Patent ID: 7283477

Claim:
A method for allocating a network resource to a data path associated with a data packet flow and having a predetermined priority, the method comprising: evaluating one or more network paths between a source and a destination until one network path is found with sufficient unused network resource available for supporting the data packet flow of the data path and with at most an acceptable maximum number of hops, or until no such network path is found; if one network path is found with sufficient unused network resource available for supporting the data packet flow of the data path and with at most an acceptable maximum number of hops, configuring the data path on the one network path and allocating a sufficient portion of the unused network resource to the data path to support the data packet flow associated therewith; and if no network path is found with sufficient unused network resource available for supporting the data packet flow of the data path and with at most an acceptable maximum number of hops, selecting a network path between the source and the destination having the most unused network resource of the network paths between the source and the destination, configuring the data path on the selected network path, and taking network resource from an existing data path on the selected network path having a priority lower than the predetermined priority of the data path in order to allocate sufficient network resource to the data path to support the data packet flow associated therewith.