Patent ID: 8111714

Claim:
An access node for controlling access by end users to services over communication channels of given types, said access node utilizing an internal or external resource admission control mechanism to control end user admission to channel resources, said access node comprising: policy decision and enforcement means comprising: first information holding means for collecting and/or holding information about a currently available transmission capacity of the access node on an uplink channel towards a service provider; second information holding means for collecting and/or holding information about a currently available transmission capacity of a downlink subscriber line; third information holding means for collecting and/or holding information about a currently available maximum performance of the access node; service-related information holding means for providing, for each requested unicast and multicast Internet Protocol (IP) session requiring guaranteed network capacity, information about the capacity and performance service requirements of the requested sessions; a processor for calculating, when the access node is handling multiple existing IP sessions, whether the service requirements of each requested unicast and multicast IP session requiring guaranteed network capacity, when added to the service requirements of the existing IP sessions, fulfill a given condition or conditions in relation to currently available uplink/downlink capacity and currently available performance capability of the access node, if each requested unicast and multicast IP session is granted; and resource request decision means for granting or rejecting an end user resource request for each unicast and multicast IP session, based on a result output by the processor.