Patent ID: 9602265
Date: 2017-03-21
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method for handling communications requests, the method comprising: gathering network performance information of a communications network using performance information packet (PIP) data packets to determine a status of a plurality of nodes of the communications network, wherein the PIP data packets include performance information generated by at least some of the plurality of nodes along one or more paths through the communications network, including at least two adjacent nodes along a particular path, and wherein the PIP data packets establish windows of time in which each node collects performance information; determining available bandwidth through connections of the communications network based on the PIP data packets; adjusting a frequency of generation of the PIP data packets sent through a portion of the communications network and increasing a level of network performance information collected by each of the PIP data packets to collect more types of data with the PIP data packets, in response to determining that the portion of the communications network is experiencing a problem; and allocating the available bandwidth for a plurality of customers for new connections and utilized bandwidth through the connections in response to changes in the available bandwidth and the utilized bandwidth across the communications network.