Priority based bandwidth allocation within real-time and non-real-time traffic streams

A method and system for transmitting packets in a packet switching network. Packets received by a packet processor may be prioritized based on the urgency to process them. Packets that are urgent to be processed may be referred to as real-time packets. Packets that are not urgent to be processed may be referred to as non-real-time packets. Real-time packets have a higher priority to be processed than non-real-time packets. A real-time packet may either be discarded or transmitted into a real-time queue based upon its value priority, the minimum and maximum rates for that value priority and the current real-time queue congestion conditions. A non-real-time packet may either be discarded or transmitted into a non-real-time queue based upon its value priority, the minimum and maximum rates for that value priority and the current real-time and non-real-time queue congestion conditions.