Patent ID: 6778550
Filing Date: 2004-08-17
Classification: H04J,H04L,H04Q

Abstract:
In a TDM/TDMA communications system in which a signal is transmitted downstream on a first channel over a communications medium from a network end to a plurality of network units connected to end user terminals, and the plurality of network units transmit bursts in sequential fixed-length frames upstream over the communications medium to the network end, a method comprising the steps of:receiving an indication of the bandwidth required by the end terminals connected to the plurality of network units; transmitting information downstream for allocating bandwidth within each frame to the network units in accordance with the received bandwidth requirements of the end terminals connected to the network units; and receiving an upstream frame that is formed so that it contains no more than one burst from each network unit, the length of a payload in a burst from a network unit being determined in accordance with the bandwidth requirements of the end user terminals connected to that network unit and the other network units in the system and being adjustable anywhere from zero bytes to the total number of payload bytes available in the frame, the burst from each network unit in the upstream frame containing digital information from the transmitting end user terminals that are connected to that network unit.