Telephonic communications – Plural exchange network or interconnection
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-04
2002-11-19
Matar, Ahmad (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Plural exchange network or interconnection
C379S202010, C379S220010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06483912
ABSTRACT:
This application is related to the following pending, commonly assigned patent applications filed on the same day: “A Method for Exchanging Signaling Messages in Two Phases”, Ser. No. 09/366,676, “A Method for Performing Gate Coordination on a Per-Call Basis”, Ser. No. 09/366,208, “A Method for Establishing Call State Information without Maintaining State Information at Gate Controllers”, Ser. No. 09/366,210, and “A Method for Providing Privacy by Network Address Translation” Ser. No. 09/366,678.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to allocating network resources. More specifically, the present invention relates to reserving and committing network resources based on an authorized quality of service.
The known signaling architecture H.323 is an International Telecommunications Union (ITU) defined standard that describes how multimedia communications occur between terminals, network equipment and services on local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs) that do not provide a guaranteed quality of service (such as Internet Protocol (IP) networks). Quality of service is a measure of communication service quality during a call, and can include, for example, the bandwidth, delay and latency associated with the call. In networks using connectionless “best effort” delivery models, the quality of service typically is not guaranteed; the H.323 is a signaling architecture for such a network.
The H.323 provides a range of implementation options including gatekeeperrouted signaling. In the H.323 standard, gatekeepers map LAN address aliases to IP addresses and provide address lookups when needed. Gatekeepers also exercise callcontrol functions to limit the number of H.323 connections and the total bandwidth used by these connections in an H.323 “zone.” Although the gatekeeper is not necessary within the H.323 standard, when a gatekeeper is present in a network, network terminals must make use of its services. In other words, gatekeepers maintain state information for each individual call and all call signaling must pass through the gatekeepers.
The gatekeeper implementation of the H.323 standard, however, suffers several shortcomings. First, the equipment associated with gatekeepers needs to be extremely reliable so that the gatekeeper is available throughout the course of the call. If the gatekeeper-related equipment fails during a call, the call fails because the state information for the call maintained solely at the gatekeeper is lost. Second, the gatekeeper-related equipment likely cannot scale in a cost effective manner because maintaining the state information and performing the messaging associated with H.323 is complex and processor intensive. Finally, theft of service is possible by bypassing the gatekeepers to place unauthorized and unmonitored calls.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Network resources for a call between a calling party and a called party are allocated. The network resources for the call are reserved based on a reservation request. The network resources are reserved before any one network resource from the reserved network resources is committed. The reserved network resources for the call are committed when a called party indicates acceptance for the call.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4748658 (1988-05-01), Gopal et al.
patent: 5481537 (1996-01-01), Crisler et al.
patent: 5680392 (1997-10-01), Semaan
patent: 5719928 (1998-02-01), Pinnell et al.
patent: 5745694 (1998-04-01), Egawa et al.
patent: 5802058 (1998-09-01), Harris et al.
patent: 5812652 (1998-09-01), Jodoin et al.
patent: 5903637 (1999-05-01), Hogan et al.
patent: 5933417 (1999-08-01), Rottoo
patent: 5970056 (1999-10-01), Brailean et al.
patent: 5982748 (1999-11-01), Yin et al.
patent: WO 96/28942 (1996-09-01), None
Michelle Blank, “H.323 Gatekeepers Essential Software for IP Telephony and Multimedia Conferencing”, CTI Developer, Feb. 1998, pp. 94-98.
Shykeh Gordon, Radvision, Inc., “H.323 The Multimedia Communications Standard moves from Consensus to Compliance”, CTI Developer, vol. 2(2), pp. 108, 110-113.
VCON Inc., “H.323 Standard”, Jan. 1998, pp. 1-22.
R. Braden Ed. Et al., Standards Track, Resource ReSarVation Protocol (RSVP), Version 1 Functional Specification , Sep. 1997, pp. 1-92, http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/htbin/rfc/rfc2205.html.
Gary A. Thom, “H.323: The Multimedia Communications Standard for Local Area Networks”, IEEE Communications Magazine, Dec. 1996, pp. 52-56.
Kalmanek Jr. Charles Robert
Marshall William Todd
Mishra Partho Pratim
Nortz Douglas M
Ramakrishnan Kadangode K.
AT&T Corp.
Bui Bing
Matar Ahmad
LandOfFree
Method for allocating network resources does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method for allocating network resources, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method for allocating network resources will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2937822