Patent ID: 8248943

Claim:
A method for allocating bandwidth among groups at a base station, comprising: determining, at the base station, a bandwidth capacity of the communication base station; assigning to each of a plurality of groups a guaranteed bandwidth, wherein the sum of all groups' guaranteed bandwidth does not exceed the total bandwidth capacity of the base station; receiving a communication request at the base station from a user equipment of a first group of the plurality of groups; determining a present bandwidth usage of the base station's bandwidth capacity by the first group; and when the first group's present bandwidth usage is such that granting the communication request would not cause the first group's bandwidth usage to exceed the first group's guaranteed bandwidth, pre-empting a second group at the base station, wherein the second group's bandwidth usage exceeds the second group's guaranteed bandwidth, and granting the communication request, further wherein the pre-empting includes at least one of reducing the second group's bandwidth usage or reducing a quality of service of the second group provided by the base station.