Patent ID: 7536460
Filing Date: 2009-05-19
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of managing Quality of Service (QoS) and/or bandwidth allocation in a Regional/Access Network (RAN) including an Application Network Interface (ANI) protocol handler, a DSL Service Manager, and a User Network Interface (UNI) protocol handler and having a broadband access server (BRAS) that facilitates differentiated end-to-end data transport in an access session between a Network Service Provider (NSP) and/or an Application Service Provider (ASP), and a Customer Premises Network (CPN) that includes a Routing Gateway (RG), the method comprising: receiving at the ANI protocol handler, a modify QoS and/or bandwidth allocation message from the NSP and/or ASP, wherein the message comprises an application layer message including updated QoS and/or bandwidth information for one of a plurality of application flows, wherein the plurality of application flows respectively comprise a set of data packets associated with respective ones of a plurality of different applications provided via the access session, and wherein at least two of the plurality of application flows have a different QoS and/or bandwidth allocation; forwarding the modify QoS and/or bandwidth allocation message from the ANI protocol handler to the DSL Service Manager; updating, by the DSL Service Manager, the BRAS with the updated QoS and/or bandwidth information included in the modify QoS and/or bandwidth allocation message, wherein the BRAS is configured to manage QoS and/or bandwidth for individual ones of the plurality of application flows; and sending the updated QoS and/or bandwidth information included in the modify QoS and/or bandwidth allocation message from the DSL Service Manager to the RG via the UNI protocol handler.