Patent ID: 7769041

Claim:
A method of scheduling data transfers in a multi-hop packet network including a plurality of interconnected nodes configured to schedule their transmissions through said one or more hops, the method comprising: associating each node of a plurality of nodes in a multi-hop packet network with a level of a plurality of levels, wherein the level associated with each node reflects a number of hops from a first node to said each node, the number of hops measured along a shortest path between the first node and said each node in the network; dividing a data portion of a transmission into a plurality of reservation periods, the transmission comprising a control portion reserved for transmission of at least one control packet and the data portion reserved for transmission of data packets; and allocating each reservation period of the plurality of reservation periods for transmissions of delay sensitive traffic between neighboring nodes having the same associated levels of the plurality of levels, wherein the transmissions include a first transmission between first neighboring levels in an uplink direction and a second transmission between second neighboring levels in a downlink direction, wherein the uplink direction is toward the first node and the downlink direction is outward from the first node.