Patent ID: 8224960

Claim:
A method of flexible frequency allocation, comprising: determining a performance metric for each portion of a network service provider frequency spectrum initially allocated to a lower priority class of applications, the portions of the network service provider frequency spectrum initially allocated to the lower priority class of applications being partitioned from portions of the network service provider frequency spectrum initially allocated to a higher priority class of applications, each application being run by at least one subscriber, wherein the determined performance metric is a performance metric for one of a channel and/or at least one carrier for the portions of the network service provider frequency spectrum initially allocated to the lower priority class of applications; determining a least loaded one of the portions of the network service provider frequency spectrum allocated to the lower priority class of applications based on the performance metrics, the least loaded portion being the portion of the network service provider frequency spectrum initially allocated to the lower priority class of applications having an associated performance metric indicating best performance out of each portion of the network service provider frequency spectrum initially allocated to the lower priority class of applications; and reallocating the least loaded portion of the network service provider frequency spectrum from the lower priority class of applications to a higher priority class of applications if a need for more network service provider frequency spectrum to handle the higher priority class of applications is detected.