Patent ID: 8483122

Claim:
A method of adaptively controlling a throughput rate of data traffic destined for each of a plurality of receivers, the data traffic combined into a single data stream and transmitted over a single downstream channel, the method comprising: associating a packet queue of a plurality of packet queues with one of a plurality of throughput rates; establishing a plurality of profiles to span a range of expected downstream signal quality information, wherein each of the plurality of profiles includes a modulation type and an error correction encoding rate associated with a throughput rate of the plurality of throughput rates, wherein each of the plurality of packet queues is associated with a profile of the plurality of profiles based upon the one of the plurality of throughput rates; selecting the packet queue of the plurality of packet queues based upon the throughput rate of the data traffic; parsing the single data stream into the selected packet queue for transmission, wherein a description of a downstream data structure of the single data stream is stored in a PHY-MAP, the description including information for the plurality of receivers to demodulate and decode the data traffic; and assigning the PHY-MAP to a lowest throughput rate for transmission of the PHY-MAP to the plurality of receivers.