CABLE TV NETWORK BROADBAND ACCESS SYSTEM WITH DISTRIBUTED DEPLOYMENT AND CENTRALIZED CONTROL

• US 20150046966A1
• Filed: 03/12/2013
• Published: 02/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Academy of Broadcast Planning,SARFT, Cisco Systems, Inc., Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.), Shenzhen Topway Video Communication Co.Ltd., Topvision Technologies Co.Ltd., ZTE Corporation
• Original Assignee: Academy of Broadcast Planning,SARFT, Cisco Systems, Inc., Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.), Shenzhen Topway Video Communication Co.Ltd., Topvision Technologies Co.Ltd., ZTE Corporation
• Inventors: Chapman, John, Sheng, Zhifan, Xu, Jiangshan, Qin, Yanlong, Ren, Yanming, Ouyang, Shijie, Sun, Lili, Chen, Biduo, Wu, Guangsheng, Li, Zhenwei
• Granted Patent: US 9,832,499 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/116
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5012 determining service availability, e.g. which services are available at a certain point in time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5022 by giving priorities, e.g. assigning classes of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/509 wherein the managed service relates to media content delivery, e.g. audio, video or TV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2221 being a cable television head-end CATV in broadcast systems H04H20/78
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/238 Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. adapting the transmission rate of a video stream to network bandwidth; Processing of multiplex streams hybrid fiber coaxial [HFC] networks for downstream channel allocation for video distribution H04L12/2801; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25 Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6118 involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem

Abstract

The present invention provides a cable TV broadband access system with distributed deployment and centralized control, which comprises: a system terminal end, configured to receive and transmit uplink and downlink service data, and receive and respond to access control data and management control data; a system access end, configured to implement data format transformation and data forwarding or processing for said uplink and downlink service data, said access control data and said management control data of said system terminal end, and transmit, receive and respond to management control data of said system access end; a system head end, configured to implement management control and access control for said system access end and said system terminal end, and process, converge and forward said uplink and downlink service data. Said system uses a system architecture with three-stage distributed deployment and centralized control comprising a system terminal end, a system access end and a system head end, and it can not only realize the end-to-end control management and QoS priority assurance of the broadband data service, but can also realize easy network deployment, low comprehensive cost and high management efficiency.

Claims

1. A cable TV network broadband access system with distributed deployment and centralized control, characterized in that, comprising:

a system terminal end, configured to receive and transmit uplink and downlink service data, and receive and respond to access control data and management control data;

a system access end, configured to implement data format transformation and data forwarding or processing for said uplink and downlink service data, said access control data and said management control data of said system terminal end, and transmit, receive and respond to management control data of the system access end;

a system head end, configured to implement management control and access control for said system access end and said system terminal end, and to process, converge and forward said uplink and downlink service data.

2. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that said system access end is capable of configuring access control and management control functions of said system terminal end.

3. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that said system head end is capable of configuring management control functions of the system access end, and access control and management control functions of said system terminal end.

4. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that said system head end may manage and control one type of system access end, or manage and control many different types of system access ends simultaneously.

5. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that said system head end may intelligently adapt to and support the data transmission protocol between said system terminal end and said system access end.

6. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the data transmission protocol between said system head end and said system access end is configurable, and said data transmission protocol may comprise IP protocol, Ethernet protocol, EPON protocol, GPON protocol, NGPON protocol, 10GEPON protocol, WDM-PON protocol and private protocol.

7. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the transmission media between said system head end and said system access end includes optical fiber, coaxial cable or the combination thereof.

8. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the data transmission protocol between said system access end and said system terminal end may be constant or configurable, and said data transmission protocol may include C-DOCSIS protocol, DOCSIS protocol, HiNOC protocol, HomePlugAV protocol and other open or private protocol based on the cable TV Cable network.

9. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the transmission media between said system access end and said system terminal end includes optical fiber, coaxial cable or the combination thereof.

10. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that said system comprises multiple said system terminal ends, multiple said system access ends and multiple said system head ends.

11. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that:

said system access end comprises;

a data de-encapsulation and encapsulation subsystem, configured to de-encapsulate and encapsulate the data packets of said uplink and downlink service data, said access control data and management control data of said system terminal end, and transmit, receive and respond to the management control data of the system access end;

a physical frame generation subsystem, configured to implement frame structure processing, physical layer encapsulating, and physical signal receiving and transmitting for said uplink and downlink service data, said access control data and said management control data of said system terminal end; and

said system head end comprises;

a converging-and-forwarding subsystem, configured to converge, route and forward the uplink and downlink service data;

a classifying-and-mapping subsystem, configured to implement the classification and mapping of data streams for said uplink and downlink service data to perform the priority control of said service data;

a service configuration subsystem, configured to implement registration and configuration for said system access end and said system terminal end;

a network management subsystem, configured to implement management configuration and state monitoring for said system head end, said system access end, said system terminal end and all the related devices within the network, and to implement configuration and management of service priorities and service types for the processing of said uplink and downlink service data inside said system head end and said system access end;

a central control subsystem, configured to implement configuration and management for all subsystems in said system head end, and to receive, process and transmit said management control data of said system terminal end and said system access end, and to implement data format transformation and data forwarding for the management configuration and state monitoring data among the network management subsystems and the system access end and the system terminal end, and data format transformation and data forwarding for the configuration data related to service priorities and service types among said network management subsystem and other subsystems, said system access end and said system terminal end;

an access control subsystem, configured to implement access control of said system access end and said system terminal end device to said system head end.

12. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that:

said system access end comprises;

a physical frame generation subsystem, configured to implement frame structure processing, physical layer encapsulating, and physical signal receiving and transmitting for said uplink and downlink service data, said access control data and said management control data of said system terminal end;

said system head end comprises;

a converging-and-forwarding subsystem configured to converge, route and forward said uplink and downlink service data;

a classifying-and-mapping subsystem configured to implement the classification and mapping of data streams for said uplink and downlink service data, and the priority control of said service data;

a service configuration subsystem, configured to implement registration and configuration for said system access end and said system terminal end;

a network management subsystem, configured to implement management configuration and state monitoring for said system head end, said system access end, said system terminal end and all the related devices within the network, and to implement configuration and management of service priorities and service types for the processing of said uplink and downlink service data inside said system head end and said system access end;

a central control subsystem, configured to implement configuration and management for all subsystems in said system head end, and to receive, process and transmit said management control data of said system terminal end and said system access end, and to implement data format transformation and data forwarding for the management configuration and state monitoring data between said network management subsystem and said system access end or said system terminal end, and to implement data format transformation and data forwarding for the configuration data associated with service priorities and service types among said network management subsystem and other subsystems, said system access end and said system terminal end;

an access control subsystem, configured to implement access control of said system access end and said system terminal end device to the system head end;

a data de-encapsulation and encapsulation subsystem, configured to de-encapsulate and encapsulate the data packets of said uplink and downlink service data, said access control data and said management control data of said system terminal end, and to transmit, receive and respond to said management control data of said system access end.

13. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that:

said system terminal end is configured to, in an uplink direction, transmit service data, access control data and management control data to a coaxial cable media converter (CMC) device; and

, in a downlink direction, receive service data, access control data and management control data;

said system access end comprises the CMC device, and said CMC device comprises;

a radio frequency interface module, configured to, in an uplink direction, receive the service data transmitted by said system terminal end, analyze the C-DOCSIS frames of said service data, implement VLAN information mapping for the frame data, insert a CDT tag to the Ethernet frame headers of said service data and transmit the service data with the inserted CDT tag to a classifying-and-forwarding module, and then transmit the encapsulated C-DOCSIS management message (CDMM) to a system control module; and

configured to, in a downlink direction, receive the service data transmitted by said classifying-and-forwarding module, identify the system terminal end and the service stream to which the service data belongs according to said CDT tag, and implement traffic shaping and scheduling for said service data according to the identified terminal end and service stream, and then transmit said service data to said system terminal end;

said system head end comprises;

a configuration system, configured to provide service opening and device configuration service for said system terminal end, and implement the generating and distributing of configuration files, and software upgrade of said system terminal end;

a network management system, configured to implement configuration, maintenance and monitoring of the network devices;

a convergence device, comprising;

a classifying-and-forwarding module, configured to, in an uplink direction, map the CDT tag to the service label supported by the convergence network and transmit it to the convergence network; and

, in a downlink direction, implement VLAN TAG information stripping for the Ethernet frames of the service data transmitted by the convergence network, and implement data stream characteristic matching for said frames, classify the frames according to the matched data stream characteristics, insert a CDT tag to the Ethernet frame headers of the service data for identifying a particular service stream of a particular terminal end, and transmit said service data with the inserted CDT tag to the radio frequency forwarding module;

a system control module, configured to configure and manage the radio frequency interface module and the classifying-and-forwarding module, and transmit a response frame responsive to the encapsulated C-DOCSIS management message (CDMM) transmitted by said radio frequency interface module.

14. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that:

said system terminal end is configured to, in an uplink direction, transmit service data, access control data and management control data to a coaxial cable media converter (CMC) device; and

, in a downlink direction, receive service data, access control data and management control data;

said system access end comprises the CMC device, and said CMC device comprising;

a system control module, configured to configure and manage the radio frequency interface module and the classifying-and-forwarding module, and transmit a response frame responsive to the encapsulated C-DOCSIS management message (CDMM) transmitted by said radio frequency interface module;

a classifying-and-forwarding module, configured to, in an uplink direction, map a CDT tag to the service label supported by the convergence network and transmit it to the convergence network; and

configured to, in a downlink direction, implement VLAN TAG information stripping for the Ethernet frames of the service data transmitted by the convergence network, implement data stream characteristic matching for said frames, classify the frames according to the matched data stream characteristics, insert a CDT tag to the Ethernet frame headers of the service data for identifying a particular service stream of a particular system terminal end, and transmit said service data with the inserted CDT tag to the radio frequency forwarding module;

a radio frequency interface module, configured to, in an uplink direction, receive said service data transmitted by said system terminal end, analyze the C-DOCSIS frames of said service data, implement VLAN information mapping for the frame data, insert a CDT tag to the Ethernet frame headers of said service data and transmit the service data with the inserted CDT tag to the classifying-and-forwarding module, and then transmit the encapsulated CDMM to the system control module; and

configured to, in a downlink direction, receive said service data transmitted by said classifying-and-forwarding module, identify the system terminal end and the service stream to which said service data belongs according to said CDT tag, implement traffic shaping and scheduling for said service data according to the identified terminal and service stream, and then transmit said service data to said system terminal end;

said system head end comprises;

a configuration system, configured to provide service opening and device configuration service for said system terminal end, implement the generating and distributing of configuration files, and software upgrade of said system terminal end;

a network management system, configured to implement configuration, maintenance and monitoring of the network devices;

a converging-and-forwarding device, configured to complete access to the metropolitan area network.

15. The system according to claim 13, characterized in that:

said CDT label includes a CoS field and a VID field, wherein said CoS field is a service stream reference identifier and said VID field is a terminal end identifier, and said CoS field in combination with said CoS field specifies a particular system terminal end and a particular service stream.

16. The system according to claim 13, characterized in that:

said CDMM message is configured to exchange configuration, state and management information between said system control module and said radio frequency interface module, including channel and parameter configuration, state and statistic of transmission and reception, load balancing, cable modem state, cable modem registration information, dynamic service stream operation, multicast and security information.

17. The system according to claim 13, characterized in that:

in said radio frequency interface module, if the length of CDMM is longer than the maximum transmission length of the transmission layer, the frame fragmentation is executed to said CDMM, and each fragment being one protocol data unit (PDU) of said CDMM; and

, said CDMM comprises a first PDU and subsequent PUDs, and the CDMMs after the frame fragmentation are encapsulated.

18. The system according to claim 13, characterized in that said radio frequency interface module defines the interface specifications of the MAC layer and the PHY layer between said system access end and said system terminal end.

19. The system according to claim 13, characterized in that said radio frequency interface module of said system access end defines the interface specification of the PHY layer between said system access end and said system terminal end;

and the classifying-and-forwarding module of said system head end defines the interface specification of the MAC layer between said system access end and said system terminal end.

20. The system according to claim 13, characterized in that said system head end communicates with said convergence network via a network side interface, and said network side interface defines the physical interface and the service stream mapping logic between said system head end and the convergence network.

21. The system according to claim 13, characterized in that said system head end communicates with said network management system and said configuration system via an operation management interface.

22. The system according to claim 13, characterized in that said system control module communicates with said classifying-and-forwarding module via a control and classifying-and-forwarding interface.

23. The system according to claim 13, characterized in that said configuration system comprises a DHCP server, a configuration file server, a software download server, a clock agreement server and a policy server.

24. The system according to claim 13, characterized in that said network management system comprises a SNMP management system and a Syslog server.

25. The system according to claim 14, characterized in that said converging-and-forwarding device includes an OLT, an Ethernet switcher or a router.

26. The system according to claim 14, characterized in that said system terminal end is a cable modem.