Allocation and scheduling for time and frequency division multiplexing system

1. A method for scheduling simultaneous upstream transmissions over a plurality of channels in a shared spectrum, the method comprising:

identifying an overlapping region of frequency allocated to at least two channels that includes both a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) channel and at least one additional DOCSIS channel;

identifying an initial distribution of time-and-frequency-division allocation units that divides the overlapping region of frequency between the at least two channels, wherein the time-and-frequency-division allocation credits are both time and frequency dependent;

scheduling grants to the overlapping region of frequency to either of the DOCSIS OFDMA channel or one of the at least one additional DOCSIS channels for upstream transmissions based on the initial distribution identified for the time-and-frequency-division allocation credits,

evaluating a usage of the overlapping region of frequency by the at least two channels based on the initial distribution of time-and-frequency division allocation units, wherein evaluating the usage includes comparing between the at least two channels at least one of traffic, bandwidth demand, and/or queue size;

identifying an adjusted distribution of time-and-frequency-division allocation units between the DOCSIS OFDMA channel and the one of the at least one additional DOCSIS channels based on the evaluated usage of the overlapping region of frequency by the at least two channels; and

scheduling grants to the overlapping region of frequency to either of the DOCSIS OFDMA channel or one of the at least one additional DOCSIS channels for upstream transmissions based on the identified adjusted distributed time-and-frequency-division allocation credits,

wherein the scheduled grant of the overlapping region of frequency is switchable between the DOCSIS OFDMA channel and one of the at least one additional DOCSIS channels at a frame boundary of the DOCSIS OFDMA channel.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one additional DOCSIS channel is a legacy DOCSIS channel.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the legacy DOCSIS channel is a single carrier quadrature amplitude modulation (SC-QAM) channel.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the time-and-frequency-division allocation credits divide resources within the overlapping spectrum.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein scheduling is based on hierarchy priority queuing schemes maintained independently for each channel.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein schedulers for the DOCSIS OFDMA channel remain independent from the at least one additional DOCSIS channel having the allocated overlapping region of frequency.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein independent schedulers for each channel communicate NULL and guard bands with each other for scheduling the overlapped region of frequency without collision.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the time-and-frequency-division allocation credits are allocated for DOCSIS OFDMA overlapped regions.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the time-and-frequency-division allocation credits are dynamically adjusted, turned on, or turned off based on at least one of channel utilization, an outstanding bandwidth demand, a prioritized pending bandwidth demand, or idle time.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein scheduling is performed by at least one scheduler that is an upstream scheduler for DOCSIS networks having both legacy and D3.1 channels.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein a scheduler is incorporated into existing independent upstream channel schedulers scheduling for legacy DOCSIS channels.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the overlapping frequency regions has a corresponding set of time-and-frequency-division allocation credits.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein there are multiple sets of time-and-frequency-division allocation credits for a single DOCSIS OFDMA channel, one set of time-and-frequency-division allocation credits associated with each of the multiple overlapping frequency regions within the single DOCSIS OFDMA channel.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the single DOCSIS OFDMA channel scheduler is associated with only one set of queues.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein there is a single scheduler per channel scheduling based on corresponding respective sets of time-and-frequency-division allocation credits.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein frequencies within the shared spectrum are shared both in time and frequency between the channels with the overlapping regions of frequency allocation.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the DOCSIS OFDMA channel and the at least one additional DOCSIS channels use different DOCSIS technology for transmission.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scheduling grants to the overlapping region of frequency to either of the DOCSIS OFDMA channel or one of the at least one additional DOCSIS channels for upstream transmissions based on the distributed time-and-frequency-division allocation credits comprises granting portions of the shared spectrum, allocated to but unused by the at least one additional DOCSIS channel, for use by the DOCSIS OFDMA channel.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the DOCSIS OFDMA channel and the at least one additional DOCSIS channels shares spectrum in both time and frequency.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein a first pool includes a plurality of regions of a single DOCSIS OFDMA channel that overlap with a plurality of additional DOCSIS channels, and a second pool includes the regions of the additional DOCSIS channels that overlap with the single DOCSIS OFDMA channel, wherein the scheduling grants the overlapping spectrum to either the first pool or the second pool for a limited duration of time.