Patent ID: 7639612

Claim:
A method for providing bandwidth on demand comprising: receiving, by a controller positioned in a network, a request for a high quality of service connection supporting any one of a plurality of one-way and two-way traffic types between an originating end-point and a terminating end-point, wherein the request comes from the originating end-point and includes at least one of a requested amount of bandwidth and a codec; determining, by the controller, whether the originating end-point is authorized to use the requested amount of bandwidth or the codec and whether the terminating end-point can be reached by the controller; directing, by the controller, a portal that is positioned in the network and physically separate from the controller to allocate local port resources of the portal for the connection; negotiating, by the controller, to reserve far-end resources for the terminating end-point; and providing, by the controller to the portal, routing instructions for traffic corresponding to the connection so that the traffic is directed by the portal based only on the routing instructions provided by the controller, wherein the portal does not perform any independent routing on the traffic, and wherein the connection extending from the originating end-point to the terminating end-point is provided by a dedicated bearer path that includes a required route supported by the portal and dynamically provisioned by the controller, and wherein control paths for the connection are supported only between each of the originating and terminating end-points and the controller and between the portal and the controller; and receiving, by the controller, a notification from the portal that traffic on the connection has exceeded an authorized limit; determining, by the controller, whether the connection should be terminated or allowed to continue; and instructing the portal, by the controller, whether to terminate or allow the connection to continue based on the step of determining.