Patent ID: 7860053

Claim:
A method comprising: responsive to a first reservation request, via a downlink channel, broadcasting information regarding an assignment of a first slot of a plurality of slots to transmit voice traffic, the plurality of slots transmitted via an uplink channel, the first reservation request adapted to cause a contention-free reservation of the first slot; and via the downlink channel, broadcasting information regarding a reassignment of a second slot of the plurality of slots to transmit data traffic, the second slot previously assigned to transmit voice traffic, the data traffic assigned to the second slot based on a blocked binary tree algorithm; via the uplink channel, receiving a second reservation request for an assigned data slot; and making a determination that a virtual stack level associated with the second reservation request for the assigned data slot has a smaller value than the a number of minislots available for sending reservation requests for data slots, a first data terminal having a packet that arrives during a first allocation interval adapted to occupy a top level of the virtual stack, a second data terminal having a packet that arrives during a second allocation interval adapted to occupy a next level down from the top level of the virtual stack, the second allocation interval subsequent to the first allocation interval, responsive to a detected collision at the top level of the virtual stack, the first data terminal adapted to randomly select a 0 or a 1 with equal probability, responsive to selection of the 0, the first data terminal adapted to remain at the top level of the virtual stack, responsive to selection of the 1, the first data terminal adapted to occupy the next level down from the top level of the virtual stack.