Patent ID: 7769157

Claim:
A method of providing preferential access for particular point-to-point calls between preferred users of a communication network wherein said particular calls are established via circuits between switching nodes, said circuits comprising one circuit segment or a plurality of circuit segments connected in series, wherein for call setup each segment is selected from available circuit segments on a trunk between two switching nodes so that a circuit is set up enabling the calling user and the called user to communicate, which method includes the steps of: permanently reserving at least one circuit segment on each trunk between switching nodes needed to set up circuits for said particular point-to-point calls between users at least one of whom is a preferred user, a permanently reserved circuit segment being available only for said particular calls between users at least one of whom is a preferred user and not available for calls between users of said network neither of whom is a preferred user, and dynamically allocating circuit segments selected from said reserved segments and needed to set up a circuit from a preferred user in the event of a call set-up request by said preferred user.