US 7,460,523 B2Granted

Client-server architecture for the delivery of broadband services

OwnerBradley Richard Ree, Robert Paul Basil +1inventors

InventorsBradley Richard Ree, Robert Paul Basil, Jeffery Arnold Hales

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Abstract

A distributed processing system including one or more modems connected to a server through a network, such as a cable network or other similar network for transporting data and/or voice. The processing applied to information to be transported to a public network, such as the Internet, is performed by the server rather than the modem. Voice services are provided to telephone equipment connected to a modem by digitizing the voice signals and forwarding the signals as packets to the server. The application of a network stack to the voice packets is performed by the server prior to sending the packets over the public network. Likewise, voice packets received from the public network include network stack formatting. The server removes this formatting prior to sending the voice packets to the modem. This significantly reduces the complexity and cost of the modems.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A modem for use in a network, the modem being suited for interfacing to telephone subscriber equipment and providing voice functionality, the modem comprising:

a subscriber line interface for interfacing to the telephone subscriber equipment;
an encoder/decoder coupled to the subscriber line interface;
a voice interface circuit coupled to the encoder/decoder;
a communication network interface coupled to the voice interface circuit;
the voice interface circuit being operable to receive digital signals representative of audio signals generated by the telephone subscriber equipment, format the digital signals into voice packets, and provide the voice packets to the communication network interface;
the voice interface circuit being operable to receive voice packets representative of audio signals from the communication network interface, remove formatting from the voice packets to create digital signals and provide the digital signals to the encoder/decoder;
the communication network interface operable to transmit and receive voice packets over the communication network without applying and removing network stack formatting;
whereby the modem does not require a network stack;
the modem further comprising a local network interface coupled to the communication network interface, and wherein the communication network interface is operable to:
transmit and receive data packets over the communication network without the application and removal of applying and removing network stack formatting;
provide data packets received from the communication network to the local network interface;
and
provide data packets received from the local network interface to the communication network.

10 more elements

A server for providing voice functionality over a packet network, the server comprising:

a communication network interface'
a packet network interrace;
a network stack;
and
the server being operable to:
receive and transmit voice packets from and to a plurality of modems through a communication network at the communication network interface;
receive and transmit networked stacked voice packets from and to a plurality of destinations through a packet network at the packet network interface;
for voice packets received from a modem, applying a network stack to the voice packet prior to transmitting the networked stacked voice packet to a destination on the packet network;
and
for network stacked voice packets received from the packet network, removing the network stack information prior to transmitting the voice packet to a modem;
wherein the voice packets and data packets include a packet type and the server is further operable to:
identify the packet type comprising a voice packet type and a data packet type;
operate on the packet in accordance with the packet type;
and
give an increased priority to processing voice packets over data packets.

12 more elements

In a cable network comprising a plurality of cable modems connected to a server through the cable network, a method for distributing the processing required to deliver for delivery of services to end user devices, the method comprising:

a modem receiving a service request from an end user device interfaced to a modem;
formatting the service request into one or more packets;
assigning a packet type to the one or more packets;
and
delivering the one or more packets to a server over the cable network;
the server receiving the one or more packets from the modem;
identifying the packet type of the one or more packets;
and if the packet is a voice packet, applying a network stack to the voice packet;
and delivering the networked stacked voice packet to a destination over a packet network;
wherein the modem interfaces to a plurality of telephone subscriber equipment, and the modem assigning a packet type further comprises assigning a unique voice packet type to digitized voice signals from each of the plurality of telephone subscriber equipment and a unique voice control packet type to packets indicating that each telephone subscriber equipment is offhook and onhook.

7 more elements

A system for distributing the processing for providing services to end user devices attached to a cable network through a modem, the system comprising:

a modem;
and
a server in communication with the modem over a cable network;
the modem comprising:
a subscriber line interface for interfacing to telephone subscriber equipment;
an encoder/decoder coupled to the subscriber line interface;
a voice interface circuit coupled to the encoder/decoder;
a modem cable network interface coupled to the voice interface circuit;
the voice interface circuit being operable to receive digital signals representative of audio signals generated by the telephone subscriber equipment format the digital signals into voice packets, and provide the voice packets to the modem cable network interface;
the voice interface circuit being operable to receive voice packets representative of audio signals from the modem cable network interface, remove formatting from the voice packets to create digital signals and provide the digital signals to the encoder/decoder;
the modem cable network interface operable to transmit and receive voice packets over the cable network without the application and removal of network stack formatting;
and
a server for providing voice functionality over a packet network, the server comprising:
a server cable network interface;
a packet network interface;
a network stack;
and
the server being operable to:
receive and transmit voice packets from and to the modem through the cable network at the server cable network interface;
receive and transmit networked stacked voice packets from and to a plurality of destinations through a packet network at the packet network interface;
wherein the voice packets and data packets include a packet type and the server is further operable to:
identify the packet type comprising a voice packet type and a data packet type;
operate on the packet in accordance with the packet type;
and
give an increased priority to processing voice packets over data packets.

22 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.