Method and apparatus for monitoring and controlling a local area network

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for establishing a local area network (LAN) using a channel stripper, a LAN controller and a cable television cable that couples peripheral devices to the LAN controller. The channel stripper removes signals from one or more selected channels from a cable television signal path. The channels form a signal path between the LAN controller and peripheral devices connected to the LAN. The remaining channels provide a digital cable television signal. Both the LAN channels and the digital cable television channels are combined onto a common coaxial cable. The cable stripper may be a multiplexer/demultiplexer or a notch filter. Alternately, the channel stripper can assign frequency channels outside the frequency bandwidth of to the LAN and maintain the cable television signals as received. The LAN controller can create additional communications channels by using Time Division Multiple Access protocols to assign time slots to each of the peripheral devices that are coupled to the LAN.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.