Variable rate discrete multiple tone bidirectional transmission

Claim 1

A method of transmitting data between a server and plurality of clients in a network, said method comprising: a. dividing the available bandwidth of a shared medium between said clients and said server into a total number of subchannels, each subchannel having a minimum basic bandwidth; b. determining a number of subchannels required for each of said clients to transmit/receive a data sequence over said network; c. applying a z-point IDFT to each subchannel of a data sequence from/to each of said clients, where z is a multiple of two and a function of the minimum basic bandwidth, where a plurality of first coefficients is obtained for each subchannel of said data sequence; d. multiplying said first coefficients of the outputs of z-point IDFTs for all subchannels of said data sequence by corresponding second coefficients to obtain a product for each subchannel; and e. summing the products for the subchannels to obtain a composite signal to transmit on said shared medium, wherein any of said clients may select a number of said subchannels as determined in step b from said composite signal by applying an appropriate DFT, wherein any said client receives said selected subchannels.

Claim 2

A method of transmitting data between a server and plurality of clients in a network, said method comprising: a. dividing the available bandwidth of a shared medium between said clients and said server into a total number of subchannels, each subchannel having a minimum basic bandwidth; b. determining a number of subchannels required for each of said clients to transmit/receive a data sequence over said network; c. applying a z-point IDFT to each subchannel of a data sequence from/to each of said clients, where z is a multiple of two and a function of the minimum basic bandwidth, where a plurality of first coefficients is obtained for each subchannel of said data sequence; d. multiplying said first coefficients of the outputs of z-point IDFTs for all subchannels of said data sequence by corresponding second coefficients to obtain a product for each subchannel; and e. summing the products for the subchannels to obtain a composite signal to transmit on said shared medium, wherein any of said clients may select a number of said subchannels as determined in step b from said composite signal by applying an appropriate DFT, wherein any said client receives said selected subchannels.

Claim 3

An apparatus for transmitting data between a server and a plurality of clients in a network, said apparatus comprising: a. means for dividing the available bandwidth of a shared medium between said clients and said server into a total number of subchannels, each subchannel having a minimum basic bandwidth; b. means for determining a number of subchannels required for each of said clients to transmit/receive a data sequence over said network; c. means for applying a z-point IDFT to each subchannel of a data sequence from/to each of said clients, where z is a multiple of two and a function of the minimum basic bandwidth, where a plurality of first coefficients is obtained for each subchannel of said data sequence; d. means for multiplying said first coefficients of the outputs of z-point IDFTs for all subchannels of said data sequence by corresponding second coefficients to obtain a product for each subchannel; and e. means for summing the products for the subchannels to obtain a composite signal to transmit on said shared medium, wherein any of said clients may select a number of said subchannels as determined at b from said composite signal by applying an appropriate DFT, wherein any said client receives said selected subchannels.

Claim 4

An apparatus for transmitting data between a server and a plurality of clients in a network, said apparatus comprising: a. means for dividing the available bandwidth of a shared medium between said clients and said server into a total number of subchannels, each subchannel having a minimum basic bandwidth; b. means for determining a number of subchannels required for each of said clients to transmit/receive a data sequence over said network; c. means for applying a z-point IDFT to each subchannel of a data sequence from/to each of said clients, where z is a multiple of two and a function of the minimum basic bandwidth, where a plurality of first coefficients is obtained for each subchannel of said data sequence; d. means for multiplying said first coefficients of the outputs of z-point IDFTs for all subchannels of said data sequence by corresponding second coefficients to obtain a product for each subchannel; and e. means for summing the products for the subchannels to obtain a composite signal to transmit on said shared medium, wherein any of said clients may select a number of said subchannels as determined at b from said composite signal by applying an appropriate DFT, wherein any said client receives said selected subchannels.