Patent ID: 7907526

Claim:
A method of setting up Label Switched Paths (LSPs) for incoming packets in a packet-switched network, said method comprising: determining whether a data rate for a packet flow class associated with incoming packets exceeds a predefined limit at an ingress Label Edge Router (LER); and automatically executing an LSP-setup procedure for the packet flow class for said incoming packets upon determining that the data rate for the packet flow class exceeds the predefined limit; calculating a long-term data rate for the packet flow class; determining whether the long-term data rate falls below a second predefined limit sending an LSP-teardown message to a Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) signaling device if the long-term data rate falls below the second predefined limit; automatically executing an LSP-teardown procedure for the packet flow class upon receiving the LSP teardown message; and forwarding said incoming packets to a forwarding entry specified in a data store when an LSP status is absent, for a cleared LSP, a trigger condition is below the predefined limit, or for an established LSP, a tear down trigger condition is above the second predefined limit.