Patent ID: 7991907

Claim:
A method of communicating one or more quality of service roles that should be assigned to a non-COPS enabled network device but that cannot be communicated in accordance with a common open policy service (COPS) protocol to the non-COPS enabled network device, comprising: receiving a first set of device data about the non-COPS enabled network device, wherein the first set of device data identifies one or more appropriate non-COPS protocols that are supported by the non-COPS enabled network device for communicating the one or more quality of service roles that should be assigned to the non-COPS enabled network device; receiving a set of COPS data that describes how the one or more quality of service roles should be assigned to the non-COPS enabled network device, wherein the set of COPS data is configured using the COPS protocol; receiving a set of role data that describes the one or more quality of service roles that should be assigned to the non-COPS enabled network device; generating a policy, using the set of COPS data and the set of role data, for assigning the one or more quality of service roles to the non-COPS enabled network device; if the one or more quality of service roles of the non-COPS enabled network device cause conflicts in generating the policy, resolving any conflicts arising from generating the policy using the set of COPS data and the set of role data; and communicating the policy to the non-COPS enabled network device using one of the one or more appropriate non-COPS protocols that are supported by the non-COPS enabled network device for communicating the one or more quality of service roles that should be assigned to the non-COPS enabled network device; wherein after assigning the one or more quality of service roles to the non-COPS enabled network device, the non-COPS enabled network device becomes a backbone interface to a background of the network, a fast link device, or an Ethernet ring protection switching node while remaining the non-COPS enabled network device; wherein the method is performed by one or more computer processors.