Patent ID: 7362704

Claim:
A method for dynamically allocating upstream bandwidth in a passive optical network that includes a central node and at least one remote node, wherein each remote node is coupled to at least one logical entity corresponding to a device or a user that transmits upstream data to the central node and receives downstream data from the central node, and wherein a shared out-going uplink couples the central node to an external network outside of the passive optical network, the method comprising: receiving a request from a remote node for a grant to transmit upstream data from a logical entity associated with the remote node to the central node, wherein the size of the data to be transmitted does not exceed a transmission threshold assigned to that logical entity, and a logical entity may not request more than what is allowed by the corresponding transmission threshold; if the request satisfies a bandwidth allocation policy, issuing a grant to the remote node to transmit upstream data; in response to the grant, receiving upstream data from the remote node; and transmitting the received upstream data to the out-going uplink according to a set of service level agreements; wherein the transmission threshold assigned to a logical entity within a priority level is determined by considering: the maximum allowable delay for that priority level; data speed of the shared out-going uplink; the logical entity's service level agreement; and the total number of logical entities within that priority level.