Patent ID: 7274667

Claim:
A method of providing network access across a shared communications medium in a downstream direction towards competing users, comprising the steps of: (a) monitoring network access usage by at least one user during a time interval; (b) determining whether the at least one user has previously been assigned a forecast function; (c) in response to determining that the at least one user has not previously been assigned a forecast function, assigning a forecast function to the at least one user; (d) in response to determining that the at least one user has previously been assigned a forecast function, determining whether to check for a seasonal cycle of the at least one user, the determining whether to check for a seasonal cycle of the at least one user including determining an elapsed time since a previous seasonal check; (e) forecasting downstream network access usage by the at least one user during a future time interval based on said monitored network access usage by the at least one user and said forecast function; and (f) based on said forecasting, allocating network access to each user on a per user basis for a future time interval.