| 摘要 |
A medium access controller for a client-server network that assigns protocol-dependent upstream channels according to client status and type-of-service requests. One group of upstream channels utilizes a contention-only protocol, a second group utilizes a limited type polling protocol, and a third group utilizes an exhaustive polling protocol. Further, when the client is non-responding, e.g., turned off, the controller assigns a first channel group using a contention-only protocol. For client communications requiring low latency for optimized performance, the controller assigns a second group of available upstream channels, and for communications requiring maximum throughput at the expense of longer latency times for optimized performance, the controller assigns yet a third group of available upstream channels. After initiating a data transmission, the controller may further dynamically assign channels based on detected changes in the transmissions. Thus, rules based on client activity level are implemented to determine when the client is to switch between channel groups. Essentially, the controller effects switching of the user's upstream channels dynamically and intelligently on a packet-by-packet basis. |
