Data communication using a modifiable number of XDSL modems

• US 6,483,870 B1
• Filed: 12/06/1999
• Issued: 11/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: McClanahan, Kip R., Cantrell, Craig S., Locklear, Robert H. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ha, Dac V.
• Application Number:
  US09/455,293
• Time in Patent Office: 1,079 Days
• Field of Search: 375/220, 375/222, 375/257, 375/260, 375/240, 370/485-490, 370/468, 370/477, 370/463, 370/430, 370/419-421, 370/252, 379/93.01, 379/93.05, 379/93.07, 379/93.14, 379/93.29
• US Class Current: 375/222
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/14 Channel dividing arrangements , i.e. in which a single bit stream is divided between several baseband channels and reassembled at the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/062 using different frequency bands for speech and other data

Abstract

A communication system includes a number of communication devices coupled to a data network using communication servers. The communication system supports communication sessions between a variety of networks and devices using, at least in part, XDSL communication techniques. Specifically, information associated with a session passes between a device and an associated server using a modifiable number of XDSL modems and associated twisted pair lines.

Claims

1. Communication control software for communicating data using a plurality of XDSL modems, the software embodied in a computer readable medium and operable to:

determine loading information of at least one of a plurality of XDSL modems coupled to a plurality of associated twisted pair subscriber lines;

compare the loading information to threshold information; and

determine the number of XDSL modems for communicating data associated with a session in response to the comparison.

2. The communication control software of claim 1, further operable to determine the number of XDSL modems for communicating data associated with a session by:

adding an XDSL modem if the loading information exceeds corresponding threshold information; and

removing an XDSL modem if the loading information falls below corresponding threshold information.

3. The communication control software of claim 1, wherein the loading information and corresponding threshold information for each XDSL modem further comprises:

a downstream data rate for data received by the XYDSL modem;

an upstream data rate for data communicated by the XDSL modem;

an upstream add threshold for comparison to the upstream data rate;

an upstream remove threshold for comparison to the upstream data rate;

a downstream add threshold for comparison to the downstream data rate; and

a downstream remove threshold for comparison to the downstream data rate.

4. The communication control software of claim 1, wherein the loading information further comprises a packet rate, a bit rate, or an error rate.

5. The communication control software of claim 1, further operable to determine the number of XDSL modems for communicating data associated with a session by:

adding an XDSL modem if an upstream data rate exceeds an upstream add threshold or a downstream data rate exceeds a downstream add threshold; and

removing an XDSL modem if the upstream data rate falls below an upstream remove threshold and the downstream data rate falls below a downstream remove threshold.

6. The communication control software of claim 1, wherein the plurality of XDSL modems are located at a central office.

7. The communication control software of claim 1, wherein the number of XDSL modems is less than the number of twisted pair subscriber lines.

8. Communication control software for segmenting a packet of data, the software embodied in a computer readable medium and operable to:

receive a packet;

determine the size of the packet;

segment the packet into a plurality of subpackets based on a plurality of proportionality factors associated with a plurality of XDSL modems; and

communicate the subpackets using the XDSL modems.

9. The communication control software of claim 8, further operable to address the subpackets to different destinations to support communication using a multilink point-to-point protocol.

10. The communication control software of claim 8, further operable to modify the proportionality factors in response to a modification in the number of XDSL modems used to communicate the subpackets.

11. The communication control software of claim 8, further operable to modify the proportionality factors in response to a change in the data rate of an XDSL modem.

12. The communication control software of claim 8, wherein the proportionality factors for each XYDSL modem further comprise:

an upstream proportionality factor; and

a downstream proportionality factor.

13. The communication control software of claim 8, wherein each proportionality factor comprises a ratio between the data rate of its associated XDSL modem and the sum of data rates of the XDSL modems.

14. A device for communicating a packet of data in subpackets, comprising:

a plurality of XDSL modems;

an interface;

a link for communicating data between the interface and the XDSL modems; and

a controller coupled to the link, wherein the controller segments a packet received from the interface into a plurality of subpackets and distributes the subpackets among a selected group of the XDSL modems.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the controller is further operable to determine the size of the packet, segment the packet into a plurality of subpackets based on a plurality of proportionality factors associated with the XDSL modems, and distribute the subpackets among the selected group of the XYDSL modems based on the proportionality factors.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the controller is further operable to modify the proportionality factors in response to a modification in the number of XDSL modems in the selected group of the XDSL modems.

17. The device of claim 15, wherein the controller is further operable to modify the proportionality factors in response to a change in the data rate of an XDSL modem.

18. The device of claim 15, wherein the proportionality factors for each XDSL modem further comprise:

an upstream proportionality factor; and

a downstream proportionality factor.

19. The device of claim 15, wherein each proportionality factor comprises a ratio between the data rate of its associated XDSL modem and the sum of data rates of the selected group of the XDSL modems.

20. The device of claim 14, wherein the link comprises a router for communicating data between the interface and the XDSL modems using open systems interconnect (OSI) model processing.

21. The device of claim 14, wherein the link comprises a switching fabric operable to:

communicate data received from the XDSL modems to the interface; and

communicate data received from the interface to a subset of the XDSL modems based on mapping information.

22. The device of claim 14, further comprising a switch coupled to the plurality of XDSL modems and a plurality of twisted pair lines, the switch operable to couple selected twisted pair lines to the XDSL modems.

23. The device of claim 14, wherein the controller is further operable to address the subpackets to different destinations to support communication using a multilink point-to-point protocol.

24. The device of claim 14, wherein the controller is further operable to address each subpacket to a different switched circuit.

25. The device of claim 14, wherein the selected group of the XDSL modems comprises at least two of the XDSL modems, and the selected group of the XDSL modems communicates data associated with a session.