Patent ID: 9559979
Date: 2017-01-31
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A hub in a communication network, the hub comprising: a transmitter; and a burst time plan generating circuit that generates a burst time plan including time slot allocation information by dynamically adjusting a ratio of a first probability of a dummy acquisition time slot to a second probability of an empty acquisition time slot according to a ratio of M/N while maintaining a constant probability of a real acquisition time slot, wherein M is a number of real bursts transmitted in a previous frame, N is a sum of dummy, real and empty acquisition time slots in a period of time, the time slot allocation information allocates dummy acquisition time slots in a subsequent frame to remote terminals already acquired in the communication network, the time slot allocation information identifies at least one time slot in the subsequent frame as a dummy acquisition time slot assigned to at least one remote terminal already acquired in the network, the transmitter transmits the burst time plan including the time slot allocation information, real bursts are transmitted during real acquisition time slots, dummy bursts are transmitted during dummy acquisition time slots, no bursts are transmitted during empty acquisition time slots, and the dynamic adjustment of the ratio of the first probability to the second probability disguises real acquisition time slots as dummy acquisition time slots to an unauthorized third party eavesdropper.