Patent ID: 8923316

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: an internet router having (i) input ports to receive internet traffic from internet service providers, and (ii) output ports coupled to respective ones of internet links each of which is associated with a respective backbone provider, the internet router configured to couple selected input ports to selected output ports responsive to control signals; and a processor coupled to the internet router and configured to: rank from best to worst the backbone providers that have usage-based bandwidth capacity for sale using factors including financial cost of the bandwidth; and for each input port: determine if a traffic level is near a purchased total fixed capacity; if near the purchased total fixed capacity, then purchase bandwidth capacity from the best ranked backbone provider, and generate the control signals to switch the internet traffic from the input port to the output port coupled with the internet link associated with the best ranked backbone provider; and if not near the total fixed capacity, then determine if the internet service provider coupled to the input port wishes to sell excess bandwidth capacity, and if the internet service provider wishes to sell, then repeat the operation to rank in order to update the ranked backbone providers, otherwise repeat the operation to determine the traffic level.