TRAFFIC SHAPING METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING WIRELESS CONTENTION REDUCTION AND AIRTIME FAIRNESS FOR MULTIMEDIA TRAFFIC FLOWS IN A WIRELESS NETWORK

摘要

In one illustrative example, a wireless access point (AP) for use in a wireless network is configured to receive data packets of a multimedia traffic flow (e.g. a video flow) intended for delivery to a wireless mobile device in the wireless network. If an incoming data rate of the data packets is too large, wireless collisions and interference in the wireless network may be prevalent. Accordingly, a traffic shaping process may be performed on the data packets, where the data packets are queued in a buffer and scheduled for output from the buffer at a target data rate. The target data rate may be derived from the incoming data rate and one or more communication-related parameters (e.g. channel utilization) associated with the flow.