1. A system for scheduling packet transfer in a packet network comprising: a first characterization scale having a number of elements; a second characterization scale having a number of elements; and a count down process that produces a packet transfer schedule by associating an element of the first characterization scale with at least one element of the second characterization scale and by adding an element of the second characterization scale to the packet transfer schedule based on a counting of the elements of the first characterization scale.