Patent ID: 7920471

Claim:
A switch device, comprising: a plurality of input line modules to receive traffic for each of a plurality of virtual connections, the plurality of virtual connections including unspecified bit rate (UBR) traffic virtual connections and at least one of constant bit rate (CBR) or variable bit rate (VBR) traffic virtual connections (CBR/VBR traffic virtual connections); a plurality of output line modules to transmit the traffic for each of the plurality of virtual connections; a switch to direct the traffic from the plurality of input line modules to the plurality of output line modules; and a processor to: receive a connection request for bandwidth associated with a particular virtual connection, determine an average amount of bandwidth for UBR traffic of the UBR traffic virtual connections established in the plurality of input line modules and the plurality of output line modules, determine an amount of bandwidth assigned to CBR/VBR traffic of the CBR/VBR traffic virtual connections, determine an amount of available bandwidth based on the average amount of bandwidth for the UBR traffic and the amount of bandwidth assigned to the CBR/VBR traffic, determine whether the bandwidth, associated with the connection request, is greater than the amount of available bandwidth, accept the connection request when the bandwidth, associated with the connection request, is not greater than the amount of available bandwidth, and deny the connection request when the bandwidth, associated with the connection request, is greater than the amount of available bandwidth.