Method and apparatus for dynamic allocation of conferencing resources in a ...

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(12) United States Patent

Lynch et al.

(io) Patent No.: (45) Date of Patent:

US 7,035,229 Bl Apr. 25, 2006

(54) METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMIC ALLOCATION OF CONFERENCING RESOURCES IN A TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

(75) Inventors: John T. Lynch, East Sandwich, MA (US); Robert H. Squires, East Falmouth, MA (US); Franz Weller,

Harwich, MA (US)

(73) Assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, NJ (US)

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.

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* cited by examiner

Primary Examiner—Seema S. Rao
Assistant Examiner—Melanie Jagannathan

A method and apparatus for dynamic allocation of conferencing resources in a telecommunications system is provided. The method and apparatus provide for dynamic allocation of conferencing resources in two forms, first a predefined order of allocation of time slots for use in conferencing is described. This predefined order of allocation minimizes the risk that a conference will be interrupted if additional line cards are added to the system while the conference is in progress. The second form of dynamic allocation of resources involves locating and selecting the digital signal processing (DSP) resources to perform the conferencing function. For this allocation, the conference type is first identified. The conference will be determined to be a static, dynamic or critical conference by the CPU/ Matrix card. Based upon this determination, the DSP circuit with the appropriate resources for that conference type is selected. For example, if the conference is determined to be dynamic, i.e., it is likely to change in size, then a DSP with additional available channels will preferably be selected. If a conference is critical, then the same type of DSP is selected, but further conferences are blocked from being added to that DSP. A static conference will be allocated to a DSP on a best-fit basis.

15 Claims, 7 Drawing Sheets