Physical layer transmitter for use in a broadband local area network

Abstract

A physical layer transmitter that communicates between nodes in a broadband cable network by transmitting and receiving packets containing data and control information. Packets are constructed by the physical layer transmitter and transmitted to one or more receiving nodes that are capable of processing the packets. Packets are directed to specific nodes utilizing link layer control data. The packets may also contain control information that may include formatting, encoding and modulation parameters that are capable of being processed by the appropriate receiving nodes. The physical layer transmitter allows node-to-node communication within a broadband cable network and each node in the network is capable of communicating with every other node in the network.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.