Patent ID: 8584187

Claim:
A method, comprising: storing, at a first network device configured to communicate with at least one set top box (STB) and at least one digital video recorder (DVR), information identifying a plurality of parameters associated with allocating bandwidth in a home network, the bandwidth being allocated among at least a local class of traffic and a network class of traffic and wherein at least a portion of the bandwidth is shareable between the local class of traffic and the network class of traffic; receiving, at the first network device, a request having a corresponding first bandwidth and being associated with a first class of traffic; determining, by the first network device, whether the first bandwidth plus currently used bandwidth associated with the first class of traffic is less than a reserved bandwidth associated with the first class of traffic, wherein the reserved bandwidth corresponds to a minimum bandwidth that is reserved for the first class of traffic and that cannot be shared with other classes of traffic; approving the request, by the first network device, when the first bandwidth plus currently used bandwidth associated with the first class of traffic is less than the reserved bandwidth associated with the first class of traffic; determining by the first network device, when the first bandwidth plus the currently used bandwidth associated with the first class of traffic is not less than the reserved bandwidth associated with the first class of traffic, whether the first bandwidth plus the currently used bandwidth associated with the first class of traffic is greater than a maximum bandwidth associated with the first class of traffic; rejecting the request, by the first network device, when the first bandwidth plus the currently used bandwidth associated with the first class of traffic is greater than the maximum bandwidth associated with the first class of traffic; and determining, when the first bandwidth plus the currently used bandwidth associated with the first class of traffic is not greater than the maximum bandwidth associated with the first class of traffic, whether a portion of the shareable bandwidth is available to fulfill the request, wherein the determining whether a portion of the shareable bandwidth is available to fulfill the request comprises: forwarding the request to a second network device located remotely from the home network, and determining, by the second network device, whether to approve the request.