Patent ID: 9055562
Filing Date: 2015-06-09
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A method for providing agency bandwidth guarantees and protections between communication devices associated with agencies sharing an agency-shared data channel that is divided into reserved access slots and into random access slots for requesting assignment of one or more of the reserved access slots, the method comprising: configuring, at a scheduling component, initial reserved bandwidth allocations for communication devices associated with each agency permitted access to reserved access slots on the agency-shared data channel, the initial reserved bandwidth allocations providing guaranteed and protected agency bandwidth to communication devices associated with one or more agencies sharing the agency-shared data channel on an agency by agency basis in accordance with the initial reserved bandwidth allocations; when sufficient bandwidth, including the initial reserved bandwidth allocations, is available on the agency-shared data channel to meet all bandwidth requests from all communication devices associated with all agencies requesting reserved access slot allocations on the agency-shared data channel, allowing, by the scheduling component, communication devices access to any available random access slot on the agency-shared data channel, wherein upon accessing a scheduled random access slot a communication device associated with an agency is able to reserve reserved access slots on the agency-shared data channel for data transmission regardless of the guaranteed and protected agency bandwidth granted by the initial reserved bandwidth allocations; and when one or more requests for additional reserved access slots on the agency-shared data channel from one or more communication devices associated with one or more of the agencies cannot be fulfilled due to insufficient available reserved access slots on the agency-shared data channel, responsively: