Apparatus and method for spectrum management in a multipoint communication system

An apparatus for spectrum management in a communication system, the communication system having a communication medium, the communication medium having a plurality of downstream communication channels, the communication medium further having a plurality of upstream communication channels, the communication system further having a plurality of secondary stations coupleable to the communication medium, each secondary station of the plurality of secondary stations having a receiver and a transmitter, the apparatus comprising:

• a channel interface coupleable to the communication medium for signal transmission on a downstream communication channel of the plurality of downstream communication channels and for signal reception on an upstream communication channel of the plurality of upstream communication channels;
• and
• a processor arrangement coupled to the channel interface, the processor arrangement responsive through a set of program instructions to allocate loading of the plurality of upstream communication channels and of the plurality of downstream communication channels for an entering secondary station of the plurality of secondary stations;
• to allocate loading of the plurality of upstream communication channels and of the plurality of downstream communication channels for an active secondary station of the plurality of secondary stations;
• to allocate the plurality of upstream communication channels and the plurality of downstream communication channels based upon an error parameter;
• and to allocate loading of the plurality of upstream communication channels and of the plurality of downstream communication channels based upon a congestion parameter.

An apparatus for spectrum management in a communication system, the communication system having a communication medium, the communication medium having a plurality of downstream communication channels, the communication medium further having a plurality of upstream communication channels, the communication system further having a plurality of secondary stations coupleable to the communication medium, each secondary station of the plurality of secondary stations having a receiver and a transmitter, the apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of channel interfaces coupleable to the communication medium, each channel interface of the plurality of channel interfaces having a transmitter for signal transmission on a downstream communication channel of the plurality of downstream communication channels to form a plurality of primary station transmitters, and each channel interface of the plurality of channel interfaces further having a receiver for signal reception on an upstream communication channel of the plurality of upstream communication channels to form a plurality of primary station receivers;
• a plurality of processors coupled to the plurality of channel interfaces;
• and
• a master controller coupled to the plurality of processors, the master controller further having a memory, the master controller responsive through a set of program instructions stored in the memory:
• to allocate loading of the plurality of upstream communication channels for an entering secondary station of the plurality of secondary stations based upon a first receive loading factor of a plurality of receive loading factors, the plurality of receive loading factors including a cycle time factor;
• to allocate loading of the plurality of downstream communication channels for the entering secondary station based upon a first transmit loading factor of a plurality of transmit loading factors, the plurality of transmit loading factor including a queue depth factor;
• to allocate loading of the plurality of upstream communication channels for an active secondary station of the plurality of secondary stations based upon a second receive loading factor of the plurality of receive loading factors and based upon a variation of the plurality of receive loading factors;
• to allocate loading of the plurality of downstream communication channels for the active secondary station based upon a second transmit loading factor of the plurality of transmit loading factors and based upon a variation of the plurality of transmit loading factors;
• to allocate the plurality of upstream communication channels based upon a first error parameter of a plurality of error parameters and based upon a first channel noise parameter of a plurality of channel noise parameters;
• to allocate the plurality of downstream communication channels based upon a second error parameter of the plurality of error parameters and based upon a number of secondary stations of the plurality of secondary stations having the second error parameter;
• to allocate loading of the plurality of upstream communication channels based upon a first congestion parameter, the first congestion parameter including an access latency factor;
• and
• to allocate loading of the plurality of downstream communication channels based upon a second congestion parameter, the second congestion parameter including a throughput factor.