Methods and apparatus for controlling bandwidth and service in a communications system
First Claim
1. A centralized method of providing admission control functionality in a communications system including a plurality of nodes, said plurality of nodes including a control node, at least a first node coupled to a second node by a first link, a third node coupled to the second node by a second link and a fourth node coupled to the third node by a third link, together by communications links connected together by links, the method comprising:
- maintaining a set of link bandwidth utilization information, the set of link bandwidth utilization information including bandwidth utilization statistics for at least each of the first, second and third nodes; and
operating the control node to receive a service request corresponding to the first node and to determine from said maintained set of link bandwidth utilization information if there is sufficient bandwidth available on at least said second and third links to satisfy said service request.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for performing admission control and bandwidth allocation from a centralized network location in a communications system which supports various IP based services are described. Admission control is performed based on user interaction with a Web interface hosted by a centralized control. Users may subscribe/unsubscribe to premium (e.g., high bandwidth) services. Admission control to the premium services is controlled by the centralized control. The control interfaces with a gateway (edge) router which implements service decisions. The centralized control maintains a database of the users, links in the network, network elements, and estimates of allocated/free bandwidth on the links. In some embodiments, traffic, not under centralized control, e.g., from business switches and/or legacy gateway routers may be injected onto the network links. Load estimation methods are used to account for bandwidth consumed on the links by this injected traffic.
47 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A centralized method of providing admission control functionality in a communications system including a plurality of nodes, said plurality of nodes including a control node, at least a first node coupled to a second node by a first link, a third node coupled to the second node by a second link and a fourth node coupled to the third node by a third link, together by communications links connected together by links, the method comprising:
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maintaining a set of link bandwidth utilization information, the set of link bandwidth utilization information including bandwidth utilization statistics for at least each of the first, second and third nodes; and
operating the control node to receive a service request corresponding to the first node and to determine from said maintained set of link bandwidth utilization information if there is sufficient bandwidth available on at least said second and third links to satisfy said service request. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A communications system comprising:
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a first node;
a second node coupled to the first node by a first link;
a third node coupled to the second node by a second link;
a fourth node coupled to the third node by a third link; and
a control node coupled to at least one of said first, second, third, and further nodes, said control node including and maintaining a set of link bandwidth utilization information, the set of link bandwidth utilization information including bandwidth utilization statistics for at least each of the first, second and third nodes;
said control node further including;
means for receiving a service request corresponding to the first node and to determine from said maintained set of link bandwidth utilization information if there is sufficient bandwidth available on at least said second and third links to satisfy said service request. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification