Patent ID: 7719977

Claim:
A method for dynamically allocating upstream bandwidth in a passive optical network, the method comprising: determining at an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) an upstream transmission threshold dynamically for a logical entity associated with an Optical Network Unit (ONU) based on one or more of the following: the maximum allowable delay associated with a priority level assigned to the logical entity; data speed of a shared out-going uplink at the OLT; the logical entity's service level agreement; and the total number of logical entities within that 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 transmission threshold; issuing a grant to the ONU for transmitting upstream data; in response to the grant, receiving upstream data from the ONU; storing the received upstream data in a receiver buffer within the OLT; keeping a record of outstanding upstream data which is granted for transmission from the ONU but not yet received by the OLT for each logical entity; subtracting the size of outstanding upstream data from the unfilled space of the receiver buffer to calculate available space in the receiver buffer; and transmitting the received upstream data on the shared out-going uplink.