Method and apparatus to provide centralized call admission control and load balancing for a voice-over-IP network
First Claim
1. A method of regulating admission of a packet streams to an Internet Protocol (IP) network having a plurality of IP routers with a plurality of links interconnecting them, the method comprising:
- responsive to receipt of an admission request, identifying a source gateway and a destination gateway;
updating cost data associated with the network links by performing traffic measurements by traffic class at the IP routers, and reporting the traffic measurements with traffic measurement reports;
from the updated link cost data, determining costs associated with various paths through the network;
selecting a most favored pair of forward and reverse paths between the source gateway and the destination gateway having the minimum cost;
comparing cost data associated with the selected paths and a threshold value; and
, based on the comparison, selectively blocking the packet stream.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An admission control and load balancing system controls admission of packet streams or calls to a network and balances the packet traffic across the network, improving quality of service. The system includes a central database which stores information including cost data associated with individual paths and links across the network. A processor, in communication with the database, coordinates the admission control and load balancing decisions, and updates of the database cost data to reflect the dynamic network conditions, based on input from appropriate data sources. In one embodiment, referred to as the exact algorithm, the database is consulted by the admission control points or gatekeepers prior to admitting each arriving packet stream, and the database contents are updated call-by-call to reflect the allocation of resources to each admitted stream. In another embodiment, referred to as the inexact algorithm, control decision as well as database updates occur on a periodic rather than on a call-by-call basis to promote better scalability. In this embodiment, the processor periodically calculates admission decisions based on cost data in the central database. These admission decisions are then periodically forwarded to a satellite database associated with each gatekeeper, for storage and use in admission decisions until the next update epoch.
218 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of regulating admission of a packet streams to an Internet Protocol (IP) network having a plurality of IP routers with a plurality of links interconnecting them, the method comprising:
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responsive to receipt of an admission request, identifying a source gateway and a destination gateway;
updating cost data associated with the network links by performing traffic measurements by traffic class at the IP routers, and reporting the traffic measurements with traffic measurement reports;
from the updated link cost data, determining costs associated with various paths through the network;
selecting a most favored pair of forward and reverse paths between the source gateway and the destination gateway having the minimum cost;
comparing cost data associated with the selected paths and a threshold value; and
,based on the comparison, selectively blocking the packet stream. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of regulating admission of a packet streams to an Internet Protocol (IP) network having a plurality of IP routers with a plurality of links interconnecting them, the method comprising:
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at selected times, updating cost data for network links associated with the IP routers by performing traffic measurements by traffic class at the IP routers, and reporting the traffic measurements with traffic measurement reports;
computing an admission decision based on the cost data for a path through the network between a source and a destination including selected network links; and
,applying the admission decision responsive to a packet stream admission request. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification