Appeal No. 2004-2127 Page 2
Application No. 09/441,693
his "calls."1 For example, the SLA may specify the bandwidth that must be available to
the customer. A Virtual Private Network is defined when the SLA specifies the
bandwidth to be made available in each of a set of "streams"2 identified with a customer.
(Spec. at 1.)
In a packet-oriented network, incoming calls compete for the same network
resources, e.g., the same bandwidth. Calls of different service classes, whether
belonging to the same customer or to different customers, also contend for the same
resources. In such an environment, the appellants opine that "it is difficult to
consistently provide each customer with the service quality it demands in each class of
service, while also profitably operating the network." (Id.)
Accordingly, the appellants' invention computes billing revenues where
incremental revenues for a given stream depend on whether a network service provider
is deemed "compliant" with an associated SLA. To be deemed compliant, the service
1A "call" is a communicative transaction or subdivision thereof commonly referred
to as a call, connection, or flow. (Spec. at 1.)
2 A "stream" is a pair of nodes F constituting a source and destination of calls in
association with a particular class of service s. Service classes may include voice, data,
e-mail, file transfers, web browsing, and video. (Id.)
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007