Back to results
US 9,313,095 B2Granted
Modular headend architecture with downstream multicast
AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc.
InventorsJohn T. Chapman, Sangeeta Ramakrishnan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Techniques are provided for enabling multicast traffic for a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) Modular Headend Architecture (MHA) system. The techniques allow a single modular CMTS core Media Access Control (MAC) domain to service a plurality of physical layer devices. When combined with an independent control plane, Downstream External physical layer (PHY) Interface (DEPI), and Upstream External physical layer (PHY) Interface (UEPI), a downstream PHY device becomes a completely independent and scalable network element.
Claims21
A method comprising:
- at a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) including multiple media access control (MAC) layers:
- establishing an individual control plane tunnel between each MAC layer and a corresponding one of multiple physical (PHY) layer devices;
- sending via respective ones of the control plane tunnels control plane messages from the MAC layers to the PHY layer devices, the messages including multicast address information to enable individual ones of the PHY layer devices to selectively subscribe to multicast Downstream External PHY Interface (DEPI) traffic, each control plane message formatted as an Ethernet packet including an Internet Protocol (IP) header having source and destination IP addresses for the MAC and the PHY layers of the respective control tunnel, and a layer 2 tunneling protocol (L2TP) Attribute Value Pair (AVP) to identify an IP multicast group address to which the PHY layer devices belong and an IP multicast source address corresponding to the respective MAC layer;
- receiving via the control plane tunnels acknowledgement messages from the PHY layer devices at the MAC layers;
- establishing, at each MAC layer, an individual data plane multicast session separate from the control plane tunnels and that spans across the corresponding PHY layer device and other ones of the PHY layer devices from which the acknowledgement messages were received;
- and
- multicasting DEPI traffic from the MAC layers to the PHY layer devices via the multicast sessions.
4 more elements
A system comprising:
- a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) including memory and a controller configured to implement multiple media access control (MAC) layers configured to:
- establish an individual control plane tunnel between each MAC layer and a corresponding one of multiple physical (PHY) layer devices;
- send via respective ones of the control plane tunnels control plane messages from the MAC layers to the PHY layer devices, the messages including multicast address information to enable individual ones of the PHY layer devices to selectively subscribe to multicast Downstream External PHY Interface (DEPI) traffic, each control plane message formatted as an Ethernet packet including an Internet Protocol (IP) header having source and destination IP addresses for the MAC and the PHY layers of the respective control tunnel, and a layer 2 tunneling protocol (L2TP) Attribute Value Pair (AVP) to identify an IP multicast group address to which the PHY layer devices belong and an IP multicast source address corresponding to the respective MAC layer;
- receive via the control plane tunnels acknowledgement messages from the PHY layer devices at the MAC layers;
- establish, at each MAC layer, an individual data plane multicast session separate from the control plane tunnels and that spans across the corresponding PHY layer device and other ones of the PHY layer devices from which the acknowledgement messages were received;
- and
- multicast DEPI traffic from the MAC layers to the PHY layer devices via the multicast sessions.
4 more elements
One or more non-transitory computer readable media encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor of a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) including multiple media access control (MAC) layers, cause the processor to:
- establish an individual control plane tunnel between each MAC layer and a corresponding one of multiple physical (PHY) layer devices;
- send via the control plane tunnels control plane messages from the MAC layers to the PHY layer devices, the messages including multicast address information to enable individual ones of the PHY layer devices to selectively subscribe to multicast Downstream External PHY Interface (DEPI) traffic, each control plane message formatted as an Ethernet packet including an Internet Protocol (IP) header having source and destination IP addresses for the MAC and the PHY layers of the respective control tunnel, and a layer 2 tunneling protocol (L2TP) Attribute Value Pair (AVP) to identify an IP multicast group address to which the PHY layer devices belong and an IP multicast source address corresponding to the respective MAC layer;
- receive via respective ones of the control plane tunnels acknowledgement messages from the PHY layer devices at the MAC layers;
- establish, at each MAC layer, an individual data plane multicast session separate from the control plane tunnels and that spans across the corresponding PHY layer device and other ones of the PHY layer devices from which the acknowledgement messages were received;
- and
- multicast DEPI traffic from the MAC layers to the PHY layer devices via the multicast sessions.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.