Network system having plural networks for performing quality guarantee among the networks having different policies

Abstract

A network system having a plurality of interconnected networks each having a policy server. The policy server sets a quality-guaranteed path in the network according to a policy held in the policy server. The policy server includes a policy holding unit to hold a policy defining a quality that can be guaranteed in its own network, a policy publicizing unit to make public the policy held in the policy holding unit to the policy servers of other networks, a guaranteed quality calculation unit to calculate a quality that can be guaranteed for the path between the local network and the other network, and a quality-guaranteed path setting unit to provide a quality-guaranteed path.

What is claimed:  
     
         1 . A network system having a plurality of interconnected networks each having a policy server, the policy server setting a quality-guaranteed path in the network according to a policy held in the policy server, the policy server comprising: 
 a policy holding unit to hold a policy defining a quality that can be guaranteed in its own network, or local network, for an inter-network communication;    a policy publicizing unit to make public the policy held in the policy holding unit to the policy servers of other networks;    a guaranteed quality calculation unit to calculate, from a policy publicized by a policy server of a network on a path between the local network and other network, a quality that can be guaranteed for the path between the local network and the other network; and    a quality-guaranteed path setting unit to provide a quality-guaranteed path, the quality-guaranteed path having a guaranteed quality within the quality calculated by the guaranteed quality calculation unit for the path between the local network and the other network.