Method and system for rule-based sequencing for QoS

1. A method for communicating data over a network to provide quality of service, the method including:

performing by at least one processing device, at least:

receiving data at a data communication system operating on a node at an edge of a network;

determining a network status from a plurality of network statuses based on analysis of network measurements;

selecting a mode from a plurality of modes based on the determined network status, wherein each of the plurality of modes corresponds with at least one of the plurality of network statuses, wherein each of the plurality of modes comprises a user defined sequencing rule;

prioritizing the data at the data communication system by assigning a priority to the data, wherein prioritizing the data comprises sequencing the data based at least in part on the user defined sequencing rule of the selected mode;

determining at least one of an effective link speed and a link proportion for at least one link;

metering inbound data by shaping the inbound data at the data communications system for the at least one link;

metering outbound data by policing the outbound data at the data communications system for the at least one link; and

communicating the data from the data communications system, wherein communicating the data comprises communicating the data based at least in part on at least one of:

the priority of the data,

the effective link speed, and

the link proportion;

wherein at least the steps of receiving and prioritizing occur at a transport layer of a protocol stack.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data includes a block of data.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the block of data includes at least one of a cell, a frame, a packet, and a stream.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the priority of the data includes one or more of a type of data, a category of data, and a group of data.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user defined sequencing rule is dynamically reconfigurable.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the receiving step includes receiving the data at least in part from an application program operating on the node.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data is sequenced based at least in part on at least one of starvation, round robin, and relative frequency.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the prioritizing step includes differentiating the data.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the data is differentiated based at least in part on message content.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the data is differentiated based at least in part on protocol information.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the data is differentiated based at least in part on a user defined differentiation rule.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communicating step includes passing the data at least in part to an application program operating on the node.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sequencing step is transparent to an application program.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data is prioritized to provide quality of service.

15. A processing device for communicating data, the processing device including:

a network analysis component of the processing device configured to:

determine a network status from a plurality of network statuses based on analysis of network measurements, and

determine at least one of an effective link speed and a link proportion for at least one link;

a mode selection component of the processing device configured to select a mode from a plurality of modes based on the determined network status, wherein each of the plurality of modes corresponds with at least one of the plurality of network statuses, wherein each of the plurality of modes comprises a user defined sequencing rule,

a data prioritization component of the processing device configured to prioritize data by assigning a priority to the data, wherein the prioritization component includes a sequencing component configured to sequence the data based at least in part on the a-user defined sequencing rule of the selected mode;

a data metering component of the processing device configured to:

meter inbound data by shaping the inbound data for the at least one link, and

meter outbound data by policing the outbound data for the at least one link; and

a data communication component of the processing device configured to communicate the data based at least in part on at least one of:

the priority of the data,

the effective link speed, and

the link proportion,

wherein at least the data prioritization component is configured to operate at a transport layer of a protocol stack.

16. The processing device of claim 15 , wherein the data prioritization component includes a differentiation component configured to differentiate the data.

17. The processing device of claim 15 , wherein the data prioritization component includes a data organization component configured to organize the data based at least in part on the priority of the data.

18. The processing device of claim 17 , wherein the data organization component includes a data structure.

19. The processing device of claim 18 , wherein the data structure includes at least one of a queue, a tree, a table, and a list.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with a set of instructions for execution on a computer, the set of instructions including:

a network analysis routine configured to:

determine a network status from a plurality of network statuses based on analysis of network measurements, and

determine at least one of an effective link speed and a link proportion for at least one link;

a mode selection routine configured to select a mode from a plurality of modes based on the determined network status, wherein each of the plurality of modes corresponds with at least one of the plurality of network statuses, wherein each of the plurality of modes comprises a user defined sequencing rule,

a data prioritization routine configured to prioritize data by assigning a priority to the data, wherein the data prioritization routine includes a sequencing routine configured to sequence the data based at least in part on the a-user defined sequencing rule of the selected mode, wherein the prioritization occurs in a transport layer of a network communications protocol stack of a data communication system;

a data metering routine configured to:

meter inbound data by shaping the inbound data for the at least one link,

meter outbound data by policing the outbound data for the at least one link; and

a data communications routine configured to communicate the data based at least in part on at least one of:

the priority of the data,

the effective link speed, and

the link proportion.