Time and Frequency Allocation for Concurrent Communications on a Shared Coaxial Cable

• US 20170012894A1
• Filed: 07/08/2016
• Published: 01/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Entropic Communications, LLC (FIG LLC (d/b/a Fortress Investment Group LLC))
• Original Assignee: Maxlinear Incorporated
• Inventors: Ramesh, Sridhar, Ling, Curtis, Gallagher, Timothy
• Granted Patent: US 10,142,256 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 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; 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 per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise a minimum transmit power parameter for each sender-receiver pair of the plurality of devices.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise spectral characteristic parameters.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor and memory are operable to determine the per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters based, at least in part, on probes communicated over the shared coaxial cable by the plurality of devices.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the per-sender-receiver-pair grant status indicates a reserved one or more subbands and a reserved one or more timeslots for each of a plurality of granted reservation requests.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is operable to:

reserve a first subset of the plurality of subbands during a particular timeslot for a first granted reservation request; and

reserve a second subset of the plurality of subbands during the particular timeslot for a second granted reservation request such that communications of the first granted reservation request and of the second granted reservation request are to occur concurrently on the shared coaxial cable.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise link parameters used for previous communications on the shared coaxial cable.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise link parameters to be used for future communications on the shared coaxial cable.

9. 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.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is operable to update the one or more data structures based, at least in part, on the measured performance metric.

11. 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;

accessing, by the circuitry, one or more data structures stored in memory, wherein the one or more data structures hold per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters, and per-sender-receiver-pair bandwidth grant status parameters;

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 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; and

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

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise a minimum transmit power parameter for each sender-receiver pair of the plurality of devices.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise spectral characteristic parameters.

14. The method of claim 11, comprising determining, by the circuitry, the per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters based, at least in part, on probes communicated over the shared coaxial cable by the plurality of devices.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the per-sender-receiver-pair grant status parameters indicate a reserved one or more subbands and a reserved one or more timeslots for each of a plurality of granted reservation requests.

16. The method of claim 11, comprising:

reserving, by the circuitry, a first subset of the plurality of subbands during a particular timeslot for a first granted reservation request; and

reserving, by the circuitry, a second subset of the plurality of subbands during the particular timeslot for a second granted reservation request such that communications of the first granted reservation request and of the second granted reservation request occur concurrently on the shared coaxial cable.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise link parameters used for previous communications on the shared coaxial cable.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise link parameters to be used for future communications on the shared coaxial cable.

19. The method of claim 11, 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.

20. The method of claim 19, comprising updating, by the processor, the one or more data structures based, at least in part, on the measured performance metric.