Patent ID: 7830904

Claim:
A method that provides for communication among a plurality of devices internal to a premises (internal devices) over an existing physical medium of a premises, which medium comprises communication channels, as well as communication between the internal devices and devices external to said premises (external devices) via an external network, comprising: receiving, at an interface device that is interposed between said physical medium and said external network, an allocation request from one of said internal devices, which request includes a requested bandwidth for communicating with another of said internal devices over one of said channels without use of said external network; when a channel based on the allocation request can be allocated on said physical medium, to coexist with channels already allocated, allocating said channel to said one of said internal devices based on the allocation request; retrieving allocation data from an allocation database; identifying an unused channel that satisfies said allocation request; and sending a request response to the internal device that sent the allocation request.