Communications network system including acknowledgement indicating successful receipt of request for reserved communication slots and start time for said reserved communication slots

摘要

A computer network for high-speed data communication, has a data transmission cable with a root and at least one leaf node wherein the upstream transmission is synchronized by information received on a downstream channel. Each client station receives data on a first frequency band, and transmits data on a second frequency band according to synchronization signals received on the first frequency band. The client station's transmission packets may include requests for reserved slots on the second frequency band for subsequent transmissions, and the SCS has a scheduler operable to determine a start time for requested reserved slots, and transmits the start time for the requested reserved slots. The client stations are operable to wait to continue transmission after waiting for the start time.