David Wojcik

US Patent:

6631135, Oct 7, 2003

Filed:

Mar 27, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/535707

Inventors:

David R. Wojcik - Morrisville NC

Assignee:

Nortel Networks Limited - St. Laurent

International Classification:

H04L 1226

US Classification:

37039521

Abstract:

Method and apparatus for negotiating quality-of-service parameters for a network connection. A cell rate profile is maintained which includes statistical quality-of-service (QoS) parameter information for each user or group of users of a cell-based communication network, such as an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network. A router or similar device makes use of specific parameter values for specific times from the cell rate profile to negotiate appropriate network connections having just the right amount of allocated bandwidth for a given connection. Preferably, the router handles the process completely automatically; however, the cell rate profile can be accessed to provide graphical information to users so that an appropriate choice can be made manually.