Apparatus and method for increasing upstream capacity in a broadband communications system

A method of operating a gateway modem for providing a legacy service to a legacy device, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving from a communications network a first signal in a first frequency band, the first signal providing an enhanced broadband service over the communications network using a crossover point sufficiently high that a legacy device is unable to receive a forward control carrier contained in the first signal;
• downcoverting the first signal from the first frequency band to a translated first signal in a second frequency band, the first and second frequency bands being non-overlapping;
• and
• combining the translated first signal in the second frequency band with the first signal in the first frequency band to generate combined programming material comprising the first signal in the first frequency band and the translated first signal in the second frequency band for transmission to a legacy device, wherein the first signal in the second frequency band comprises the forward control carrier and is configured for reception by the legacy device,
• wherein the crossover point corresponding to the first frequency band is between about 200 megahertz (MHz) and about 258 MHz and a crossover point corresponding to the second frequency band is between about 40 MHz and 54 MHz.

A method of operating a gateway modem for providing a legacy service to a legacy device, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving from a communications network a first signal in a first frequency band, the first signal providing an enhanced broadband service over the communications network using a crossover point sufficiently high that a legacy device is unable to receive a forward control carrier contained in the first signal;
• downcoverting the first signal from the first frequency band to a translated first signal in a second frequency band, the first and second frequency bands being non-overlapping;
• combining the translated first signal in the second frequency band with the first signal in the first frequency band to generate combined programming material comprising the first signal in the first frequency band and the translated first signal in the second frequency band for transmission to a legacy device, wherein the first signal in the second frequency band comprises the forward control carrier and is configured for reception by the legacy device;
• receiving from the legacy device a second signal comprising upstream data in a third frequency band for transmission to the communications network, the first, second and third frequency bands being non-overlapping;
• combining the second signal with a third signal comprising upstream data in a fourth frequency band overlapping said second frequency band;
• and
• transmitting a combined signal comprising the second signal in the third frequency band and a third signal in the fourth frequency band to the communications network.