Cable communication systems and methods employing QAM upstream channels below 16.4 MHz for increased aggregate deployed upstream capacity to support voice and/or data services

• US 8,532,488 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2012
• Issued: 09/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Certusview Technologies LLC (Dycom Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Certusview Technologies LLC (Dycom Industries Incorporated)
• Inventors: Nielsen, Steven, Totten, Ronald, Halky, Travis
• Primary Examiner(s): SINGH, DALZID E
• Application Number:
  US13/690,814
• Publication Number:
  US 20130094859A1
• Time in Patent Office: 284 Days
• Field of Search: 398 66- 68, 398 70- 72
• US Class Current: 398/67
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/03 Arrangements for fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/0773 Network aspects, e.g. central monitoring of transmission parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/1143 Bidirectional transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/2575 Radio-over-fibre, e.g. radio frequency signal modulated onto an optical carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/25751 Optical arrangements for CATV or video distribution adaptations of television systems for optical transmission H04N7/22
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/02 Details
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/46 Monitoring; Testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/50 Systems for transmission between fixed stations via two-conductor transmission lines H04B3/54 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/00 Time-division multiplex systems H04J14/00 takes precedence; relay systems H04B7/14; selecting techniques H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/1694 Allocation of channels in TDM/TDMA networks, e.g. distributed multiplexers Passive Optical Networks H04Q11/0062
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0823 Errors, e.g. transmission errors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/00 Diagnosis, testing or measuring for television systems or their details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/004 for digital television systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6118 involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6168 involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6175 involving transmission via Internet broadcast-related systems characterised by the transmission system being the Internet H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0067 Provisions for optical access or distribution networks, e.g. Gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Network (GE-PON), ATM-based Passive Optical Network (A-PON), PON-Ring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/225 Calculation of statistics, e.g. average, variance

Abstract

Cable communication systems and methods to provide voice and/or data services to subscriber premises via a cable plant that conveys upstream information over an upstream path bandwidth, and a cable modem system including one or more demodulation tuners to receive and demodulate one or more upstream radio frequency (RF) signals. One or more RF signals include an encoded carrier wave having a carrier frequency of between 5 MHz and 16.4 MHz that is modulated using a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) protocol or an Advanced Time Division Multiple Access (ATDMA) protocol and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) with voice and/or data information constituting at least some of the upstream information. An aggregate deployed upstream capacity of the one or more RF signals to convey the upstream information in a portion of the upstream path bandwidth between 5 MHz and 16.4 MHz is at least approximately 12 Megabits per second (Mbits/s).

Claims

1. A cable communication system to provide voice and/or data services to a plurality of subscriber premises, the system comprising:

at least a first neighborhood node having an infrastructure comprising;

a first fiber optic cable;

a first node optical/RF converter coupled to the first fiber optic cable; and

a cable plant, coupled to the first node optical/RF converter, to convey at least upstream information from the plurality of subscriber premises over an upstream path bandwidth assigned to the first neighborhood node and including a range of frequencies; and

a headend or hub comprising;

a headend optical/radio frequency (RF) converter coupled to the first fiber optic cable of the first neighborhood node; and

a cable modem system coupled to the headend optical/RF converter and including a plurality of demodulation tuners to receive and demodulate a plurality of upstream radio frequency (RF) signals from the first neighborhood node, each upstream RF signal of the plurality of upstream RF signals including an encoded carrier wave having a carrier frequency in the upstream path bandwidth of the first neighborhood node and being modulated, using quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), with voice and/or data information constituting at least some of the upstream information from at least some of the plurality of subscriber premises,

wherein;

the plurality of upstream RF signals includes a first upstream RF signal having a first carrier frequency of greater than or equal to approximately 5 MHz, and less than or equal to approximately 16.4 MHz;

the first upstream RF signal defines a first upstream physical communication channel in the upstream path bandwidth;

the first upstream RF signal is encoded with at least some of the voice and/or data information using a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) protocol or an Advanced Time Division Multiple Access (ATDMA) protocol;

the plurality of demodulation tuners includes a first demodulation tuner configured to receive and demodulate the first upstream RF signal using the TDMA protocol or the ATDMA protocol; and

an aggregate deployed upstream capacity of the plurality of upstream RF signals to convey, in a portion of the upstream path bandwidth between 5 MHz and 16.4 MHz, the at least some of the upstream information from the at least some of the plurality of subscriber premises in the first neighborhood node is at least approximately 12 Megabits per second (Mbits/s).

