Patent ID: 8813143

Claim:
A method of operating a content distribution network having a plurality of consumer premises equipment (CPE) associated therewith, comprising: receiving a plurality of requests for content delivery from said plurality of CPE of said network, said plurality of requests comprising a first request for content from a first device in a first service class and a second request for said content from a second device in a second service class; obtaining a first plurality of information relating to monetary costs and resource utilization costs associated with servicing respective ones of said plurality of requests; obtaining a second plurality of information relating to monetary revenue and other benefits derived from servicing respective ones of said plurality of requests; evaluating said first and second plurality of information for at least a portion of said plurality of requests; and in instances of constrained network bandwidth, preferentially prioritizing said first request over others of said requests for resource allocation based at least in part on said evaluating and migrating said second device in said second service class to a stream for providing said content according to said first service class, said first service class comprising a class configured to receive a higher quality content stream than said second service class comprising a class configured to receive a lower quality content stream.