Method and apparatus for providing circuit and packet-switched calls on a network
View Patent ↗A method of providing circuit-switched and packet-switched calls on a single network comprises receiving ( 301 ), at a local switch, a plurality of calls that are comprised of at least one packet-switched call and at least one circuit-switched call and determining ( 305 ) a measure of the plurality of calls. Based on the measure of the plurality of calls, a first set of resources ( 117 ), from a plurality of resources between the local switch and a network switch, is allocated to circuit-switched calls, and a second set of resources ( 121 ), from the plurality of resources between the local switch and the network switch, is allocated to packet-switched calls.
1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a local switch, a plurality of calls that are comprised of at least one packet-switched call and at least one circuit-switched call;
determining a measure of the plurality of calls;
based on the measure of the plurality of calls, allocating to the at least one circuit-switched call a first set of resources from a plurality of resources between the local switch and a network switch and allocating to the at least one packet-switched call a second set of resources from the plurality of resources between the local switch and the network switch, and wherein the first set of resources and the second set of resources are different.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the measure of the plurality of calls is a measure of circuit-switched traffic.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the measure of the plurality of calls is a measure of circuit-switched calls.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the measure of the plurality of calls is a measure of packet-switched traffic.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the measure of the plurality of calls is a measure of packet-switched calls.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of informing, by the local switch, the network switch of the allocation of the first set of resources and the second set of resources.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising the step of allocating a plurality of network resources between packet-switched resources and circuit-switched resources based on the allocation of the first set of resources and the second set of resources, wherein the plurality of network resources link the network switch and at least one other switch.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
determining a second measure of the plurality of calls;
when the second measure of the plurality of calls differs from first measure of the plurality of calls by a predetermined threshold, reallocating the plurality of resources between the local switch and a network switch between packet-switched resources and circuit-switched resources.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising the steps of:
informing, by the local switch, the network switch of the reallocation of the plurality of resources;
reallocating, by the network switch, a plurality of network resources between packet-switched resources and circuit-switched resources based on the reallocation of the plurality of resources, wherein the plurality of network resources link the network switch and at least one other switch.
10. A computer-readable signal-bearing medium comprising computer readable program code that performs the steps of claim 1 .
11. A local switch comprising:
a receiver for receiving a plurality calls comprising at least one packet-switched call and at least one circuit-switched call;
a processor arranged and constructed to determine a measure of the plurality of calls and, based on a distribution of the measure of the plurality of calls, allocating a plurality of resources between packet-switched resources and circuit-switched resources, wherein the plurality of resources link the local switch and a network switch, and wherein the at least one circuit-switched call is allocated a first set of resources from the plurality of resources and the at least one packet-switched call is allocated a second set of resources from the plurality of resources, and wherein the first set of resources and the second set of resources are different.
12. The local switch of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further arranged and constructed to determine a second measure of the plurality of calls and, based on a second distribution of the second measure of the plurality of calls, reallocating the plurality of resources between packet-switched resources and circuit-switched resources.
13. The local switch of claim 11 , wherein the measure of the plurality of calls is a measure of circuit-switched traffic.
14. The local switch of claim 11 , wherein the measure of the plurality of calls is a distribution of calls between circuit-switched and packet-switched.
15. The local switch of claim 11 , further comprising a transmitter for sending the distribution to the network switch.
16. A network switch comprising:
a line processor, arranged and constructed to process packet-switched calls and circuit-switched calls;
a resource processor, arranged and constructed to allocate a plurality of network resources between packet-switched calls and circuit-switched calls, wherein the plurality of network resources links the network switch and at least one other switch, and wherein the circuit-switched calls are allocated a first set of resources from the plurality of resources and the packet-switched calls are allocated a second set of resources from the plurality of resources, and wherein the first set of resources and the second set of resources are different.
17. The network switch of claim 16 , wherein the call processor is further arranged and constructed to receive, from another switch, a request of allocation of resources between packet-switched calls and circuit-switched calls and, based on the request, to reallocate the plurality of network resources between packet-switched calls and circuit-switched calls.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the measure of the plurality of calls is performed periodically.
19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the measure of the plurality of calls is provided on demand.