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the cable plant is an ingress-mitigated cable plant.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the cable plant is underground.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the upstream path bandwidth includes a range of frequencies from approximately 5 MHz to at least approximately 42 MHz.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the aggregate deployed upstream capacity of the plurality of upstream RF signals to convey, in a portion of the upstream path bandwidth between 5 MHz and 16.4 MHz, the at least some of the upstream information from the at least some of the plurality of subscriber premises in the first neighborhood node is at least 35.84 Mbits/s.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the aggregate deployed upstream capacity of the plurality of upstream RF signals to convey, in a portion of the upstream path bandwidth between 5 MHz and 16.4 MHz, the at least some of the upstream information from the at least some of the plurality of subscriber premises in the first neighborhood node is at least 44.8 Mbits/s.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the aggregate deployed upstream capacity of the plurality of upstream RF signals to convey, in a portion of the upstream path bandwidth between 5 MHz and 16.4 MHz, the at least some of the upstream information from the at least some of the plurality of subscriber premises in the first neighborhood node is at least 53.76 Mbits/s.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the aggregate deployed upstream capacity of the plurality of upstream RF signals to convey, in a portion of the upstream path bandwidth between 5 MHz and 16.4 MHz, the at least some of the upstream information from the at least some of the plurality of subscriber premises in the first neighborhood node is at least 62.72 Mbits/s.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the aggregate deployed upstream capacity of the plurality of upstream RF signals to convey, in a portion of the upstream path bandwidth between 5 MHz and 16.4 MHz, the at least some of the upstream information from the at least some of the plurality of subscriber premises in the first neighborhood node is at least 71.68 Mbits/s.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein a modulation order of the QAM for the first upstream RF signal is at least 16.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the modulation order of the QAM for the first upstream RF signal is at least 32.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the modulation order of the QAM for the first upstream RF signal is at least 64.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the modulation order of the QAM for the first upstream RF signal is at least 128.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the modulation order of the QAM for the first upstream RF signal is at least 256.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of upstream RF signals defines a corresponding plurality of upstream physical communication channels in the upstream path bandwidth; and

at least one of the plurality of upstream physical communication channels has a channel bandwidth of at least 3.2 MHz.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first upstream physical communication channel has a channel bandwidth of at least 3.2 MHz.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein one of the plurality of upstream physical communication channels has a channel bandwidth of 6.4 MHz.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first upstream physical communication channel has a channel bandwidth of 6.4 MHz.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein:

each upstream RF signal of the plurality of upstream RF signals has a carrier frequency greater than or equal to approximately 5 MHz, and less than or equal to approximately 16.4 MHz;

each upstream RF signal defines a corresponding upstream physical communication channel in the upstream path bandwidth;

each upstream RF signal is encoded with at least some of the voice and/or data information using the TDMA protocol or the ATDMA protocol; and

each of the plurality of demodulation tuners is configured to receive and demodulate one of the plurality of upstream RF signals using the TDMA protocol or the ATDMA protocol.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of upstream RF signal includes a second upstream RF signal having a second carrier frequency of greater than or equal to approximately 5 MHz, and less than or equal to approximately 16.4 MHz;

the second upstream RF signal defines a second upstream physical communication channel in the upstream path bandwidth;

the second upstream RF signal is encoded with at least some of the voice and/or data information using a Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (S-CMDA) protocol; and

the plurality of demodulation tuners includes a second demodulation tuner configured to receive and demodulate the second upstream RF signal using the S-CDMA protocol.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the cable plant passes at least 200 premises;

the plurality of subscriber premises in the first neighborhood node includes at least 75 subscriber premises;

the cable plant includes at least 20 amplifiers;

a node mileage of the first neighborhood node is at least three miles; and

a cascade for the cable plant is at least five (NODE+5).

22. In a cable communication system to provide voice and/or data services to a plurality of subscriber premises, the system comprising:

at least a first neighborhood node having an infrastructure comprising;

a first fiber optic cable;

a first node optical/RF converter coupled to the first fiber optic cable; and

a cable plant, coupled to the first node optical/RF converter, to convey at least upstream information from the plurality of subscriber premises over an upstream path bandwidth assigned to the first neighborhood node and including a range of frequencies from approximately 5 MHz to at least approximately 42 MHz; and

a headend or hub comprising;

a headend optical/radio frequency (RF) converter coupled to the first fiber optic cable of the first neighborhood node; and

a cable modem system coupled to the headend optical/RF converter and including a plurality of demodulation tuners to receive and demodulate a plurality of upstream radio frequency (RF) signals from the first neighborhood node, each upstream RF signal of the plurality of upstream RF signals including an encoded carrier wave having a carrier frequency in the upstream path bandwidth of the first neighborhood node and being modulated, using quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), with voice and/or data information constituting at least some of the upstream information from at least some of the plurality of subscriber premises,

a method of transmitting the at least some of the upstream information from the plurality of subscriber premises to the cable modem system, the method comprising;

transmitting from the at least some of the plurality of subscriber premises the plurality of upstream RF signals including a first upstream RF signal having a first carrier frequency greater than or equal to approximately 5 MHz, and less than or equal to approximately 16.4 MHz,

wherein;

the first upstream RF signal defines a first upstream physical communication channel in the upstream path bandwidth;

the first upstream RF signal is encoded with at least some of the voice and/or data information using a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) protocol or an Advanced Time Division Multiple Access (ATDMA) protocol;

the plurality of demodulation tuners includes a first demodulation tuner configured to receive and demodulate the first upstream RF signal using the TDMA protocol or the ATDMA protocol; and

an aggregate deployed upstream capacity of the plurality of upstream RF signals to convey, in a portion of the upstream path bandwidth between 5 MHz and 16.4 MHz, the at least some of the upstream information from the at least some of the plurality of subscriber premises in the first neighborhood node is at least 12.8 Megabits per second (Mbits/s).

