Local provisioning of bandwidth and other network resources

An apparatus for allocating a network resource in a home network, the apparatus comprising:

• a processor coupled to the home network;
• a user input device for defining an allocation rule;
• a machine-readable medium including instructions for
• accepting a signal from the user input device, wherein the signal defines a resource regulation for a particular device coupled to the home network;
• using the processor to track data transferred with the particular device;
• determining that the particular device's data transfers exceed the resource regulation;
• and
• causing the particular device's data transfers to conform with the resource regulation.

An apparatus for allocating a network resource in a home network, the apparatus comprising:

• processing means coupled to the home network;
• user input means for defining an allocation rule;
• means for accepting a signal from the user input device, wherein the signal defines a resource regulation for a particular device coupled to the home network;
• means for using the processor to track data transferred with the particular device;
• means for determining that the particular device's data transfers exceed the resource regulation;
• and
• means for causing the particular device's data transfers to conform with the resource regulation.