Method, apparatus and system for managing Internet protocol based resources in a packet-based access network

摘要

The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for performing resource management of one or more Internet Protocol based resources to route a plurality of packets. To ensure a relatively high end-to-end service quality, the method and apparatus defines one or more user-service specific metrics being utilized by Internet Protocol (IP) mechanisms on a network layer to provide an IP-based resource management in a next generation network. A wireless router may provide wireless radio access using a resource management that captures one or more properties of at least one network link and at least one wireless link as metrics that may be used by IP mechanisms. Based on metric related distributed information, each router including a wireless router and an IP router may determine whether or not to forward a packet on an associated wireless link or a network link. By not differentiating between a wireless link and a network link, the wireless and IP routers may enable routing of the plurality of packets through a converged network.