Back to results
US 7,443,873 B1Granted
Virtual upstream channel provisioning and utilization in broadband communication systems
AssigneeJuniper Networks, Inc.
InventorNurettin Burcak Beser
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for provisioning virtual upstream channels within one physical upstream channel. Each virtual upstream channel is assigned to a group of cable modems that share certain operational parameters. New virtual upstream channels can be provisioned as needed and existing virtual upstream channels can be deleted, as needed.
Claims21
A method of partitioning groups of cable modems in a broadband communications system, comprising:
- segregating a first physical upstream channel, that transmits data through a cable segment connected to a plurality of groups of cable modems, into a plurality of virtual upstream channels;
- assigning each group of cable modems to one of said virtual upstream channels, wherein each group of cable modems is initially assigned a unique upstream channel identifier, wherein the initially assigned unique upstream channel identifier is determined based upon a MAC address initially received from a cable modem and a port that received the MAC address;
- and
- provisioning said communications system by sending the initially assigned unique upstream channel identifier to each of the cable modems in the assigned group of cable modems within a MAC management message, wherein each cable modem can utilize their initially assigned virtual upstream channel to transmit data thereon.
1 more element
A broadband communications system for transmitting information, comprising:
- a cable modem termination system capable of supporting a plurality of physical upstream channels and physical downstream channels in said communications system;
- a plurality of groups of cable modems coupled to said cable modem termination system, each of said groups of cable modems sharing the same physical upstream channel, said same physical upstream channel configured by said cable modem termination system to be segregated into a plurality of virtual upstream channels, each of said groups of cable modems exclusively utilizing one said virtual upstream channels;
- and
- a database coupled to said cable modem termination system, said database configured to map each group of cable modems to a unique virtual upstream channel identifier, wherein the database initially maps a unique upstream channel identifier to a cable modem based upon a MAC address initially received from the cable modem and a port that received the MAC address, wherein said cable modem termination system sends the unique virtual upstream channel identifier to each cable modem in a group of cable modems within a MAC management message.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.