Data packet traffic scheduling

1. A method for a subscriber station to request allocated bandwidth from a base station such that the subscriber station is capable of communicating through the base station to a network using at least a portion of the allocated bandwidth, the method for the subscriber station comprising:

collecting a plurality of inter-packet times for data transmitted from the subscriber station to the base station;

creating an inter-packet time matrix, Δ, including the plurality of inter-packet times Δ i , where i is an integer between 1 and N;

creating a probability matrix, P, including a value p i of a probability mass function for two or more Δ i ;

transmitting Δ, P, and a nominal data packet size to the base station;

calculating a time difference, d, equal to a difference between a current time and a time when a previous data packet was generated;

if d is less than or equal to Δ N , setting an index parameter equal to an i associated with a smallest Δ i which is equal to or greater than d, otherwise setting the index parameter equal to N+1;

transmitting the index parameter to the base station; and

transmitting one or more packets of data between the subscriber station and the network using the allocated bandwidth, wherein the allocated bandwidth is associated with one or more of Δ, P, and the index parameter.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network is one of a wired network and a wireless network.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the index parameter comprises transmitting the index parameter to the base station in at least one of a header associated with a data packet and a body associated with the data packet.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the data packet comprises voice-over-Internet protocol data.

5. An apparatus comprising:

a base station in a wireless network configured to communicate with at least one subscriber station and configured to route communications between the subscriber station and a network, where the base station is further configured to:

receive, from a subscriber station, an inter-packet time matrix, Δ, including a plurality of inter-packet times Δ i , where i is an integer between 1 and N;

receive, from the subscriber station, a probability matrix, P, including a value p i of a probability mass function for two or more Δ i ;

calculate a cumulative distribution function matrix, C, from P, including a value C j of a cumulative distribution function for two or more p i , where j is an integer between 1 and N;

receive, from the subscriber station, an index parameter;

calculate an availability factor, ρ;

if the index parameter is less than or equal to N and if ρ is less than or equal to 1−C N , set i equal to N;

if the index parameter is less than or equal to N and if ρ is greater than 1−C N , set i equal to the j corresponding to the smallest C j for which ρ is equal to or greater than 1−C j ;

if the index parameter is less than or equal to N, set a parameter k equal to the greater of the index parameter and i; and

if the index parameter is less than or equal to N, allocate bandwidth at least Δ k from the time when the previous packet was generated.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the base station is configured to, if the index parameter is greater than N, allocate bandwidth at a next available time.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the availability factor, ρ, is equal to 1 minus a quotient of an average bitrate over a maximum bitrate.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the average bitrate is a quotient of a nominal bandwidth over an average inter-packet time; and wherein the average inter-packet time is based at least in part on sum of the products of P i ·Δ i for i of 1 to N.

9. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the network is one of a wired network and a wireless network.

10. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the Δ and the P are received within at least one of a header associated with a data packet and a body associated with the data packet.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the data packet comprises voice-over-Internet protocol data.

12. A method of transmitting data across a network, the method comprising:

creating an inter-packet time matrix, Δ, including a plurality of inter-packet times Δ i , where i is an integer between 1 and N;

creating a probability matrix, P, including a value p i of a probability mass function for two or more Δ i ;

calculating a cumulative distribution function matrix, C, from P, including a value C j of a cumulative distribution function for two or more p i , where j is an integer between 1 and N;

calculating a time difference, d, equal to a difference between a current time and a time when a previous packet was generated;

if d is less than or equal to Δ N , setting an index parameter equal to an i associated with a smallest Δ i which is equal to or greater than d, otherwise setting the index parameter equal to N+1;

calculating an availability factor, ρ;

if the index parameter is less than or equal to N and if ρ is less than or equal to 1−C N , setting i equal to N;

if the index parameter is less than or equal to N and if ρ is greater than 1−C N , setting i equal to a j corresponding to a smallest C j for which ρ is equal to or greater than 1−C j ;

if the index parameter is less than or equal to N, setting a parameter k equal to the greater of the index parameter and i;

if the index parameter is less than or equal to N, allocating bandwidth at least Δ k from the time when the previous packet was generated; and

transmitting one or more packets of data across the network using the allocated bandwidth, wherein the allocated bandwidth is associated with one or more of Δ, P, and the index parameter.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the allocated bandwidth is equal to a nominal bandwidth.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising, if the index parameter is greater than N, allocating bandwidth at a next available time.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the allocated bandwidth is equal to a nominal bandwidth.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the availability factor, ρ, is equal to 1 minus the quotient of an average bitrate over a maximum bitrate.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the average bitrate is the quotient of a nominal bandwidth over an average inter-packet time; and wherein the average inter-packet time is defined as the sum of the products of P i ·Δ i for i of 1 to N.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the maximum bitrate is determined based at least in part on at least one of a service level agreement and a current network status.

19. The method of claim 12 , wherein the network is a wireless network.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the wireless network comprises at least one subscriber station and at least one base station.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein said calculating the time difference and said setting the index parameter are performed by the subscriber station; and wherein said calculating the availability factor and said allocating bandwidth are performed by the base station.

22. The method of claim 12 , wherein the data packet comprises voice-over-Internet protocol data.