Patent ID: 8300527

Claim:
A method for dynamically allocating upstream bandwidth in a passive optical network, the method comprising: determining an upstream transmission threshold for a logical entity that is one of a plurality of logical entities associated with an Optical Network Unit (ONU) based on one or more of the following: a maximum allowable delay associated with a priority level assigned to the logical entity; a data speed of a shared out-going uplink at an Optical Line Terminal (OLT); a service level agreement of the logical entity and a total number of the plurality of logical entities having the priority level; receiving a request from the ONU to transmit upstream data from the logical entity, wherein the logical entity may not request to transmit more data than what is allowed by the upstream transmission threshold; issuing a grant to the ONU for transmitting upstream data; in response to the grant, receiving upstream data from the ONU; and transmitting the received upstream data on the shared out-going uplink.