Time and frequency allocation for concurrent communications on a shared coaxial cable

• US 10,142,256 B2
• Filed: 07/08/2016
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Entropic Communications, LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Maxlinear Incorporated
• Inventors: Ramesh, Sridhar, Ling, Curtis, Gallagher, Timothy
• Primary Examiner(s): La, Phong
• Application Number:
  US15/205,962
• Publication Number:
  US 20170012894A1
• Time in Patent Office: 872 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/72 using reservation actions during connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/822 Collecting or measuring resource availability data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/367 Power values between minimum and maximum limits, e.g. dynamic range

Abstract

Circuitry for use in a network controller comprises a processor and memory. The network controller is operable to control communications in a network comprising a plurality of devices connected via a shared coaxial cable. The circuitry is operable to maintain one or more data structures that hold per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters and per-sender-receiver-pair bandwidth grant status. The circuitry is operable to, in response to receipt of a reservation request on the shared coaxial cable, decide which one or more of a plurality of subbands and which one or more of a plurality timeslots to reserve for the transmission based, at least in part, on the per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters and the per-sender-receiver-pair bandwidth grant status in the one or more data structures. The circuitry is operable to generate a reservation grant message that indicates the decided one or more subbands and the decided one or more timeslots.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

circuitry comprising a processor and memory for use in a controller of a network comprising a plurality of devices connected via a shared coaxial cable, wherein;

the circuitry is operable to maintain one or more data structures that hold, for each sender-receiver pair of the plurality of devices that are directly connected to each other via the shared coaxial cable, at least;

one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters other than device identity parameters, wherein the one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise;

a respective list of spectral characteristics for a plurality of frequencies; and

link parameters used for previous communications on the shared coaxial cable; and

per-sender-receiver-pair bandwidth grant status;

the circuitry is operable to, in response to receipt of a reservation request on the shared coaxial cable, decide which one or more of a plurality of subbands and which one or more of a plurality timeslots to reserve for a transmission based, at least in part, on the per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters and the per-sender-receiver-pair bandwidth grant status in the one or more data structures; and

generate a reservation grant message that indicates the decided one or more subbands and the decided one or more timeslots.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise a minimum transmit power parameter.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor and memory are operable to determine the one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters based, at least in part, on probes communicated over the shared coaxial cable between said each sender-receiver pair of the plurality of devices that are directly connected to each other via the shared coaxial cable.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the per-sender-receiver-pair bandwidth grant status comprises one of a plurality of status indicators comprising:

a first status indicator that indicates no reservation requested is pending or granted;

a second status indicator that indicates a reservation request is pending; and

a third status indicator that indicates a reserved one or more subbands and a reserved one or more timeslots have been granted.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise link parameters, other than link scheduling information, to be used for future communications on the shared coaxial cable.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry comprises a transceiver operable to:

measure a performance metric on the shared coaxial cable; and

make the measured performance metric available to the processor.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the processor is operable to update the one or more data structures based, at least in part, on the measured performance metric.

8. A method comprising:

receiving, by circuitry in a network controller of a network comprising a plurality of devices connected via a shared coaxial cable, a reservation request on the shared coaxial cable;

maintaining, by the circuitry, one or more data structures stored in memory, wherein the one or more data structures hold, for each sender-receiver pair of the plurality of devices that are directly connected to each other via the shared coaxial cable, at least;

one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters other than device identity parameters, wherein the one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise;

a respective list of spectral characteristics for a plurality of frequencies; and

link parameters used for previous communications on the shared coaxial cable; and

per-sender-receiver-pair bandwidth grant status;

deciding, by the circuitry, which one or more of a plurality of subbands and which one or more of a plurality timeslots to reserve for a transmission based, at least in part, on the per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters and the per-sender-receiver-pair bandwidth grant status in the one or more data structures; and

generating, by the circuitry, a reservation grant message that indicates the decided one or more subbands and the decided one or more timeslots.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise a minimum transmit power parameter.

10. The method of claim 8, comprising determining, by the circuitry, the one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters based, at least in part, on probes communicated over the shared coaxial cable between said each sender-receiver pair of the plurality of devices that are directly connected to each other via the shared coaxial cable.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the per-sender-receiver-pair bandwidth grant status comprises one of a plurality of status indicators comprising:

a first status indicator that indicates no reservation requested is pending or granted;

a second status indicator that indicates a reservation request is pending; and

a third status indicator that indicates a reserved one or more subbands and a reserved one or more timeslots have been granted.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise link parameters, other than link scheduling information, to be used for future communications on the shared coaxial cable.

13. The method of claim 8, comprising:

measuring by a transceiver of the circuitry, a performance metric on the shared coaxial cable; and

making the measured performance metric available to a processor of the circuitry.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising updating, by the processor, the one or more data structures based, at least in part, on the measured performance metric.