Method and apparatus for allocating upstream channel resource in hybrid fiber coaxial network

• US 8,040,911 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2008
• Issued: 10/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Kwon, Ho Jin, Hong, Seung Eun, Kwon, O Hyung, Lee, Soo In
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao; Kwang B
• Assistant Examiner(s): LIU, JUNG
• Application Number:
  US12/198,990
• Publication Number:
  US 20090103557A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,147 Days
• Field of Search: 370229-235, 370/236, 370/255, 370351-372, 370389-394, 370/395.1, 370/395.4, 370/395.41, 370/395.43, 370/395.5, 370/400, 370/422, 370431-443, 370/458, 370/465, 370/485, 370/503, 370/529
• US Class Current: 370/431
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2801 Broadband local area networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2861 Point-to-multipoint connection from the data network to the subscribers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2876 Handling of subscriber policies group policies management H04L41/0893

Abstract

A method and apparatus for allocating upstream channel resources in a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) network are provided. A cable modem termination system (CMTS) previously provides cable modems (CMs) with a plurality of burst profiles through an extended interval usage code (IUC) of an upstream channel descriptor (UCD) message, and allocates resources to CMs by using an optimized burst profile according to an upstream channel status, thereby increasing transmission efficiency of an upstream channel.

Claims

1. A method of allocating upstream channel resources by using a cable modem termination system (CMTS) in a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) network, the method comprising:

defining a plurality of burst profiles based on an upstream channel status, the plurality of burst profiles being defined based on a previously measured upstream channel status that is previously measured in an extended burst profile mode,

wherein each of the plurality of burst profiles define physical layer parameters for transmitting packets, and wherein the plurality of burst profiles include burst profiles of fixed IUC values in industry standard versions and burst profiles of additional extended IUC values, wherein the burst profiles of the additional extended IUC values are used in the extended burst profile mode;

transmitting the defined plurality of burst profiles to each of a plurality of cable modems (CMs);

receiving, from each of the CMs, an upstream message including information of whether the extended burst profile mode, in which a CM uses the additional extended IUC values, is supported by the CM;

monitoring the upstream channel status of each CM; and

allocating resources to each of the CMs by using burst profiles corresponding to the upstream channel status from among the plurality of burst profiles and the information of whether the CM supports the extended burst profile mode,

wherein allocating a burst profile to each of the CMs comprises;

transmitting a MAP message used to allocate the burst profiles to CMs, the MAP message comprising a plurality of information elements (IEs) each having an IUC field comprising one of a plurality of IUC codes corresponding respectively to the plurality of burst profiles,

wherein the IUC codes include a predetermined IUC value for indicating that extended IUC values follow, and when the IUC field includes the predetermined IUC value, an offset field corresponding to the IUC field indicates the number of IEs having an extended IUC value and the IUC values of subsequent IEs are determined as extended IUC values.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the defining of the plurality of burst profiles comprises:

defining the plurality of burst profiles by the number of burst profiles determined according to a version of each CM and the number of burst profiles added according to specific conditions.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of burst profiles corresponds to one of interval usage code (IUC) values fixed in industry standard versions and extended IUC values determined in additional bits not allocated for IUC values fixed in industry standard versions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of burst profiles are transmitted to each CM via an upstream channel information message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the defining of the plurality of burst profiles comprises:

establishing an optimized parameter value to the corresponding upstream channel status of each of the plurality of burst profiles.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the defining of the plurality of burst profiles comprises:

establishing, by the CMTS, a maximum burst size (MBS) in short burst profiles among the plurality of burst profiles so that each CM requesting resources in mini-slot units can calculate the number of mini-slots with regard to an amount of requested resources and calculate a physical layer overhead by using short burst profiles, and

when CMs request resources in mini-slot units, the allocating a burst profile comprises;

receiving by the CMTS from the CM a requested amount of resources which includes physical layer overhead calculated using short burst profiles,

