A router including a communication device, a first processor, and a second processor. The communication device is configured to receive a plurality of first packets of a connection and at least one second packet of the connection subsequent to the first packets The first processor, coupled to the communication device, and configured to analyze the first packets to determine at least part of a plurality of transport-layer parameters associated with the connection, receive a traffic control rule associated with the connection, and offload processing of the at least one second packet of the connection to a second processor after the at least part of the transport-layer parameters is determined. The second processor is configured to perform traffic control on the second packet according to the traffic control rule and the at least part of the transport-layer parameters.

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, receiving information about a data flow for radio communication between the radio access network and user equipment, classifying the data flow as one of a large data flow and a small data flow, adjusting priority of the data flow by reducing relative priority of the data flow responsive to classifying the data flow as a large data flow, and communicating data including the data flow between the radio access network and the user equipment according to the adjusted priority. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, receiving information about a data flow for radio communication between the radio access network and user equipment, classifying the data flow as one of a large data flow and a small data flow, adjusting priority of the data flow by reducing relative priority of the data flow responsive to classifying the data flow as a large data flow, and communicating data including the data flow between the radio access network and the user equipment according to the adjusted priority. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Various embodiments provide methods for Internet Protocol (IP) packet handling. Various embodiments may enable downlink (DL) data prioritization of IP packets for time-sensitive applications, for example by using differentiated services code point (DSCP) indications or type-of-service (TOS) indications in headers of the IP packets to distinguish prioritized IP packets from non-prioritized IP packets. In various embodiments, IP packets that are prioritized IP packets may be sent to another processor of a wireless device using a prioritized traffic handling configuration that has a lower latency than a default traffic handling configuration used for sending non-prioritized IP packets. Various embodiments may further enable uplink (UL) data prioritization of IP packets.

A method for utilizing quality of service information in a network with tunneled backhaul is disclosed, comprising: establishing a backhaul bearer at a base station with a first core network, the backhaul bearer established by a backhaul user equipment (UE) at the base station, the backhaul bearer having a single priority parameter, the backhaul bearer terminating at a first packet data network gateway in the first core network; establishing an encrypted internet protocol (IP) tunnel between the base station and a coordinating gateway in communication with the first core network and a second core network; facilitating, for at least one UE attached at the base station, establishment of a plurality of UE data bearers encapsulated in the secure IP tunnel, each with their own QCI; and transmitting prioritized data of the plurality of UE data bearers via the backhaul bearer and the coordinating gateway to the second core network.

A method for utilizing quality of service information in a network with tunneled backhaul is disclosed, comprising: establishing a backhaul bearer at a base station with a first core network, the backhaul bearer established by a backhaul user equipment (UE) at the base station, the backhaul bearer having a single priority parameter, the backhaul bearer terminating at a first packet data network gateway in the first core network; establishing an encrypted internet protocol (IP) tunnel between the base station and a coordinating gateway in communication with the first core network and a second core network; facilitating, for at least one UE attached at the base station, establishment of a plurality of UE data bearers encapsulated in the secure IP tunnel, each with their own QCI; and transmitting prioritized data of the plurality of UE data bearers via the backhaul bearer and the coordinating gateway to the second core network.

An optimizing agent of a network device that does not support low latency DOCSIS can identify traffic or packets associated with a client resource for an optimization service flow. For example, the optimizing agent can receive a priority notification associated with a client resource from a low latency controller that is indicative of a low latency requirement associated with the client resource. The optimizing agent identifies the traffic for the optimized service flow based on the priority notification. The identifying can require modifying one or more parameters of an existing service flow, creating a new service flow, or selecting an existing service flow with low latency. The identified traffic can be routed to the optimized service flow to achieve low latency or high QoS.

An optimizing agent of a network device that does not support low latency DOCSIS can identify traffic or packets associated with a client resource for an optimization service flow. For example, the optimizing agent can receive a priority notification associated with a client resource from a low latency controller that is indicative of a low latency requirement associated with the client resource. The optimizing agent identifies the traffic for the optimized service flow based on the priority notification. The identifying can require modifying one or more parameters of an existing service flow, creating a new service flow, or selecting an existing service flow with low latency. The identified traffic can be routed to the optimized service flow to achieve low latency or high QoS.

Systems and methods are disclosed herein that relate to Time Sensitive Communication (TSC) to Fifth Generation (5G) Quality of Service (QoS) mapping and associated QoS binding. In one embodiment, a method for QoS mapping in a 5G System (5GS) for a virtual Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) bridge comprises, at a first network function, obtaining information from a TSN Application Function (AF) comprising baseline TSC QoS parameters and one or more additional parameters comprising either or both of: (a) one or more additional TSC QoS attributes and (b) one or more additional traffic attributes. The method further comprises, at the first network function, generating one or more Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rules based on the obtained information and providing the one or more PCC rules to a second network function. The method further comprises, at the second network function, performing QoS binding based on the one or more PCC rules.

In one embodiment, a device clusters traffic characteristics of traffic associated with a plurality of online applications into one or more clusters. The device determines representative traffic characteristics for a particular cluster in the one or more clusters. The device generates, based on the representative traffic characteristics, a probing strategy for the plurality of online applications associated with the particular cluster. The device causes path probes to be sent along one or more network paths in accordance with the probing strategy