Patent ID: 7515535

Claim:
An intermediate network device adapted to efficiently manage bandwidth (BW) for multipoint-to-multipoint (MP2MP) services in a provider network of a computer network, the device comprising: two or more network ports having input and output port directions adapted to receive input traffic and transmit output traffic, the two or more ports further adapted to send and receive advertised registrations; a processor coupled to the one or more ports and adapted to execute software processes; and a memory adapted to store a BW management process executable by the processor, the BW management process configured to: i) receive registrations on at least one of the two or more ports from a neighbor bridge port, the received registrations having a maximum input BW value and a maximum output BW value for the neighbor port, ii) advertise registrations out at least one particular port of the two or more ports to corresponding neighbor bridge ports, the advertised registrations having a maximum input BW value for the particular port corresponding to a sum of maximum input BW values received from neighbor ports on ports other than the particular port, and a maximum output BW value for the particular port corresponding to a sum of maximum output BW values received from neighbor ports on ports other than the particular port, iii) determine whether a particular port is an active port of the MP2MP service, and iv) allocate actual input and output BW for the MP2MP service on active ports of the bridge, the allocated actual input BW being a lower one of either the advertised registered input BW value for the active port or the received registered output BW value from a corresponding neighbor port, and the allocated actual output BW being a lower one of either the advertised registered output BW value for the active port or the received registered input BW value from a corresponding neighbor port.