The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 14, 1999
Filed:
Dec. 10, 1996
James E Dail, Marlboro, NJ (US);
Chia-Chang Li, Holmdel, NJ (US);
Peter D Magill, Freehold, NJ (US);
Kotikalapudi Sriram, Marlboro, NJ (US);
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
A head-end dynamically allocates bandwidth of a communications channel as a function of the type of communications traffic. In particular, the head-end communicates to subscriber stations via a broadband cable network using an access protocol, which is modified to provide a variable number of mini-slots and a variable number of data slots in each frame. Each mini-slot is used to request assignment of a data slot(s) to subscriber stations for the communication of information and, also, as a vehicle to resolve contention between subscriber stations. The head-end dynamically adjusts the number of mini-slots over a period time as a function of the type of communications traffic, e.g., bursty and isochronous traffic sources. Any variation in the number of mini-slots concomitantly effects the number of data slots available to communicate information. For example, less mini-slots provides more data slots. As a result, the dynamic adjustment of the number of mini-slots allows the head-end to more efficiently allocate bandwidth on the communications channel.