# US 12,001,873 B2 · Cable communication system using virtual network functions > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,001,873 B2 - Document ID: US12001873B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/359,573 - Filed: 2021-06-27 - Published: 2022-12-22 - Granted: 2024-06-04 - Earliest claimed: 2021-06-17 - Assignees: Falcon V Systems SA - Applicants: Falcon V Systems SA - Inventors: Andriy Korud; Tadeusz Ciesielski - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12001873B2 ## CPC - H04L 47/10: Flow control; Congestion control - G06F 9/45558: {Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects} - H04L 41/0803: Configuration setting - H04L 41/40: using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities - G06F 2009/45595: {Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances} - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract A cable communication system includes one or more data-plane virtual network functions (VNFs) and one or more control-plane VNFs. The data-plane VNFs are configured to run on one or more hosts in a data network, and to perform data-plane medium access control (MAC) processing for a plurality of user-side cable modems and for a plurality of network-side physical-layer (PHY) devices that communicate with the user-side modems. The control-plane VNFs are configured to run on at least one host in the data network, separately from the data-plane VNFs, and to perform control-plane processing for the user-side modems and the network-side PHY devices. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A cable communication system, comprising: one or more data-plane virtual network functions (VNFs), which are configured to run on one or more hosts in a data network, and to perform data-plane medium access control (MAC) processing for a plurality of user-side cable modems and for a plurality of network-side physical-layer (PHY) devices that communicate with the user-side modems; and one or more control-plane VNFs, which are configured to run on at least one host in the data network, separately from the data-plane VNFs, and to perform control-plane processing for the user-side modems and the network-side PHY devices. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein the data-plane VNFs are configured to run on one or more hosts having a first range of network latency via the data network from the user-side cable modems, and wherein the control-plane VNFs are configured to run on at least one host having a second range of network latency via the data network, larger than the first range, from the user-side cable modems. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein the control-plane VNFs comprise: at least one fast-control-plane VNF, configured to schedule upstream transmissions from the user-side cable modems to the network-side PHY devices; and at least one slow-control-plane VNF, configured to configure (i) the user-side cable modems and (ii) network-side and user-side Radio-Frequency (RF) elements. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The system according to claim 3, wherein the fast-control-plane VNFs are configured to run on one or more first hosts, wherein the slow-control-plane VNFs are configured to run on one or more second hosts, such that the first hosts have a smaller network latency from the user-side cable modems, in comparison with the second hosts. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) The system according to claim 3, wherein the data-plane VNFs are configured to schedule downstream transmissions to the user-side cable modems. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein at least a given host, which runs at least a given VNF among the data-plane VNFs and the control-plane VNFs, comprises an accelerator configured to offload at least part of the given VNF from a CPU of the given host. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, further comprising at least one orchestration VNF, which is configured to control operation of the data-plane VNFs and the control-plane VNFs. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The system according to claim 7, wherein the orchestration VNF is configured to migrate a given VNF from a first physical host to a second physical host. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein the data-plane VNFs and the control-plane VNFs are implemented as application containers. ### Claim 10 A method for cable communication, comprising: performing data-plane medium access control (MAC) processing, for a plurality of user-side cable modems and for a plurality of network-side physical-layer (PHY) devices that communicate with the user-side modems, by running one or more data-plane virtual network functions (VNFs) on one or more hosts in a data network; and performing control-plane processing for the user-side modems and the network-side PHY devices, by running one or more control-plane VNFs on at least one host in the data network, separately from the data-plane VNFs. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method according to claim 10, wherein performing the data-plane MAC processing comprises running the data-plane VNFs on one or more hosts having a first range of network latency via the data network from the user-side cable modems, and wherein performing the control-plane MAC processing comprises running the control-plane VNFs on at least one host having a second range of network latency via the data network, larger than the first range, from the user-side cable modems. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The method according to claim 10, wherein the control-plane VNFs comprise: at least one fast-control-plane VNF, for scheduling upstream transmissions from the user-side cable modems to the network-side PHY devices; and at least one slow-control-plane VNF, for configuring (i) the user-side cable modems and (ii) network-side and user-side Radio-Frequency (RF) elements. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method according to claim 12, wherein performing the control-plane processing comprises running the fast-control-plane VNFs on one or more first hosts, and running the slow-control-plane VNFs on one or more second hosts, such that the first hosts have a smaller network latency from the user-side cable modems, in comparison with the second hosts. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The method according to claim 12, wherein running the data-plane VNFs comprises scheduling downstream transmissions to the user-side cable modems. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The method according to claim 10, and comprising offloading at least part of a given VNF, among the data-plane VNFs and the control-plane VNFs, from a CPU of a given host to an accelerator. ### Claim 16 (depends on 10) The method according to claim 10, further comprising controlling operation of the data-plane VNFs and the control-plane VNFs, by running at least one orchestration VNF. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method according to claim 16, wherein controlling the operation of the data-plane VNFs and the control-plane VNFs comprises migrating a given VNF from a first physical host to a second physical host. ### Claim 18 (depends on 10) The method according to claim 10, wherein the data-plane VNFs and the control-plane VNFs are implemented as application containers.