Abstract: The present invention provides apparatus for sampling data flows in a data network in order to estimate a total data volume in the network. Sampling the data flows in the data network reduces the network resources that must be expended by the network to support the associated activity. The present invention enables the service provider of the data network to control sampled volumes in relation to the desired accuracy. The control can be either static or can be dynamic for cases in which the data volumes are changing as a function of time.

Abstract: Apparatus for routing packets in a communication network comprises a plurality of per-connection queues, each queue established for receiving packets from a respective source and temporarily storing received packets before routing to a particular destination; a weighted fair-queuing scheduler for servicing packets from each of the plurality of per-connection queues at guaranteed pre-allocated rates; a sensing device for sensing a presence or absence of packets in queues, the absence of packets in queues indicating availability of excess bandwidth; and, a state dependent scheduler for redistributing excess bandwidth upon sensing of queues absent packets, the state dependent scheduler servicing those queues in accordance with a state variable corresponding to a performance property of the queues, wherein delay and isolation properties for routing packets of respective queues in weighted fair-queuing is preserved.

Abstract: A method and apparatus provide a smoothing and rate adaptation algorithm to facilitate the flow of video data, maintaining video quality while avoiding potentially harmful buffering delays. The invention uses a smoothing interval to determine a rate to request for allocation. The invention also adapts the encoding rate in relation to a target delay for a source buffer.