Priority forwarding in a communication system

Abstract From the Canadian patent

In a technique for priority forwarding an upper layer protocol that requires priority, forwarding includes a priority function that is invoked by a lower layer protocol in order to, obtain the priority for a message. The upper layer protocol provides the priority function, to the lower layer protocol when the upper layer protocol is installed in the protocol stack. The lower layer protocol invokes the priority function before passing a message to the, upper layer protocol in order to determine a priority for the message. The lower layer, protocol places the message in the appropriate queue based upon the priority indicator, obtained from the upper layer protocol's priority function.