Downstream time domain based adaptive modulation for DOCSIS based applications
First Claim
1. A method of adaptively controlling a throughput rate of data traffic destined for a plurality of receivers, the data traffic combined into a single data stream and transmitted over a single downstream channel, the method comprising:
- assigning data traffic for each of the plurality of receivers to the throughput rate based on downstream signal quality information for each of the plurality of receivers;
associating each of a plurality of packet queues with one of a plurality of throughput rates, establishing a profile for each of the plurality of packet queues, the profile including a modulation type and an error correction encoding rate that support the associated throughput rate;
parsing the single data stream into the plurality of packet queues based on said data traffic assigning;
modulating and encoding the parsed data stream in each of the plurality of packet queues in accordance with the established profile for the respective packet queue;
transmitting, by a transceiver, the modulated and encoded parsed data stream from each of the packet queues over the downstream channel; and
transmitting Physical Layer MAPs (PHY-MAPs) to each of the plurality of receivers over the single downstream channel, wherein the PHY-MAPs store a description of a downstream data structure that includes all information necessary for the plurality of receivers to demodulate and decode the modulated and encoded data traffic, wherein said transmitting of the PHY-MAPs includes assigning the PHY-MAP to a lowest throughput rate of the plurality of throughput rates.
4 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a DOCSIS based satellite gateway data is transmitted over a single downstream channel, at different throughput rates. Data destined for each subscriber/receiver is assigned a throughput rate depending upon the downstream signal quality of that subscriber/receiver. To accomplish this, the downstream DOCSIS MAC data is parsed to extract DOCSIS packets. The DOCSIS packets are then loaded into packet queues based on an identifier within such packets such as the MAC destination address or SID. Each of the queues represents a bandwidth efficiency or throughput rate that can be currently tolerated by specific subscribers based on the current signal quality being experienced at the subscriber location. A PHY-MAP describing the downstream data structure to be transmitted and inserted into the downstream data. Data is extracted from the packet queues in queue blocks as defined by the PHY-MAP. The queue blocks are modulated with transmission parameters appropriate for each queue block and transmitted to the DOCSIS based satellite modems. The satellite modems extract the PHY-MAP from the downstream data and use the information contained in it to demodulate and decode the queue for which they have sufficient downstream signal quality. Satellite modems measure and transmit downstream signal quality to the satellite gateway to be used to assigned traffic to the appropriate queues.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of adaptively controlling a throughput rate of data traffic destined for a plurality of receivers, the data traffic combined into a single data stream and transmitted over a single downstream channel, the method comprising:
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assigning data traffic for each of the plurality of receivers to the throughput rate based on downstream signal quality information for each of the plurality of receivers; associating each of a plurality of packet queues with one of a plurality of throughput rates, establishing a profile for each of the plurality of packet queues, the profile including a modulation type and an error correction encoding rate that support the associated throughput rate; parsing the single data stream into the plurality of packet queues based on said data traffic assigning; modulating and encoding the parsed data stream in each of the plurality of packet queues in accordance with the established profile for the respective packet queue; transmitting, by a transceiver, the modulated and encoded parsed data stream from each of the packet queues over the downstream channel; and transmitting Physical Layer MAPs (PHY-MAPs) to each of the plurality of receivers over the single downstream channel, wherein the PHY-MAPs store a description of a downstream data structure that includes all information necessary for the plurality of receivers to demodulate and decode the modulated and encoded data traffic, wherein said transmitting of the PHY-MAPs includes assigning the PHY-MAP to a lowest throughput rate of the plurality of throughput rates. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An apparatus for adaptively controlling a throughput rate of data traffic destined for a plurality of receivers, the data traffic combined into a single data stream and transmitted over a single downstream channel, the apparatus comprising:
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means for assigning data traffic for each of the plurality of receivers to the throughput rate based on downstream signal quality information for each of the plurality of receivers; means for associating each of a plurality of packet queues with one of a plurality of throughput rates, means for establishing a profile for each of the plurality of packet queues, the profile including a modulation order and an error correction encoding rate that support the associated throughput rate; means for parsing the single data stream into the plurality of packet queues based on said data traffic assigning; means for modulating and encoding the parsed data stream in each of the plurality of packet queues in accordance with the profile for the respective packet queue; means for transmitting the modulated and encoded data traffic from each of the packet queues over the downstream channel; and means for transmitting a Physical layer MAP (PHY-MAP) to each of the receivers over the downstream channel, wherein the PHY-MAP stores the profile, and wherein said means for transmitting the PHY-MAP further includes means for assigning the PHY-MAP to a lowest throughput rate. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of adaptively controlling a throughput rate of data traffic destined for a plurality of receivers, the data traffic combined into a single data stream and transmitted over a single downstream channel, the method comprising:
