Routing of data packet traffic to a common destination egress queue from a plurality of subscribers each contracting for respective bandwidth of data flow, a method of and apparatus for fairly sharing excess bandwidth and packet dropping amongst the subscribers and with the granularity of contracted traffic flow

摘要

In the routing of data traffic to a common destination egress queue from a plurality of customer subscribers each contracting for respective allocations of bandwidth of data flow, a technique and system for fairly sharing any underutilized excess bandwidth and for data dropping amongst over-subscribers, while guaranteeing each subscriber its contracted-for bandwidth, and further enabling billing over-subscribers for their share of received excess bandwidth—all while maintaining the granularity of the contracted traffic flow.