Patent ID: 6178456
Filing Date: 2001-01-23
Classification: H04L,H04Q

Abstract:
A method of communicating from a personal computer via an internet by way of a service provider, the method comprising the steps of:transmitting, in a first frame from the personal computer to the service provider, an indicator to indicate one of a new bandwidth assignment and a default bandwidth assignment, a personal computer transmission format, and a description of a plurality of different personal computer processing capabilities, the plurality of different personal computer capabilities including a first set of address and rate information for processing a first type of data, and as second set of address and rate information for processing a second type of data;transmitting, in a second frame from the service provider to the personal computer, an acknowledgement of the new bandwidth assignment when received and a service provider transmission format, the service provider transmission format including a third set of address and rate information for the first type of data, and a fourth set of address and rate information for the second type of data;transmitting, in a third frame from the service provider to the personal computer, information according to the service provider transmission format and the plurality of different personal computer processing capabilities; andtransmitting, in a fourth frame from the personal computer to the service provider, information according to the personal computer transmission format,wherein a data length that differs according to whether data is the first type of data or the second type of data is sent in the third frame based on both the service provider transmission format and the personal computer processing capabilities.