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generating the single data stream in accordance with a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) MAC layer, and assigning DOCSIS MAC management messages and DOCSIS time stamp messages to a lowest throughput rate; assigning data traffic for each of the plurality of receivers to the throughput rate based on downstream signal quality information for each of the plurality of receivers; associating each of a plurality of packet queues with one of a plurality of throughput rates, establishing a profile for each of the packet queues, the profile including a modulation type and an error correction encoding rate that support the associated throughput rate; parsing the single data stream into the plurality of packet queues based on said data traffic assigning; modulating and encoding the parsed data stream in each of the plurality of packet queues in accordance with the profile for the respective packet queue; and transmitting, by a transceiver, the modulated and encoded parsed data stream from each of the packet queues over the downstream channel. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of adaptively controlling a throughput rate of data traffic destined for a plurality of receivers, the data traffic combined into a single data stream and transmitted over a single downstream channel, the method comprising:
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assigning data traffic for each of the plurality of receivers to the throughput rate based on downstream signal quality information for each of the plurality of receivers; associating each of a plurality of packet queues with one of a plurality of throughput rates, establishing a profile for each of the plurality of packet queues, wherein the profile for each packet queue of the plurality of packet queues includes information selected from the group consisting of modulation type, Forward Error Correction (FEC) type, FEC rate, FEC block size, queue block size, and a number of Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) frames per queue block that support the associated throughput rate; parsing the single data stream into the plurality of packet queues based on said data traffic assigning; dynamically allocating time for transmission from each packet queue to optimize overall system throughput by altering a number of blocks and a number of MPEG frames per block; modulating and encoding the parsed data stream in each of the plurality of packet queues in accordance with the profile for the respective packet queue; and transmitting, by a transceiver, the modulated and encoded parsed data stream from each of the packet queues over the downstream channel.
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20. An apparatus for adaptively controlling a throughput rate of data traffic destined for a plurality of receivers, the data traffic combined into a single data stream and transmitted over a single downstream channel, the apparatus comprising:
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means for generating the data stream in accordance with a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) MAC layer, and means for assigning DOCSIS MAC management messages and DOCSIS time stamp messages to a lowest throughput rate; means for assigning data traffic for each of the plurality of receivers to the throughput rate based on downstream signal quality information for each of the plurality of receivers; means for associating each of a plurality of packet queues with one of a plurality of throughput rates, means for establishing a profile for each of the packet queues, the profile including a modulation order and an error correction encoding rate that support the associated throughput rate; means for parsing the single data stream into the plurality of packet queues based on said data traffic assigning; means for modulating and encoding the parsed data stream in each of the plurality of packet queues in accordance with the profile for the respective packet queue; and means for transmitting the modulated and encoded data traffic from each of the packet queues over the downstream channel.
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21. An apparatus for adaptively controlling a throughput rate of data traffic destined for a plurality of receivers, the data traffic combined into a single data stream and transmitted over a single downstream channel, the apparatus comprising:
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means for assigning data traffic for each of the plurality of receivers to the throughput rate based on downstream signal quality information for each of the plurality of receivers; means for associating each of a plurality of packet queues with one of a plurality of throughput rates, means for establishing a profile for each of the plurality of packet queues, the profile including a modulation order and an error correction encoding rate that support the associated throughput rate; means for parsing the single data stream into the plurality of packet queues based on said data traffic assigning; means for extracting packet data from the plurality of packet queues; means for framing the extracted packets in accordance with the profile stored in the Physical layer MAP (PHY-MAP) for each queue of the plurality of queues from which the data is extracted and framed; means for updating the PHY-MAP periodically to reflect changing downstream signal quality information; means for modulating and encoding the parsed data stream in each of the plurality of packet queues in accordance with the profile for the respective packet queue, wherein the modulating and encoding means further include means for generating modulation and encoding control signals for each frame in accordance with the profile associated with the queue from which the framed data was extracted; and means for transmitting the modulated and encoded parsed data stream from each of the plurality of packet queues over the downstream channel.
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Specification