Wideband cable downstream protocol

• US 20050265392A1
• Filed: 05/24/2005
• 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 S., Slane, Albert A., Fox, David B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,149,833 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/474
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6118 involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6168 involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17309 Transmission or handling of upstream communications

Abstract

A network device has a communications port to provide communication with a data network and a cable port to provide communication with a cable network across multiple channels. The network device also has a processor to receive data from the data network, format the data into packets for transmission across the multiple channels and provide an identifier to allow the packets to be reconstructed.

Claims

1. A network device, comprising:

a communications port to provide communication with a data network;

a cable port to provide communication with a cable network across multiple channels; and

a processor to;

receive data from the data network;

format the data into packets for transmission across the multiple channels; and

provide an identifier to allow the packets to be reconstructed.

2. The network device of claim 1, the network device comprising a wideband cable termination server.

3. The network device of claim 1, the network device comprising a wideband-narrowband cable termination server.

4. The network device of claim 1, the network device residing at a cable origination point.

5. The network device of claim 1, the network device residing at a hub.

6. The network device of claim 1, the identifier further comprising a wideband header.

7. The network device of claim 1, the wideband header further comprising two bytes.

8. The network device of claim 7, the processor to provide an identifier further comprising a processor to provide an MPEG sequence number.

9. The network device of claim 1, the processor to provide an identifier further comprising a processor to provide a multilink extended header.

10. The network device of claim 1, the network device further comprising a hierarchical scheduling function.

11. The network device of claim 1, the network device further comprising a shortest queue scheduling function.

12. A method of transmitting wideband cable traffic, comprising:

receiving data traffic across a data network interface;

converting the data traffic into cable transport segments;

providing a sequence identifier for each segment to allow the sequence of the transport segments to be reconstructed; and

transmitting the transport segments and sequence identifiers across a wideband channel.

13. The method of claim 12, receiving data traffic further comprising receiving data traffic as Ethernet frames.

14. The method of claim 12, converting the data traffic to transport segments further comprising converting the data traffic to Moving Pictures Experts Group-Transport Stream packets.

15. The method of claim 14, converting the datagrams MPEG-TS packets further comprising assigning a wideband Program Identifier to the MPEG-TS packets.

16. The method of claim 12, providing a sequence identifier for each packet further comprising providing a wideband header for each packet.

17. The method of claim 16, providing a wideband header for each packet further comprising providing a wideband header including an MPEG sequence number for the packet.

18. The method of claim 12, providing a sequence identifier further comprising providing a multilink extended header including a sequence number for the packet.

19. The method of claim 12, transmitting the transport segments further comprising transmitting the transport segments across multiple quadrature amplitude modulation carriers assigned to the wideband channel.

20. A network device, comprising:

means for receiving data traffic across a cable interface;

means for converting the data traffic into transport segments;

means for providing a sequence identifier for each packet to allow the sequence of the transport segments to be reconstructed; and

means for transmitting the transport segments and sequence identifiers across a wideband channel.

21. The device of claim 20, the means for receiving data traffic further comprising means for receiving data traffic as Ethernet frames.

22. The device of claim 20, the means for converting the data traffic to transport segments further comprising means for converting the data traffic to Moving Pictures Experts Group-Transport Stream packets.

23. The device of claim 20, the means for converting the data traffic to transport segments further comprising means for converting the data traffic into multilink packets for transport.

24. The device of claim 20, the means for providing a sequence identifier for each packet further comprising means for providing a wideband header for each packet.

25. The device of claim 20, the means for providing a sequence identifier for each packet further comprising means for providing an extended multilink header for each packet.

26. The device of claim 20, the means for transmitting the transport segments further comprising means for transmitting the transport segments across multiple quadrature amplitude modulation carriers assigned to the wideband channel.

27. An article of machine-readable media containing instructions that, when executed, cause the machine to:

receive data traffic across a cable interface;

convert the data traffic into transport segments;

provide a sequence identifier for each packet to allow the sequence of the transport segments to be reconstructed; and

transmit the transport segments and sequence identifiers across a wideband channel.

28. The article of claim 27 containing the instructions that, when executed, cause the machine to convert data traffic further contain instructions that cause the machine to convert data traffic to Moving Pictures Experts Group-Transport Stream packets.

29. The article of claim 27 containing the instructions that, when executed, cause the machine to convert data traffic further contain instructions that cause the machine to convert data traffic to multilink packets.

30. The article of claim 27 containing the instructions that cause the machine to provide a sequence identifier further contain instructions that cause the machine to provide a multilink extended header for each packet.

31. The article of claim 27 containing the instructions that cause the machine to provide a sequence identifier further contain instructions that cause the machine to provide a wideband header for each packet.

32. The article of claim 27 containing the instructions that cause the machine to transmit the transport segments further contain instructions that cause the machine to transmit the transport segments across multiple quadrature amplitude modulation carriers assigned to the wideband channel.