The present invention discloses a method whereby the separate protocols:
session initiation protocol SIP, resource reservation protocol RSVP,
common open policy service COPS, and open settlement protocol OSP are
used together to setup, maintain, and teardown Internet communications
having an acceptable QoS. This process is accomplished by dynamically
establishing RSVP policy based on SIP telephony requests to provide IP
communications with QoS across the Internet. The QoS policy is installed
in network elements at the request of the network elements. The network
elements receive a RSVP PATH or RESV request and queries the policy
server; the policy server queries a Local database about ID and services
for the user and a clearinghouse server (if available) or a policy server
in a corresponding network; upon positive acknowledgement from the local
database and/or the clearinghouse server, the policy server confirms
policy in network elements to accept RSVP PATH and RESV requests for the
particular reserved data flow to the SIP client. In this manner, the
called telephone will not ring until policy has been provisioned in the
network elements and resources have been reserved end-to-end to ensure an
acceptable level of QoS.