extracting, by the CMTS, an information byte from which a physical layer overhead is removed from the requested amount of resources by mini-slot units,

using burst profiles that are optimized according to a current channel status to calculate an amount of resources to be allocated as the mini-slot size, and recalculating the physical layer overhead according to the optimized burst profiles used for the respective CMs.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when each CM does not support all the defined plurality of burst profiles, defining burst profiles supported by each CM based on the upstream channel status, and allocating resources to each CM by using burst profiles corresponding to the upstream channel status.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein whether each CM supports burst profiles is determined from information included in one of a ranging request (RNG-REQ) message, an initial ranging request (INIT-RNG-REQ), or a bonded upstream initial ranging request (B-INT-RNG-REQ) transmitted by each CM during an initial stage.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the upstream channel statuses upon which the respective plurality of burst profiles are based overlap, the method further comprising:

when the upstream channel status is changed from a first upstream channel status to a second upstream channel status, changing from a current burst profile of a CM corresponding to the first upstream channel status to a new burst profile corresponding to the second upstream channel status at a time when overlapping of the first upstream channel status and the second upstream channel status ends, and allocating resources to each CM.

10. A method of receiving upstream channel resources in a CM in a HFC network, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of burst profiles defined based on an upstream channel status from a CMTS, wherein each of the plurality of burst profiles define physical layer parameters for transmitting packets, and wherein the plurality of profiles include burst profiles of fixed IUC values in industry standard versions and burst profiles of additional extended IUC values used in an extended burst profile mode;

informing the CMTS of whether the CM supports all the plurality of burst profiles by transmitting, to the CMTS, an upstream message including information of whether the extended burst profile mode, in which a CM uses the additional extended IUC values, is supported by the CM;

transmitting a resource request message to the CMTS; and

receiving resources from the CMTS by using the plurality of burst profiles determined according to whether the CM supports all the plurality of burst profiles and defined based on the upstream channel status, wherein

when the CM supports all the received plurality of burst profiles, receiving resources by using burst profiles corresponding to the upstream channel status among the plurality of burst profiles; and

when the CM does not support the additional extended IUC values, receiving resources by using burst profiles corresponding to the upstream status among burst profiles corresponding to the fixed IUC values supported by the CM defined based on the upstream channel status, wherein the burst profile assigned to the CM not supporting the additional extended IUC values is assigned according to an upstream channel performance value and a version of the CM,

wherein receiving resources comprises;

receiving a MAP message used to allocate the burst profiles to CMs, the MAP message comprising a plurality of information elements (IEs) each having an IUC field comprising one of a plurality of IUC codes corresponding respectively to the plurality of burst profiles,

wherein the IUC codes include a predetermined IUC value for indicating that extended IUC values follow, and when the IUC field includes the predetermined IUC value, an offset field corresponding to the IUC field indicates the number of IEs having an extended IUC value and the IUC values of subsequent IEs are determined as extended IUC values.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the number of the received plurality of burst profiles is the number of burst profiles determined according to a version of the CM and the number of burst profiles added according to specific conditions.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the transmitting of the resource request message comprises:

transmitting the resource request message by using short burst profiles when the CM requests resources in mini-slot units.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the informing of the CMTS of whether the CM supports all the plurality of burst profiles occurs via an initial upstream message during an initial stage.

14. An apparatus for allocating upstream channel resources in a HFC network, the apparatus comprising:

a burst profile establishing unit defining a plurality of burst profiles based on an upstream channel status such that each of the plurality of burst profiles define physical layer parameters for transmitting packets and the plurality of burst profiles include burst profiles of fixed IUC values in industry standard versions and burst profiles of additional extended IUC values used in an extended burst profile mode, transmitting the defined plurality of burst profiles to each of a plurality of CMs, and receiving an upstream message including information of whether the extended burst profile mode, in which a CM uses the additional extended IUC values, is supported from each of the CMs, wherein the plurality of burst profiles are defined based on a previously measured upstream channel status that is previously measured in an extended burst profile mode;

