| 摘要 |
A system, device, and method for providing low access delay for time-sensitive applications in a shared medium network segregates MAC Users into a high-priority group and a low-priority group. Where the MAC User priorities are not known a priori, the MAC User priorities are inferred from the size of the data packets transmitted by the MAC Users. MAC Users transmitting small packets are placed in the high-priority group, while MAC Users transmitting large packets are placed in the low-priority group. The headend unit first polls all of the high-priority MAC Users, and then polls low-priority MAC Users until either all low-priority MAC Users have been polled or the low-priority MAC Users have been serviced for a predetermined maximum polling time. The headend unit repeats this polling sequence in sequential polling cycles to provide the high-priority MAC Users with expedited access to the shared channel. |
