Method and apparatus for assigning communication nodes to CMTS cards

• US 20080159745A1
• Filed: 02/26/2008
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Segal, Moshe
• Granted Patent: US 7,552,462 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 398/115
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2801 Broadband local area networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1215 where a cable TV network is used as an access to the PSTN/ISDN

Abstract

A method and apparatus for assigning nodes to CMTS cards in a communication system. In order to avoid bottlenecks and to efficiently use resources of the cards in a hybrid fiber-coax architecture, the nodes are assigned to the cards using linear programming techniques so as to distribute the traffic load and minimize the unused capacity of each card. The number of households, nodes and cards are determined and used to establish a model which is then implemented using linear programming techniques to determine an optimal solution.

Claims

1. A method of connecting a plurality of nodes to a plurality of cards in a communication system, the method comprising:

providing service to customers through cables connected to said nodes;

determining a minimum number of said cards for controlling said service connections to said nodes by contemporaneously evaluating the whole communication system for infrastructural arrangement inclusive of all cards and all nodes;

modeling minimum margins for said cards using linear relationships among customer distribution data and a set of constraint conditions for said cards; and

mathematically solving the model using linear, integer, and binary programming techniques, to determine a solution, whereby the number of customers served by each said card is similar for a simultaneous assignment of all of said nodes to all of said cards.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the number of said cards needed is determined to be at least the total number of customers served divided by the maximum number of customers allowed to be served by a card.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said set of constraints includes at least one of:

every node must be assigned to some card;

a card serves a maximum number of nodes;

a card serves a maximum number of customers; and

all cards have a minimum margin of customers.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said service provided to said customers is broadband service including video, data and telephony.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said customers are provided with a broadband telephony interface which is connected to one of said nodes by a coaxial cable, said node being connected to said card by a fiber optic cable.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the communication system is a voice-over-IP system providing telephony, data and video services to said customer using a hybrid fiber optic-coaxial cable architecture.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein said linear integer and binary programming techniques are supplemented by a heuristic algorithm.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein said solution includes finding a connection pattern that maximizes said minimum margin among all said cards.

7. A communication apparatus comprising:

a plurality of interface boxes for providing a plurality of respective customers with service from at least one service provider;

a plurality of coaxial cables connected to said boxes;

a plurality of nodes connected to said coaxial cables;

a plurality of fiber optic cables connected to said nodes; and

a plurality of cards connected to said fiber optic cables,

all of said nodes being assigned to all of said cards in an all-inclusive contemporaneous evaluation so as to allocate traffic as evenly as possible among said cards.

8. The communication apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said interface boxes are broadband telephony interface boxes providing connections to telephone, data and video services.

9. The communication apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the assignment of said nodes to said cards is determined by linear relationships having a set of constraints, including at least one of:

that every node must be assigned to some card;

that a card serves at most a maximum number of nodes;

that a card serves a maximum number of customers; and

that a card has a minimum margin of customers.

12-20. -20. (canceled)