Patent ID: 8374082

Claim:
An advanced bandwidth manager (ABM), comprising: a session/call admission controller (S/CAC) for managing network ingress traffic to a packet-switched network that nears or exceeds its capacity and is enabled to do so by computations of current network routing topology and bandwidth reservations; a listener positioned at vantage points on said packet-switched network that are remote from the S/CAC, and providing for the collection and reporting of raw network topology information about how traffic is being routed; at least one policy enforcement point (PEP) attached to an edge of said packet-switched network, and providing for autonomous short-term, application-aware controls applied to autonomously control admission of corresponding network ingress traffic at the at least one PEP, and further providing for long-term traffic controls on said corresponding network ingress traffic; wherein, the S/CAC, the listener, and the PEP, are independently located within the topology of said packet-switched network, and each use said packet-switched network to communicate with one another, and together implement admission controls that differentiate between traffic classes; and wherein admission control tables are stored locally on the at least one PEP and used by the at least one PEP to implement said long-term traffic admission controls that differentiate between traffic classes, and the admission control tables are automatically updated by the S/CAC and downloaded from the S/CAC in response to a change in packet-switched network topology or bandwidth reservation capacity due to a network failure.