Patent ID: 8335163

Claim:
A QOS (Quality of Service) computer system comprising: a plurality of entities; at least one first server including a QOS service module; and a plurality of communication paths over which the entities are configured to communicate with one another in various combinations, the communication paths including a plurality of second servers and network segments; wherein: the QOS service module is configured to receive a first submittal created by an entity and containing an indication of a first performance level of a first communication path, the QOS service module being further configured to determine from multiple second submittals from multiple entities a second performance level of at least a portion of a second communication path which is partially disjoint from and partially overlapping the first communication path, the QOS service module being further configured to output an indication of the determined second performance level for the second communication path; and the entities are configured to query the QOS service module for determined performance levels of the communication paths.