Patent ID: 8804519

Claim:
A method for bandwidth allocation in a bandwidth allocation server of a digital video network, the digital video network comprising a restricted channel that is a link between a subscriber location and an access node, the method comprising: receiving a bandwidth reservation request that requests reservation of bandwidth on the restricted channel and that includes a future reservation start time delimiting the duration for which reservation is requested; obtaining any existing bandwidth reservations that have already reserved bandwidth on the restricted channel during at least part of said duration; determining whether a bandwidth limit would be exceeded by a combination of the requested bandwidth reservation and the existing bandwidth reservations, during any part of said duration; when it is determined that the combination would not exceed the bandwidth limit during any part of said duration, accepting the request by sending a reservation accept response and storing a reservation corresponding to the request; and when it is determined that the combination would exceed the bandwidth limit during the entirety of said duration, rejecting the request by sending a reservation reject response.