Transport of payload information and control messages on multiple orthogonal carriers spread throughout substantially all of a frequency bandwith

A head-end tenninal for a bidirectional multipoint-to-point multicarrier communications system for transmitting downstream payload information over a distribution network in a first frequency band to a plurality of service units physically remote from each other and from the head-end terminal and for simultaneously receiving upstream payload data from multiple ones of the remote service units in a second frequency band, wherein each of the remote service units includes:

• a service-unit controller for transferring only a portion of the payload data to and from user equipment and for producing and processing control messages,
• a service-unit multicarrier receiving modem coupled to the distribution network for demodulating only a subband of the first frequency band, the subband containing the portion of the the payload information and at least some of the control messages,
• a service-unit multicarrier transmitting modem coupled to the service-unit controller for modulating the portion of the upstream payload information and some of the upstream control messages onto multiple upstream carriers in only a portion of the second frequency band on the distribution network,
• the head-end terminal comprising:
• a head-end controller for transferring the payload data to and from an external communications network and for producing downstream control messages for all of the remote service units and processing upstream control messages from all of the remote service units;
• a head-end multicarrier transmitting modem coupled to the head-end controller for modulating the downstream payload information and the downstream control messages for all of the remote service units onto multiple orthogonal downstream carriers spread throughout substantially all of the first frequency band on the distribution network,
• a head-end multicarrier receiving modem coupled to the head-end controller for demodulating multiple orthogonal upstream carriers spread throughout substantially all of the second frequency band and carrying the upstream payload information and control messages from all of the remote service units simultaneously.

A head-end terminal for a bidirectional multipoint-to-point multicarrier communications system for transmitting downstream payload information over a distribution network in a first frequency band to a plurality of service units physically remote from each other and from the head-end tenninal and for simultaneously receiving upstream payload data from multiple ones of the remote service units in a second frequency band, wherein each of the remote service units includes:

• a service-unit controller for transferring only a portion of the payload data to and from user equipment and for producing and processing control messages,
• a service-unit multicarrier receiving modem coupled to the distribution network for demodulating only a subband of the first frequency band, the subband containing the portion of the the payload information and at least some of the control messages,
• a service-unit multicarrier transmitting modem coupled to the service-unit controller for modulating the portion of the upstream payload information and some of the upstream control messages onto multiple orthogonal upstream carriers in only one of a plurality of different subbands of the second frequency band on the distribution network,
• the head-end terminal comprising:
• a single head-end multicarrier receiving modem for demodulating multiple orthogonal upstream carriers in all of the different subbands spread throughout substantially all of the second frequency band and carrying the upstream payload information and control messages from all of the remote service units simultaneously;
• a head-end controller coupled to the downstream receiving modem for transferring the payload data to and from an external communications network and for producing downstream control messages for all of the remote service units and processing upstream control messages from all of the remote service units;
• a head-end multicarrier transmitting modem coupled to the head-end controller for modulating the downstream payload information and the downstream control messages for all of the remote service units onto multiple orthogonal downstream carriers spread throughout substantially all of the first frequency band on the distribution network.

A narrow-band service unit for a bidirectional multipoint-to-point communications system for receiving downstream payload information over a distribution network in a first frequency band from a head-end tenninal and for simultaneously transmitting upstream payload data to the head-end terminal in a second frequency band, wherein the head-end terminal includes:

• a head-end controller for transferring the payload data to and from an external communications network, and for producing control messages for a plurality of the service units and processing control messages from a plurality of the service units,
• a head-end multicanier transmitting modem coupled to the head-end controller for modulating the downstream payload information and the downstream control messages onto multiple orthogonal downstream carriers spread throughout substantially all of the first frequency band on the distribution network,
• a head-end multicarrier receiving modem coupled to the head-end controller for demodulating multiple orthogonal upstream carriers spread throughout substantially all of the second frequency band and carrying the upstream payload information and control messages on the distribution network,
• the service unit comprising:
• a service-unit multicarrier receiving modem coupled to the distribution network for demodulating only a relatively small subband of the multiple downstream orthogonal carriers, the subband containing a portion of the the payload information and at least some of the control messages from the head-end transmitting modem;
• a service-unit controller coupled to the downstream receiving modem for transferring a portion of the payload data to and from user equipment, and for processing only some of the downstream control messages and producing upstream control messages for the head-end terminal;
• a service-unit multicarrier transmitting modem coupled to the service-unit controller for modulating the upstream payload information and the upstream control messages onto multiple orthogonal upstream carriers in only a relatively small portion of the second frequency band on the distribution network.