Patent ID: 7903682

Claim:
A method performed by a device, the method comprising: grouping, by the device, a first plurality of cable modems into a first group of cable modems, where the first plurality of cable modems is associated with a downstream channel; grouping, by the device, a second plurality of cable modems, different from the first plurality of cable modems, into a second group of cable modems, where the second plurality of cable modems is associated with the downstream channel; assigning, by the device, a first virtual upstream channel to the first group of cable modems, where the first virtual upstream channel is operating in a first modulation scheme; assigning, by the device, a second virtual upstream channel to the second group of cable modems, where the second virtual upstream channel is operating in a second modulation scheme that is different from the first modulation scheme; generating, by the device, a first bandwidth allocation message for the first virtual upstream channel; and generating, by the device, a second bandwidth allocation message, different than the first bandwidth allocation message, for the second virtual upstream channel, where the first and second bandwidth allocation messages decrease overall utilization of the downstream channel.