Patent ID: 8000248

Claim:
A router in a first administrative domain of a telecommunications network, the first administrative domain comprising a first end point associated to a session transiting through the router between the first end point and a second end point outside of the first administrative domain, the router comprising: a quality of service (QoS) reservation module for maintaining a reservation table associated with the session, the QoS reservation module by upon reception of a first reservation message addressed from the first end point to the second end point: establishing a first reservation for traffic related to the session issued from the first end point to the second end point by adding a corresponding first record in the reservation table, the first record comprising an address of the first end point as the source of the traffic, an address of the second end point as the destination of the traffic and a first associated QoS level in accordance with the received first reservation message; replying with an acknowledge message confirming the first reservation back toward the first end point, wherein the acknowledge message is generated on behalf of the second end point; sending a second reservation message toward the first end point, wherein the second reservation message is generated on behalf of the second end point and relates to traffic related to the session issued from the second end point to the first end point; and establishing a second reservation in accordance with the second reservation message by adding a corresponding second record in the reservation table, the second record comprising an address of the second end point as the source of the traffic, the address of the first end point as the destination of the traffic and a second associated QoS level in accordance with the sent second reservation message.