Patent ID: 7320034

Claim:
A method for reserving a virtual connection from a source workstation to a destination workstation within a network to allow data packets to be transmitted between an ingress node of said source workstation and an egress node of said destination workstation, said method comprising: sending a reservation request for a virtual connection from said source workstation to a reservation server, wherein said reservation server includes connection setup means for setting up a virtual connection that meets a predefined Quality of Service (QoS) requirement from said ingress node to said egress node; determining whether or not said reservation request can be validated based on user information within said source workstation, wherein said user information is accessible by said reservation server; in response to a determination that said reservation can be validated based on user information within said source workstation, determining whether or not the capacity of said network is sufficient to meet requirements of said reservation request; and in response to a determination that the capacity of said network being sufficient to meet requirements of said reservation request, establishing a virtual connection from said ingress node to said egress node.