Patent ID: 7684322

Claim:
A flow admission control module for use in a network capable of supporting traffic flows of a first traffic type via Internet Protocol (“IP”) packets, wherein the network includes a plurality of nodes in communication via at least one link, and wherein the nodes calculate a path used for routing IP packets, comprising: monitoring logic operative to monitor, for ones of the links, bandwidth allocated for flows of the first traffic type; path calculation logic operative to calculate, independent of path calculation by the nodes and by predicting which path will be used by the nodes, at least one path traversing at least one link between a source node and a destination node for a new flow; first processing logic operative to determine, for each link of the path calculated by the path calculation logic, whether admittance of the new flow would push usage beyond a predetermined threshold relative to network bandwidth preprovisioned for flows of the first traffic type; and second processing logic operative to indicate that the new flow not be admitted if it is determined that admittance of the new flow would push usage beyond the predetermined threshold.