Aggregating resource reservations over multiple routing domains

Presents an agent-based architecture for resource reservations. For each domain in the network, there is an agent that is responsible for admission control. The architecture provides scalable per-link resource reservations in agents and low per-packet overhead in routers. The key ideas are the following. First, reservations from different sources to the same destination are aggregated as their paths merge toward the destination. Second, an agent in charge of resources at the final destination can generalize reservations for specific end-points so that they are valid for any end-point in the destination domain, thereby allowing more aggregation. Third, agents can do bulk reservations in advance with neighboring agents, thereby allowing aggregation over time. Fourth, agents are responsible for setting up policing points at edge routers for checking commitments. Agents can minimize the per-packet policing overhead in routers by varying the granularity of policing over time