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US 11,240,099 B2Granted
Network grafting
AssigneeCable Television Laboratories, Inc.
InventorsJason W. Rupe, Curtis D. Knittle
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Grafting segments of a network together to mitigate service disruptions associated with impairments, maintenance, etc., is contemplated. The grafting may include instantiating a wired and/or wireless graft to facilitate connecting an impaired portion of a network to an unimpaired portion, such as to reestablish services at the impaired portion via the graft to the unimpaired portion.
Claims18
A method for grafting branches in a network comprising:
- determining an impaired portion in a first branch of a plurality of branches interconnected within the network;
- grafting the impaired portion with a second branch of the plurality of branches to facilitate bidirectional signaling between the impaired portion and the second branch;
- and
- determining the impaired portion with a detector position within the first branch as a protection mechanism, the impaired portion corresponding with a location of the network having a tree-branch topology, the detector determining the impaired portion to correspond with less than an entirety of the first branch.
1 more element
A method for grafting branches in a network comprising:
- determining an impaired portion in a first branch of a plurality of branches interconnected within the network;
- grafting the impaired portion with a second branch of the plurality of branches to facilitate bidirectional signaling between the impaired portion and the second branch;
- grafting the impaired portion with the second branch using a graft;
- and
- controlling both of a first device connected to the impaired portion and a second device connected to the second branch from a non-grafted position to a grafted position, the non-grafted position preventing the bidirectional communication over the graft and the grafted position permitting the bidirectional communication over the graft.
2 more elements
A method for grafting branches in a network comprising:
- determining an impaired portion in a first branch of a plurality of branches interconnected within the network;
- grafting the impaired portion with a second branch of the plurality of branches to facilitate bidirectional signaling between the impaired portion and the second branch;
- grafting the impaired portion with the second branch using a graft;
- and
- adjusting one or more amplifiers in the first and/or the second branches to compensate for signaling variances resulting from the graft.
2 more elements
A method for grafting branches in a network comprising:
- determining an impaired portion in a first branch of a plurality of branches interconnected within the network;
- grafting the impaired portion with a second branch of the plurality of branches to facilitate bidirectional signaling between the impaired portion and the second branch;
- grafting the impaired portion with the second branch using a graft;
- and
- adjusting power, gain and/or attenuation for one or more devices in the first and/or second branches to compensate for signaling variances resulting from the graft.
2 more elements
A method for grafting branches in a network comprising:
- determining an impaired portion in a first branch of a plurality of branches interconnected within the network;
- grafting the impaired portion with a second branch of the plurality of branches to facilitate bidirectional signaling between the impaired portion and the second branch;
- grafting the impaired portion with the second branch using a graft;
- and
- reversing directionality for one or more devices connected to the impaired portion to compensate for the graft reversing upstream and downstream directions.
2 more elements
A system for grafting a network comprising:
- a detection device for detecting an impaired portion of a first branch of a plurality of branches interconnected within the network;
- one or more grafters for grafting the impaired portion to a second branch of the plurality of branches;
- and
- a first device connected to the first branch having a first grafter of the one or more grafters and a second device connected to the second branch having a second grafter of the one or more grafters, the first and second devices operable to form a graft between the first and second branches, the graft being sufficient to facilitate bidirectional signaling between the first and second branches sufficient to compensate for the impaired portion.
1 more element
A method for grafting within a network comprising:
- determining an impairment in a first branch of a plurality of branches interconnected within the network;
- disconnecting an element from an impaired portion of the first branch associated with the impairment, the element being used to facilitate signal exchange through the first branch;
- connecting a graft between the element and a second branch of the plurality of branches, the graft being sufficient to facilitate bidirectional signaling between the element and the second branch;
- and
- adjusting power, gain and attenuation for one or more devices in the first and/or second branches to compensate for signaling variances resulting from the graft.
2 more elements
A method for grafting branches in a network comprising:
- determining an impaired portion in a first branch of a plurality of branches interconnected within the network;
- grafting the impaired portion with a second branch of the plurality of branches to facilitate bidirectional signaling between the impaired portion and the second branch;
- grafting the impaired portion with the second branch using a graft;
- arranging the plurality of branches in a tree-topology relative to a node, the node interconnecting a device upstream of the node to the first and second branches such that device signaling traveling downstream from the device routes through the node to both of the first and second branches;
- and
- implementing the graft to interconnect the impaired portion with the second branch such that device signaling traveling downstream through the node passes to an unimpaired portion of the first branch and to the second branch whereby the signaling pass to the second branch passes through the graft to the impaired portion, the unimpaired portion being located upstream of an impairment associated with the impaired portion.
3 more elements
A method for grafting branches in a network comprising:
- determining an impaired portion in a first branch of a plurality of branches interconnected within the network;
- grafting the impaired portion with a second branch of the plurality of branches to facilitate bidirectional signaling between the impaired portion and the second branch;
- grafting the impaired portion with the second branch using a graft;
- determining the impaired portion to correspond with an impairment detected within the first branch, the impairment occurring downstream of a beginning of the first branch such that a portion upstream of the impairment is determined to be an unimpaired portion of the first branch;
- when the impairment is detected, routing downstream signaling originating upstream of the first and second branches to each of the first and second branches such that the signaling travels from:
- i) the beginning of the first branch through the unimpaired portion no further than the impairment;
- ii) a beginning of the second branch to an ending of the second branch;
- and
- iii) the beginning of the second branch through the graft to the impaired portion;
- and
- when the impairment is undetected, routing downstream signaling originating upstream of the first and second branches to each of the first and second branches such that the signaling travels from:
- i) the beginning of the first branch through to no more than an ending of the first branch;
- and
- ii) the beginning of the second branch through no more than the ending of the second branch.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.