in the nearest available time slot to the calculated target time. Included in the calculation of the next target time for a particular token is a gain function based upon an accumulated error value for the associated VC. The accumulated error represents error introduced into the VC's data stream by the scheduling process.