Convergence Layer Bonding Over Multiple Carriers
AssigneeBroadcom Corporation
InventorsNiki Pantelias, Scott Hollums
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cable modem termination system (CMTS) is disclosed that allocates one or more minislots of a super-frame arrangement to cable modems for upstream transmission. The super-frame arrangement includes multiple minislots that correspond to multiple communication channels of one or more super-frames. The CMTS receives requests for upstream bandwidth from the cable modems. The CMTS continuously allocates the minislots of the super-frame to provide upstream bandwidth grants to accommodate these requests. The CMTS communicates the upstream bandwidth grants as a single upstream bandwidth allocation map (MAP) to the cable modems.
Claims21
(canceled)
A cable modem for transmitting a sequence of data in accordance with a super-frame arrangement, the super-frame arrangement being characterized by a continuous sequence of minislots spread over a first and a second communication channel from among a plurality of communication channels, comprising:
- a super-frame module configured to arrange a first portion of the sequence of data onto a first group of minislots corresponding to the first communication channel from among the continuous sequence of minislots and a second portion of the sequence of data onto a second group of minislots corresponding to the second communication channel from among the continuous sequence of minislots;
- and
- a physical layer (PHY) configured to transmit the first group of minislots over the first communication channel and the second group of minislots over the second communication channel.
A cable modem termination system (CMTS) for receiving a sequence of data in accordance with a super-frame arrangement, the super-frame arrangement being characterized by a continuous sequence of minislots spread over a first and a second communication channel from among a plurality of communication channels, comprising:
- a physical layer configured to receive a first group of minislots over the first communication channel having a first portion of the sequence of data and a second group of minislots over the second communication channel having a second portion of the sequence of data;
- and
- a super-frame module configured to combine the first portion of the sequence of data and the second portion of the sequence of data to provide the sequence of data.
A system for communicating a sequence of data in accordance with a super-frame arrangement, the super-frame arrangement being characterized by a continuous sequence of minislots spread over a first and a second communication channel from among a plurality of communication channels, comprising:
- a cable modem (CM) configured to arrange a first portion of the sequence of data onto a first group of minislots corresponding to the first communication channel from among the continuous sequence of minislots and a second portion of the sequence of data onto a second group of minislots corresponding to the second communication channel from among the continuous sequence of minislots and to transmit the first group of minislots over the first communication channel and the second group of minislots over the second communication channel;
- and
- a cable modem termination system (CMTS) configured to receive a first group of minislots over the first communication channel having a first portion of the sequence of data and a second group of minislots over the second communication channel having a second portion of the sequence of data and to combine the first portion of the sequence of data and the second portion of the sequence of data to provide the sequence of data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.