Method and apparatus for reserving and releasing bandwidth for a packet-switched telephony connection established over an HFC cable network
First Claim
1. A method of allocating bandwidth over a cable network for a packet-switched telephony connection between two endpoints, said method comprising the steps of:
- authorizing and reserving an allocation of bandwidth at the time of a call origination sufficient to establish a voice-band data connection between the endpoints; and
committing only a portion of the allocation of bandwidth sufficient to establish a compressed voice traffic connection between the endpoints, wherein the committed portion of the allocation is a subset of the reserved allocation of bandwidth.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method is provided for allocating bandwidth over a cable network to establish a packet-switched telephony connection between two endpoints. The method begins by authorizing and reserving an allocation of bandwidth at the time of a call origination sufficient to establish a voice-band data connection between the endpoints. Next, only a portion of the allocation of bandwidth is committed. This committed portion, which is sufficient to establish a compressed voice traffic connection between the endpoints, is a subset of the reserved allocation of bandwidth. The reserved but uncommitted portion of the allocation of bandwidth is released so that it is available for another connection if at least one of the endpoints determines that the connection is to support voice traffic and not voice-band data. This bandwidth portion may be released after a prescribed period of time has elapsed since the establishment of a full send/receive connection without the detection of voice-band data.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method of allocating bandwidth over a cable network for a packet-switched telephony connection between two endpoints, said method comprising the steps of:
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authorizing and reserving an allocation of bandwidth at the time of a call origination sufficient to establish a voice-band data connection between the endpoints; and
committing only a portion of the allocation of bandwidth sufficient to establish a compressed voice traffic connection between the endpoints, wherein the committed portion of the allocation is a subset of the reserved allocation of bandwidth. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification