Abstract: A Multiservice Access Concentrator (MAC) provides traffic shaping by allocating at least one cell stream to at least one cell slot of a cell scheduling table. A cell slot and a corresponding cell stream are designated in response to a cell interrupt signal generated following cell transmission. At least one counter and at least one credit buffer are maintained, and a service class of the designated cell stream is determined. The size of the credit buffer is determined by a maximum burst cell size (MBC) of the corresponding cell stream and virtual circuit (VC). A cell of the designated cell stream is transmitted in response to the determined service class and a count of the at least one counter and contents of the at least one credit buffer. Therefore, cells are transmitted based on cell credits. A virtual circuit (VC) builds cell credit based on the sustained cell rate (SCR) of the VC. Cell credit is consumed as cells are transmitted.

Abstract: A Multiservice Access Concentrator (MAC) provides traffic shaping by allocating at least one cell stream to at least one cell slot of a cell scheduling table. A cell slot and a corresponding cell stream are designated in response to a cell interrupt signal generated following cell transmission. At least one counter and at least one credit buffer are maintained, and a service class of the designated cell stream is determined. The size of the credit buffer is determined by a maximum burst cell size (MBC) of the corresponding cell stream and virtual circuit (VC). A cell of the designated cell stream is transmitted in response to the determined service class and a count of the at least one counter and contents of the at least one credit buffer. Therefore, cells are transmitted based on cell credits. A virtual circuit (VC) builds cell credit based on the sustained cell rate (SCR) of the VC. Cell credit is consumed as cells are transmitted.