Patent ID: 8010677

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving, at a first server, a request from a communication device to establish a communication session over a communication link thereby utilizing bandwidth of the communication link, wherein the communication link comprises a maximum available bandwidth; updating, by the first server, an accounting of currently available bandwidth for the communication link in a locally maintained control table; and performing, by the first server, a synchronization process, wherein during the synchronization process the first server shares its accounting of currently available bandwidth for the communication link with a second server that is also capable of establishing communication sessions over the communication link, wherein while operating in a decentralized mode of bandwidth management and other than during the synchronization process the first server does not share its accounting of currently available bandwidth for the communication link with the second server and the second server does not share its accounting of currently available bandwidth for the communication link with the first server, wherein the synchronization process comprises one or more of the following: the first server transmitting to the second server a first synchronization message, wherein the first synchronization message includes the first server's accounting of currently available bandwidth for the communication link and a time at which the accounting was determined; the first server receiving from the second server a second synchronization message, wherein the second synchronization message includes the second server's accounting of currently available bandwidth for the communication link and a time at which the accounting was determined; the first server reconciling its accounting of currently available bandwidth for the communication link when the synchronization process was initiated with the second server's accounting of currently available bandwidth for the communication link when the synchronization process was initiated and then transmitting a third synchronization message to the second server indicating results of the determined reconciliation; and the second server reconciling its accounting of available bandwidth for the communication link when the synchronization process was initiated with the first server's accounting of available bandwidth for the communication link when the synchronization process was initiated and then transmitting a fourth synchronization message to the first server indicating results of the determined reconciliation.