1. A method for processing upstream packets of an optical network, comprising the steps of: for a group of subscriber optical interfaces in the optical network, receiving status messages from the subscriber optical interfaces; calculating reservation information for upstream transmission from the status messages; calculating a duration of upstream transmission time slots for each subscriber optical interface; and transmitting the calculated the duration of the upstream transmission time slot to each subscriber optical interface; and receiving upstream transmissions from each subscriber optical interface during respective calculated upstream transmission time slots.