The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 25, 2002
Filed:
Jul. 23, 1998
Sudhir R. Ahuja, Aberdeen, NJ (US);
Ioannis A. Korilis, New York, NY (US);
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
In a communications arrangement where services requested by users are provided over a network, communication flow arising from the services are shared by multiple links in the network. The users are required to pay for use of the links to realize the respective services. A target operating point defining the desired amount of communication flow on each link is established. A pricing scheme in accordance with the invention is used to price each link on a per unit of flow basis. Each user elects use of the capacity of those relatively inexpensive links to fulfil the requested service to minimize the cost. Such optimization actions by the individual users give rise to a “routing game” leading to a Nash equilibrium which coincides with the target operating point. Thus, with the inventive pricing scheme, the target operating point is attained over time by virtue of the users' cost optimization actions.