Patent ID: 7016376

Claim:
A method of scheduling upstream data packets utilizing a register interface in a data communication system, wherein the data communication system comprises a current system timer, at least one plurality of upstream hardware registers, and a plurality of upstream data packets, and wherein the upstream data packets have an associated priority value (PV), the method comprising the steps of: (a) queuing at least one upstream data packet for transmission over the data communication system; (b) identifying a priority value (PV) associated with the queued upstream data packet that has not been previously stored in an upstream hardware register; (c) storing the PV identified in step (b) in an available upstream hardware register; (d) determining whether any upstream hardware register contains a PV corresponding to a current system timer value; and (e) transmitting an upstream data packet that is associated with the PV determined in step (d) to be corresponding to the current system timer value.