Systems and methods for prioritizing and scheduling packets in a communication network

Abstract

Systems and methods provide a weight-based scheduling system that incorporates end-user application awareness and can be used with scheduling groups that contain data streams from heterogeneous applications. Individual data queues within a scheduling group can be created based on application class, specific application, individual data streams or some combination thereof. Application information and Application Factors (AF) are used to modify scheduler weights to differentiate between data streams assigned to a scheduling group. Dynamic AF settings may adjust relative importance of user applications to maximize user Quality of Experience (QoE) in response to recurring network patterns, one-time events, application characteristics, protocol characteristics, device characteristics, service level agreements, or combinations thereof. Scheduling weights may be dynamic and incorporate the notions of 'duration neglect' and 'recency effect' in an end-user's perception of video quality in order to optimally manage video traffic during periods of congestion.