IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,562,995
Granted Patent B2
US 12,562,995 · App. 17/535,419 · Granted Feb 24, 2026

Egress packet scheduling

Inventors: Daniel Christian Biederman (Saratoga, CA); Jin Yan (Sunnyvale, CA); Ho-Ming Leung (Cupertino, CA)
Assignee: Intel Corporation
H04L47/6215H04L47/6225
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,562,995
App. No.
17/535,419
Granted
Feb 24, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Examples described herein relate to a network interface device. The network interface device can include circuitry to select a packet for transmission from among at least one time-based queue and at least one priority-based queue based on a departure time stamp value associated with the packet and a current time value. The network interface device can include circuitry to cause transmission of the selected packet. The circuitry can select a packet for transmission from the at least one time-based queue based on the current time value and based on the associated departure time stamp value.

Claims (32)

1 . An apparatus comprising:

a network interface device comprising:

a direct memory access (DMA) circuitry;

a network interface;

a host interface; and

circuitry to select a packet for transmission from among at least one time-based queue and at least one priority-based queue based on a departure time stamp value associated with a packet assigned to the at least one time-based queue and a current time value, wherein the circuitry is to prioritize selection of the packet from the at least one time-based queue over selection from the at least one priority-based queue based on the current time value and a departure time stamp value of the packet assigned to the at least one time-based queue and

circuitry to cause transmission of the selected packet.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is to select a packet for transmission from the at least one time-based queue based on the current time value and based on the associated departure time stamp value.

3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the circuitry is to select a packet for transmission from the at least one time-based queue irrespective of pause or priority flow control being associated with the at least one time-based queue.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the network interface device comprises circuitry that is to drop the packet from a time-based queue based on the associated departure time stamp value and the current time value.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein to select a packet for transmission from the at least one priority-based queue, the circuitry is to apply one or more of: round robin (RR), Deficit Round Robin (DRR), Deficit Weighted Round Robin (DWRR), Prioritized Elastic Round Robin (PERR), weighted fair queuing (WFQ), or Strict Priority.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising a memory that, when operational, is to store packets associated with the at least one time-based queue or the at least one priority-based queue.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the network interface device comprises one or more of: a network interface controller (NIC), a remote direct memory access (RDMA)-enabled NIC, SmartNIC, router, switch, forwarding element, infrastructure processing unit (IPU), data processing unit (DPU), or network-attached appliance.

8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising a server to request transmission of the packet and indicate the associated departure time stamp value.

9 . The apparatus of claim 8 , comprising a datacenter comprising the server and a second server, wherein the network interface device is to pace packet transmission of the selected packet and a plurality of packets to the second server.

10 . At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, that if executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

configure a network interface device to:

select a packet for transmission from among at least one time-based queue and at least one priority-based queue based on a departure time stamp value associated with a packet assigned to the at least one time-based queue and a current time value, wherein the network interface device is to prioritize selection of the packet from the at least one time-based queue over selection from the at least one priority-based queue based on the current time value and a departure time stamp value of the packet assigned to the at least one time-based queue.

11 . The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the network interface device is to select a packet for transmission from the at least one time-based queue irrespective of pause or priority flow control being associated with the at least one time-based queue.

12 . The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 10 , comprising instructions stored thereon, that if executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

configure the network interface device to:

drop the packet from a time-based queue based on the departure time stamp value and the current time value.

13 . The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein to select a packet for transmission from the at least one priority-based queue, the network interface device is to apply one or more of: round robin (RR), Deficit Round Robin (DRR), Deficit Weighted Round Robin (DWRR), Prioritized Elastic Round Robin (PERR), weighted fair queuing (WFQ), or Strict Priority.

14 . The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein to select a packet for transmission from the at least one time-based queue based on the departure time stamp value and the current time value, the network interface device is to pace packet transmission.

15 . The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the network interface device comprises one or more of: a network interface controller (NIC), a remote direct memory access (RDMA)-enabled NIC, SmartNIC, router, switch, forwarding element, infrastructure processing unit (IPU), data processing unit (DPU), or network-attached appliance.

16 . A method comprising:

selecting, at a network interface device, a packet to allocate to a departure time slot from among at least one timestamp-based queue and at least one priority-based queue based on a transmit departure time stamp associated with a packet assigned to the at least one timestamp-based queue and a current time stamp value, wherein the network interface device is to prioritize selection of the packet from the at least one timestamp-based queue over selection from the at least one priority-based queue based on the current time stamp value and a departure time stamp value of the packet assigned to the at least one timestamp-based queue.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the selecting, at the network interface device, the packet to allocate to a departure time slot from the at least one timestamp-based queue comprises selecting the packet for transmission from the at least one timestamp-based queue based on the current time stamp value and the departure time stamp.

18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the selecting, at the network interface device, the packet to allocate to a transmit time slot from the at least one timestamp-based queue is irrespective of pause or priority flow control being associated with the at least one timestamp-based queue.

19 . The method of claim 16 , comprising:

dropping the packet from a timestamp-based queue based on the departure time stamp and the current time stamp value.

20 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the selecting, at the network interface device, a packet to allocate to a transmit time slot from the at least one priority-based queue is based on one or more of: round robin (RR), Deficit Round Robin (DRR), Deficit Weighted Round Robin (DWRR), Prioritized Elastic Round Robin (PERR), weighted fair queuing (WFQ), or Strict Priority.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 2, 2021
From: BIEDERMAN, DANIEL CHRISTIAN; YAN, JIN; LEUNG, HO-MING
To: INTEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 058272/0461 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20220086100A1 · Mar 17, 2022
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