Patent ID: 8885497

Claim:
A method comprising: establishing, by at least one network device, a priority policy to prioritize access, by each of a plurality of subrate devices, to a temporary bandwidth; defining, by the at least one network device, a high watermark threshold and a low watermark threshold associated with the plurality of subrate devices, the high watermark threshold being greater than the low watermark threshold, the plurality of subrate devices being associated with a subrate service that provides access to an original bandwidth available between a service provider and the plurality of subrate devices, and the high watermark threshold being below the original bandwidth; determining, by the at least one network device, the temporary bandwidth based on a first real-time traffic demand; determining, by the at least one network device, that the first real-time traffic demand exceeds the high watermark threshold; allocating, by the at least one network device and based on the priority policy and the first real-time traffic demand exceeding the high watermark threshold, the temporary bandwidth to the plurality of subrate devices, a first subrate device, of the plurality of subrate devices, being allocated a first portion of the temporary bandwidth that is greater than a second portion of the temporary bandwidth allocated to other subrate devices, of the plurality of subrate devices, based on a priority of the first subrate device being higher than a priority of the other subrate devices, the first portion of the temporary bandwidth being allocated to the first subrate device by providing the first subrate device access to a first synchronous transport signal, and the second portion of the temporary bandwidth being allocated to the other subrate devices by providing the other subrate devices a shared access to a second synchronous transport signal, the shared access being provided on a first-come first-serve basis; determining, by the at least one network device, that a second real-time traffic demand is less than or equal to the low watermark threshold; and removing, by the at least one network device, the temporary bandwidth from the plurality of subrate devices based on the second real-time traffic demand being less than or equal to the low watermark threshold.