Patent ID: 7675855

Claim:
A system for establishing a data transmission rate in a telephony communication network for data transmission from a distribution network in a central office (CO), said distribution network including a first communication module coupled to a remote network unit including a second communication module, said second communication module being connected to the distribution network by a high-capacity transmission link, and said second communication module comprising digital subscriber link (DSL) ports connected via at least one local loop to a plurality of user terminals, the system comprising: a first storage device for storing a predetermined rate limit for transmission of data by the second communication module, the first storage device being associated with the first communication module; a traffic shaping unit at the first communication module for establishing a first module data transmission rate in dependence upon the predetermined rate limit to enable the second communication module to transmit data therefrom within the predetermined rate limit; a second storage device associated with the second communication module for storing the predetermined rate limit; a communication submodule in the second communication module to extract the predetermined rate limit from the second storage device and transmit the predetermined rate limit to the first communication module, wherein said predetermined rate limit for transmission of data by the second communication module, which is stored in the first storage device associated with the first communication module, is based on at least one of transmission rates of said DSL ports in said second communication module and transmission rates of said user terminals, and wherein the predetermined rate limit is dependent upon factors including distances of the user terminals from the remote network unit, transmission rates of DSL devices in the user terminals, and levels of service subscribed to by users of the user terminals.