Patent ID: 7664068

Claim:
A method comprising: responsive to a received reservation request of a first type contained in a first selected minislot of a selected frame of a plurality of frames when the first selected minislot is available in the selected frame in an uplink channel and when information of the first type is ready to be sent, broadcasting a feedback message in a downlink channel before an end of the selected frame, each frame of the plurality of frames comprising a selectable number of minislots and a selectable number of slots, the feedback message containing minislot assignment information adapted to cause reservation requests of the first type and a second type to be sent, slot assignment information adapted to cause a transmission of information of the first type and the second type, minislot contention information for the reservation request of the first type received in the selected frame, allocation time information for the reservation request of the first type to be initiated in a frame after the selected frame on behalf of the information of the first type, the reservation request of the first type requesting an assignment of at least one slot for transmitting information of the first type in at least one frame that is subsequent to the selected frame, the reservation request of the first type contending for the first selected minislot based on a contention algorithm, at least one second slot assigned in response to the reservation request of the second type, the reservation request of the second type contained in a second selected minislot of the selected frame of the uplink channel received when information of the second type is ready to be sent, the reservation request of the second type requesting an assignment of at least one slot for transmitting information of the second type in at least one frame that is subsequent to the selected frame.