Patent ID: 7961752

Claim:
A method of controlling access in a telecommunication network in which a communication medium is shared among a plurality of mobile units, and the mobile units utilize at least two access modes to access the communication medium, the at least two access modes including a direct access mode and a scheduled access mode, said method comprising the steps of: associating different priorities with at least two communication types for transmissions from the mobile units, the different priorities including a high priority and a low priority; determining, for each of the different priorities, which access mode to utilize for the associated communication type based on a traffic load in each of the at least two access modes; and, when a mobile unit has a transmission to make, accessing the shared communication medium by the mobile unit utilizing the access mode determined for the priority associated with the communication type to which the transmission belongs; wherein the determining step comprises: determining to utilize the direct access mode for traffic of a communication type having a high priority and a high traffic load; and determining to utilize the scheduled access mode for traffic of a communication type having a lower priority.