Patent ID: 8116337

Claim:
A method for transmitting requests for bandwidth in an access network, the method comprising: generating, at a network device, a first packet having a first priority and a second packet having a second priority, the second priority being lesser than the first priority, wherein the first packet is a streaming video packet; receiving, at the network device, a schedule map; consulting, at the network device, the schedule map to determine one of a plurality of periods in which to transmit a request during a request time, wherein a period is determined based on the generated packet priorities, and wherein a first period of time within the request time corresponds to the first priority and a second period of time within the request time corresponds to the second priority, wherein the first period of time is reduced when a first number of packets having the first priority is expected to be less than a second number of packets having the second priority; and according to the determined period, transmitting the request for bandwidth from the network device, wherein transmitting the request occurs at a specific time that differs from another specific time that a second network device transmits a second request for bandwidth.