Image Number 5 for United States Patent #7889756.
Disclosed herein are apparatus, methods and computer program products for reallocating on a temporary basis at least a portion of access to a common communications channel ordinarily allocated to a high priority modem of a multi-modem terminal to a lower priority modem of the multi-modem terminal. A first method allocates access to a high priority modem in dependence on a traffic pattern exhibited by the high priority modem. During temporary periods, at least a portion of access ordinarily allocated to the high priority modem is made available to a lower priority modem. In a second method, access to the common communications channel is allocated according to a pattern masking procedure. In the pattern masking procedure, time slots sought by a lower priority modem are masked by time slots sought by a higher priority modem. During a temporary period when it is sought to favor a lower priority modem, the order of the masking procedure is altered. During the temporary period, the time slots sought by the ordinarily lower priority modem mask the time slots sought by the higher priority modem. Whenever there is overlap, the lower priority modem will pre-empt the higher priority modem.