Patent ID: 7606146

Claim:
A method of allocating resources on a network, comprising: receiving a request for reservation of network resources, the reservation including a destination address on the network and a future activation time at which the resources are to be activated; and allocating resources on network devices on a path to the destination address to accommodate the reservation if the network devices have sufficient resources to accommodate the reservation, wherein the allocating is at the future activation time, and wherein the allocating includes communicating over the network at the future activation time with at least one policy enforcement point, wherein the policy enforcement point is on the path and at an edge of the network, wherein the communicating includes configuring the at least one policy enforcement point by installing, at the future activation time, at least one internet protocol traffic filter in the policy enforcement point, wherein the installing activates the requested reservation of network resources for the destination address on the network, wherein the internet protocol traffic filter includes a matching criteria and an action, wherein the matching criteria includes at least one internet protocol network address, and wherein the matching criteria allows the policy enforcement point to identify at least one packet and to perform the action on the packet, wherein the installing at the future activation time of said at least one internet protocol traffic filter in the policy enforcement point includes determining that two nodes have requested the same service reservation, and modifying, responsive to the determining that two nodes have requested the same service reservation, the matching criteria of a previously installed internet protocol traffic filter by replacing an internet protocol network address of the previously installed internet protocol traffic filter with a range of internet protocol network addresses to increase the number of users with access to the network without increasing the number of filters installed in the network devices.