a monitoring unit monitoring the upstream channel status of each CM; and

a resource allocating unit allocating resources to each of the CMs by using burst profiles corresponding to the upstream channel status from among the plurality of burst profiles and the information of whether the CM supports the extended burst profile mode,

wherein the resource allocating unit allocates a burst profile to each of the CMs by transmitting a MAP message used to allocate the burst profiles to CMs, the MAP message comprising a plurality of information elements (IEs) each having an IUC field comprising one of a plurality of IUC codes corresponding respectively to the plurality of burst profiles,

wherein the IUC codes include a predetermined IUC value for indicating that extended IUC values follow, and when the IUC field includes the predetermined IUC value, an offset field corresponding to the IUC field indicates the number of IEs having an extended IUC value and the IUC values of subsequent IEs are determined as extended IUC values.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the burst profile establishing unit defines the plurality of burst profiles by the number of burst profiles determined according to a version of each CM and the number of burst profiles added according to specific conditions.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of burst profiles corresponds to one of IUC values fixed in industry standard versions and extended IUC values determined in additional bits not allocated for IUC values fixed in industry standard versions.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the burst profile establishing unit establishes an optimized parameter value to the corresponding upstream channel status of each of the plurality of burst profiles.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the burst profile establishing unit establishes an MBS in short burst profiles from among the plurality of burst profiles so that each CM requesting resources by mini-slot units can calculate the number of mini-slots with regard to an amount of requested resources and calculate physical layer overhead by using short burst profiles, and

when CMs request resources in mini-slot units, the resource allocating unit extracting an information byte from which a physical layer overhead is removed from the requested amount of resources by mini-slot units, using burst profiles that are optimized according to a current channel status to calculate an amount of resources to be allocated as the mini-slot size, and recalculating the physical layer overhead according to the optimized burst profiles used for the respective CMs.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the resource allocating unit, when each CM does not support all the defined plurality of burst profiles, defines burst profiles supported by each CM based on the upstream channel status, and allocates resources to each CM by using burst profiles corresponding to the upstream channel status.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein whether each CM supports burst profiles is determined from information included in an initial upstream message transmitted by each CM during an initial stage.

21. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the upstream channel statuses upon which the respective burst profiles are based overlap, and wherein the resource allocating unit, when the upstream channel status is changed from a first upstream channel status to a second upstream channel status, changes from a current burst profile of a CM corresponding to the first upstream channel status to a new burst profile corresponding to the second upstream channel status at a time when overlapping of the first upstream channel status and the second upstream channel status ends, and allocates resources to each CM.

22. A method of allocating upstream channel resources by using a cable modem termination system (CMTS) in a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) network, the method comprising:

defining a plurality of burst profiles based on an upstream channel status, the plurality of burst profiles being defined based on a previously measured upstream channel status that is previously measured in an extended burst profile mode;

transmitting the defined plurality of burst profiles to each of a plurality of cable modems (CMs);

receiving an upstream message including information of whether an extended burst profile mode is supported from each of the CMs;

monitoring the upstream channel status of each CM; and

allocating resources to each of the CMs by using burst profiles corresponding to the upstream channel status from among the plurality of burst profiles and the information of whether the CM supports the extended burst profile mode,

wherein allocating a burst profile to each of the CMs comprises;

transmitting a MAP message used to allocate the burst profiles to CMs, the MAP message comprising a plurality of information elements (lEs) each having an IUC field comprising one of a plurality of IUC codes corresponding respectively to the plurality of burst profiles,

wherein the IUC codes include a predetermined IUC value for indicating that extended IUC values follow, and when the IUC field includes the predetermined IUC value, an offset field corresponding to the IUC field indicates the number of IEs having an extended IUC value and the IUC values of subsequent IEs are determined as extended IUC values.