International Business Machines Corporation

Ralph J Potok, Ii

Arthur James Stagg

Jeffrey James Lynch

John E Drake, Jr

Elizabeth A Hervatic

David E Taber

Yves J Huchet

Vicki Gentry Horton

James Harold Ragsdale

George Allen Deaton, Jr

Claude Richard Pond

Joseph W Pace

Robert M Teague

Charles E Williford

A management system for local area networks ensures selected levels of quality of service to all transmission requests submitted to the management system. This management system is attached to the network and receives requests from all other stations on the network to reserve facilities for a particular quality of service data stream. An allocator in the management system determines if the requested facilities are available and, if so, reserves these facilities for the requesting station. If the facilities are not available, the request is denied. A hierarchical data base containing all of the current parameters of all of the network resources and all of the currently supported data streams is used to support the allocation process.

Quality of service management for source routing multimedia packet

A method and arrangement for providing a layered communications environment for the routing of information blocks between layers to layer entities forming a logical group based on information block type and the function provided by the individual entities of the group. When an access point (AP) between layers, is first activated, it is given a group classification. As other APs between the layers are activated, they too are given group classifications. All APs between the layers having the same group classification are considered to form a single logical grouping of APs. Each of these APs can be attached to different entities in the adjacent upper layer. This logical grouping allows for information block routing from a lower layer to the adjacent upper layer based on both logical group and block type. The entities in the upper layer that are within one logical group may include separate entities for control and management functions and separate entities for data transport purposes.

Logical grouping of layer entities in a layered communication

Growing community of inventors

Cary, NC, United States of America

Ralph J Potok, Ii