Wideband upstream protocol

• US 20050265376A1
• Filed: 05/23/2005
• Published: 12/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chapman, John T., Bernstein, Alon Shlomo
• Granted Patent: US 7,532,627 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/461
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2801 Broadband local area networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/50 Queue scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/52 by attributing bandwidth to queues
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6215 Individual queue per QOS, rate or priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/90 Buffering arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/901 using storage descriptor, e.g. read or write pointers

Abstract

Some embodiments of the present invention may include a method to stream packets into a queue for an upstream transmission, send multiple requests for upstream bandwidth to transmit data from the queue and receiving multiple grants to transmit data, and transmit data from the queue to the upstream as grants are received. Another embodiment may provide a network comprising a cable modem termination system (CMTS), and a cable modem wherein the cable modem may transmit data to the CMTS with a streaming protocol that sends multiple requests for upstream bandwidth to transmit data and receives multiple grants to transmit data, and transmits data to the CMTS as grants are received.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

streaming packets into a queue for an upstream cable transmission;

sending multiple requests for upstream bandwidth and receiving multiple grants to transmit data; and

transmitting data from the queue to the upstream as grants are received.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the requests are sent on separate QAMs.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the requests are sent on separate Service Identifiers (SIDs) within a QAM.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising receiving grants on separate SIDs within a QAM.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising hierarchical queueing with separate quality of service for each SID resource and an aggregate quality of service across a plurality of SIDs.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein multiple outstanding requests are sent on a single Service Identifier (SID).

7. An apparatus comprising:

at least one request grant state machine to launch requests to transmit data to a cable modem termination station and receive grants to transmit data; and

a packet streaming queue state machine to send packet streaming queue requests to the request grant state machine, wherein the packet streaming queue requests are managed separately from the requests to allow data in the packet streaming queue to be parsed in arbitrary data sizes.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising multiple packet streaming queues to stripe data across multiple service flows.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the service flows may be combined with multiple QAMs to allow multiple packet streaming queue requests to be outstanding.

10. An apparatus comprising:

a means for streaming packets into a queue for an upstream cable transmission;

a means for sending multiple requests for upstream bandwidth to transmit data from the queue and receiving multiple grants to transmit data; and

a means for transmitting data from the queue to the upstream as grants are received.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the requests are sent on separate QAMs.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the requests are sent on separate Service Identifiers (SIDs) within a QAM.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising a means to receive grants on separate SIDs within a QAM.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising means for hierarchical queueing with separate quality of service for each SID resource and an aggregate quality of service across a plurality of SIDs.

15. A network comprising:

a cable modem termination system (CMTS); and

a cable modem in communication with the cable modem termination system, the cable modem to transmit data to the CMTS with a streaming protocol that sends multiple requests for upstream bandwidth to transmit data and receives multiple grants to transmit data, and transmits data to the CMTS as grants are received.

16. The network of claim 15 wherein the requests are sent on separate QAMs.

17. The network of claim 15 wherein the requests are sent on separate Service Identifiers (SIDs) within a QAM.

18. The network of claim 17 further comprising circuitry to receive grants on separate SIDs within a QAM.

19. The network of claim 18 wherein the circuitry can hierarchically queue data with separate quality of service for each SID resource and an aggregate quality of service across a plurality of SIDs.

20. A method comprising:

receiving multiple outstanding requests from a cable modem for upstream bandwidth;

sending multiple grants for bandwidth to a cable modem; and

receiving and assembling the data from the cable modem.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the requests are received on separate QAMs.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the requests are received on separate Service Identifiers (SIDs) within a QAM.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising sending grants on separate SIDs within a QAM.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising hierarchical queueing with separate quality of service for each SID resource and an aggregate quality of service across a plurality of SIDs.

25. An apparatus comprising:

a port to receive multiple outstanding requests from a cable modem for upstream bandwidth to transmit data;

a port to send multiple grants to a cable modem to transmit the data; and

a processor to communicate with the port, the processor to receive and assemble the data from the cable modem.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, further comprising the processor to assemble striped data across multiple service flows.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein service flows may be combined with multiple QAMs to allow multiple requests to be outstanding.

28. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving multiple outstanding requests for upstream bandwidth;

means for sending multiple grants for upstream bandwidth; and

means for receiving data from a remote device in response to the grants for upstream bandwidth.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, the means for receiving multiple outstanding requests further comprising means for receiving the requests on separate QAMs.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, the means for receiving multiple outstanding requests further comprising means for receiving the requests on separate Service Identifiers (SIDs) within a QAM.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, the means for sending multiple grants for upstream bandwidth further comprising means for sending grants on separate SIDs within a QAM.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, the means for sending multiple grants for upstream bandwidth further comprising hierarchical queueing with separate quality of service for each SID resource and an aggregate quality of service across a plurality of SIDs.

33. The apparatus of claim 28, the means for receiving multiple outstanding requests comprising means for receiving the multiple outstanding requests on a single Service Identifier (SID).