Patent ID: 8634293
Filing Date: 2014-01-21
Classification: H04L,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method of providing differentiated services to at least some of a plurality of client devices, each of the client devices being wirelessly coupled to an associated access node of a plurality of access nodes of a wireless access network, the method comprising: for each of the access nodes, enforcing target service-levels for each of the client devices that are associated with the access node and determining service-type time-slot information for at least some of the client devices that are associated with the access node; each client device of a compliant-device-class subset of the client devices transmitting in accordance with a respective service-type designation and the service-type time slot information determined by the client device's associated access node, performing rate-limiting in accordance with the client device's target service level and providing usage and bandwidth availability feedback to the client device's associated access node; wherein the service-type time-slot information is at least occasionally updated based at least in part on the feedback; each service-type designation comprising a mutually-exclusive one of a preferred service type and a regular-service type; the service-type time-slot information determined by the client device's associated access node comprising a designation of each of a plurality of time-slots as being a mutually-exclusive one of a preferred-service time-slot and a regular service time-slot; and each regular-service type client device of the compliant-device-class transmitting only in those time-slots of the plurality of time-slots that are designated as a regular service time-slot.