Patent ID: 7715312

Claim:
A system for maintaining at least one quality-of-service (QoS) parameter associated with at least one data transmission between at least a first endpoint and a second endpoint, the system comprising: a packet-switched network framework configured to carry the at least one data transmission from the first endpoint to the second endpoint, said packet-switched network framework including: at least one router configured to route the at least one data transmission over said packet-switched network framework; and a plurality of links including a first link and a second link, said first link forming at least part of a first path between the first endpoint and the second endpoint, and said second link forming at least part of a second path between the first endpoint and the second endpoint; a quality-of-service (QoS) monitor configured to identify the at least one QoS parameter of the at least one data transmission and determine whether the at least one QoS parameter is lower than a predetermined quality threshold; and a link utilization monitor configured to monitor a first link utilization rate associated with said first link and a second link utilization rate associated with said second link and to determine whether said first or second link utilization rate has exceeded a predetermined maximum utilization threshold and a predetermined minimum utilization threshold; wherein said at least one router is configured to reroute at least a subset of the at least one data transmission over said second link simultaneously with routing at least a subset of the at least one data transmission over said first link based on said QoS parameter being lower than the predetermined quality threshold and in response to said link utilization monitor determining that said first link utilization rate associated with said first link has exceeded said predetermined maximum utilization threshold, and said at least one router is configured to deactivate said second link if it is determined that said second link utilization rate is lower than said predetermined minimum utilization threshold and said QoS parameter exceeds the predetermined quality threshold; wherein in response to said deactivating said second link, re-routing said subset of the at least one data transmission over said first link.