23. A cable communication system to provide voice and/or data services to a plurality of subscriber premises, the system comprising:

at least a first neighborhood node having an infrastructure comprising;

a first fiber optic cable;

a first node optical/RF converter coupled to the first fiber optic cable; and

an ingress-mitigated cable plant, coupled to the first node optical/RF converter, to convey at least upstream information from the plurality of subscriber premises over an upstream path bandwidth assigned to the first neighborhood node and including a range of frequencies; and

a headend or hub comprising;

a headend optical/radio frequency (RF) converter coupled to the first fiber optic cable of the first neighborhood node; and

a cable modem system coupled to the headend optical/RF converter and including a plurality of demodulation tuners to receive and demodulate a plurality of upstream radio frequency (RF) signals from the first neighborhood node, each upstream RF signal of the plurality of upstream RF signals including an encoded carrier wave having a carrier frequency in the upstream path bandwidth of the first neighborhood node and being modulated, using quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), with voice and/or data information constituting at least some of the upstream information from at least some of the plurality of subscriber premises,

wherein;

the plurality of upstream RF signals includes a first upstream RF signal having a first carrier frequency of greater than or equal to approximately 5 MHz, and less than or equal to approximately 16.4 MHz;

the first upstream RF signal defines a first upstream physical communication channel in the upstream path bandwidth;

the first upstream RF signal is encoded with at least some of the voice and/or data information using a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) protocol or an Advanced Time Division Multiple Access (ATDMA) protocol;

the plurality of demodulation tuners includes a first demodulation tuner configured to receive and demodulate the first upstream RF signal using the TDMA protocol or the ATDMA protocol; and

an aggregate deployed upstream capacity of the plurality of upstream RF signals to convey, in a portion of the upstream path bandwidth between 5 MHz and 16.4 MHz, the at least some of the upstream information from the at least some of the plurality of subscriber premises in the first neighborhood node is at least 53.76 Megabits per second (Mbits/s).

24. A cable communication system to provide voice and/or data services to a plurality of subscriber premises, the system comprising:

at least a first neighborhood node having an infrastructure comprising;

a first fiber optic cable;

a first node optical/RF converter coupled to the first fiber optic cable; and

a cable plant, coupled to the first node optical/RF converter, to convey at least upstream information from the plurality of subscriber premises over an upstream path bandwidth assigned to the first neighborhood node and including a range of frequencies, wherein;

the cable plant passes at least 200 premises;

the plurality of subscriber premises in the first neighborhood node includes at least 75 subscriber premises;

the cable plant includes at least 20 amplifiers;

a node mileage of the first neighborhood node is at least three miles; and

a cascade for the cable plant is at least five (NODE+5); and

a headend or hub comprising;

a headend optical/radio frequency (RF) converter coupled to the first fiber optic cable of the first neighborhood node; and

a cable modem system coupled to the headend optical/RF converter and including a plurality of demodulation tuners to receive and demodulate a plurality of upstream radio frequency (RF) signals from the first neighborhood node, each upstream RF signal of the plurality of upstream RF signals including an encoded carrier wave having a carrier frequency in the upstream path bandwidth of the first neighborhood node and being modulated, using quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), with voice and/or data information constituting at least some of the upstream information from at least some of the plurality of subscriber premises,

wherein;

the plurality of upstream RF signals includes a first upstream RF signal having a first carrier frequency of greater than or equal to approximately 5 MHz, and less than or equal to approximately 16.4 MHz;

the first upstream RF signal defines a first upstream physical communication channel in the upstream path bandwidth;

the first upstream RF signal is encoded with at least some of the voice and/or data information using a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) protocol or an Advanced Time Division Multiple Access (ATDMA) protocol;

the plurality of demodulation tuners includes a first demodulation tuner configured to receive and demodulate the first upstream RF signal using the TDMA protocol or the ATDMA protocol; and

an aggregate deployed upstream capacity of the plurality of upstream RF signals to convey, in a portion of the upstream path bandwidth between 5 MHz and 16.4 MHz, the at least some of the upstream information from the at least some of the plurality of subscriber premises in the first neighborhood node is at least 53.76 Megabits per second (Mbits/s).