Patent ID: 7782865

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving, over a first channel and at a network device, a first virtual path identifier allocation request from a first user device of a plurality of user devices, the request including a device identifier associated with the network device; allocating a first device number to the first user device from a first plurality of available device numbers, where the first plurality of available device numbers are associated with the first channel, and where the first device number includes a first virtual path identifier; sending a data unit to the first user device, where the data unit comprises a first virtual path identifier field that includes an identifier associated with the first channel concatenated with the allocated first device number; receiving, over the first channel and at the network device, a virtual path identifier release request from the first user device; de-allocating, by the network device, the first device number, of the first plurality of available device numbers associated with the first channel, based on the release request; and sending, by the network device, a confirmation message to the first user device confirming de-allocation of the first virtual path identifier.