Patent ID: 8804522

Claim:
A method of allocating a communication pipe in a communication network comprising a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of links, the method comprising: assigning, by an allocation unit, one or more network flows to the communication pipe, the one or more network flows having the same source node and the same destination node; determining, by the allocation unit, a required capacity of the communication pipe based on the amount of network traffic associated to the one or more network flows and based on one or more minimal quality of service requirements associated with the one or more network flows; allocating, by the allocation unit, one or more links of the plurality of links to the communication pipe for routing the one or more network flows from the source node to the destination node; sending, by a node of the plurality of nodes associated with one or more links of the plurality of links, an arrival rate and a link service rate for each of the one or more links, the arrival rate and the link service rate being associated with at least one of the one or more network flows; receiving, by the allocation unit, the arrival rate and link service rate for each of the one or more links; and assigning, by the allocation unit, a maximum delay time constraint to the communication pipe.