Patent ID: 6865150

Claim:
A method for controlling admission of a voice communication having a communication bandwidth in a network, said method comprising: providing a virtual circuit in said network, said virtual circuit having a predetermined bandwidth, wherein said virtual circuit includes a plurality of voice data packets containing at least one active voice data packet and at least one inactive voice data packet; receiving an admission request for said communication in said virtual circuit; calculating a total utilized bandwidth of said virtual circuit according to a predetermined formula, said total utilized bandwidth including said communication bandwidth, wherein said calculating is performed according to an ATM Voice over IP (VoIP) encapsulation, said plurality of voice data packets being encapsulated into a plurality of ATM cells using said VoIP encapsulation, wherein said calculating further comprises: calculating a cell rate as a function of a number of ATM cells of said plurality of ATM cells necessary to encapsulate one voice data packet of said plurality of voice data packets; and calculating said total utilized bandwidth using said cell rate, said at least one active voice data packet, and said at least one inactive voice data packet; and granting admission to said communication if said total utilized bandwidth is less than said predetermined bandwidth of said virtual circuit.