METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BANDWIDTH ALLOCATION FOR MULTIMEDIA SERVICES UNDER AGGREGATE TRAFFIC CONDITIONS

A method and system are provided for calculating the most efficient bandwidth allocation for multimedia traffic under aggregate traffic conditions within a shared transmission medium, such as an ATM network, in a manner which maximizes long term revenue. First, the total number of service groups within the network is specified by a network operator or a network designer. Each service group may contain multiple different types of communication traffic. Thereafter, for each service group, the number of users who utilize the services within that service group is determined. The average idle sojourn time and average burst sojourn time for each system state are then determined for each service group. Next, a specification of the peak rate, the probability that a user will access the service during a specified busy period, and an average session duration are determined. A specification of the price of each service per unit time is then provided by the network operator as well as the total available bandwidth in bits per second. Thereafter, these parameters are utilized to partition the bandwidth within the network among the various service groups so as to maximize long-run average system revenue.