Method of providing the facility for some communication network users to have preferential access for particular calls

A communication network including switching nodes with point-to-point connections provided by trunks enabling users to communicate who have communication terminals each individually connected to one of said nodes, each call being obtained by means of a circuit set up between the nodes of users connected by a circuit segment in each trunk used, which communication network includes hardware and/or software for implementing a method of providing preferential access for particular point-to-point calls between preferred users of a communication network wherein said particular calls are established via circuits between switching nodes, said circuits comprising one circuit segment or a plurality of circuit segments connected in series, wherein for call setup each segment is selected from available circuit segments on a trunk between two switching nodes so that a circuit is set up enabling the calling user and the called user to communicate, which network includes:

• at least one permanently reserved circuit segment on each trunk between switching nodes needed to set up circuits for said particular calls between users at least one of whom is a preferred user, a permanently reserved circuit segment being available only for said particular point-to-point calls between users at least one of whom is a preferred user and not available for point-to-point calls between users of said network neither of whom is a preferred user, and
• at least one of hardware and software which dynamically allocates circuit segments selected from said reserved segments and needed to set up a circuit from a preferred user in the event of a call set-up request by said preferred user.

A method of providing preferred access for particular point-to-point calls between users of a network, said network including at least two switching nodes and a plurality of circuit segments connected between said two switching nodes, said method comprising the steps of:

• permanently reserving a subset of said circuit segments such that reserved and unreserved segments are provided between said two switching nodes;
• according preferred status to a subset of users of said network;
• and
• providing access to said reserved segments only for point-to-point calls involving a user having preferred status and not for calls involving users of said network neither of whom has said preferred status.

A method of sharing capacity amongst users of a network, said network including at least two switching nodes and a plurality of circuit segments connected between said two switching nodes, said method comprising the steps of:

• dividing said plurality of circuit segments into first and second segments;
• according preferred status to a subset of users of said network which is less than all of the users of said network;
• and
• for point-to-point calls involving a user having said preferred status, providing higher priority access to said first segments than to said second segments, and wherein said first segments are only available to point-to-point calls involving a user having said preferred status.