Cable communication systems and methods employing 256-QAM upstream channels and having increased upstream capacity for supporting voice and/or data services
First Claim
1. A cable communication system to provide voice and/or data services to a plurality of subscriber premises, the system comprising:
- an ingress-mitigated cable plant to convey at least upstream information from the plurality of subscriber premises over an upstream path bandwidth including a range of frequencies; and
a cable modem system coupled to the cable plant and including at least one demodulation tuner to receive and demodulate at least one upstream radio frequency (RF) signal, wherein the at least one upstream RF signal includes at least one encoded carrier wave having a carrier frequency in the upstream path bandwidth 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 at least one upstream RF signal includes a first upstream RF signal having a first carrier frequency of between approximately 5 MHz and 25 MHz;
a modulation order of the QAM for the first upstream RF signal is at least 256;
the at least one demodulation tuner includes a first demodulation tuner configured to receive and demodulate the first upstream RF signalthe first upstream RF signal defines a first upstream physical communication channel in the upstream path bandwidth;
a carrier-to-interference-noise ratio (CNIR) of the first upstream physical communication channel is at least 34 decibels (dB);
an unequalized modulation error ratio (MER) of the first upstream physical communication channel is at least 28 decibels (dB);
the at least one upstream RF signal further includes at least a second upstream RF signal having a second carrier frequency of between approximately 5 MHz and at least approximately 42 MHz;
a modulation order of the QAM for the second upstream RF signal is at least 256; and
the at least one demodulation tuner includes a second demodulation tuner configured to receive and demodulate the second upstream RF signal.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
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. An RF signal includes an encoded carrier wave having a carrier frequency of between approximately 5 MHz and at least approximately 42 MHz that is modulated using quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) with voice and/or data information constituting at least some of the upstream information. A modulation order of the QAM for the first upstream RF signal is at least 256, and at least one demodulation tuner of the cable modem system is configured to receive and demodulate the first upstream RF signal.
-
Citations
30 Claims
-
1. A cable communication system to provide voice and/or data services to a plurality of subscriber premises, the system comprising:
-
an ingress-mitigated cable plant to convey at least upstream information from the plurality of subscriber premises over an upstream path bandwidth including a range of frequencies; and
a cable modem system coupled to the cable plant and including at least one demodulation tuner to receive and demodulate at least one upstream radio frequency (RF) signal, wherein the at least one upstream RF signal includes at least one encoded carrier wave having a carrier frequency in the upstream path bandwidth 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 at least one upstream RF signal includes a first upstream RF signal having a first carrier frequency of between approximately 5 MHz and 25 MHz; a modulation order of the QAM for the first upstream RF signal is at least 256; the at least one demodulation tuner includes a first demodulation tuner configured to receive and demodulate the first upstream RF signal the first upstream RF signal defines a first upstream physical communication channel in the upstream path bandwidth; a carrier-to-interference-noise ratio (CNIR) of the first upstream physical communication channel is at least 34 decibels (dB); an unequalized modulation error ratio (MER) of the first upstream physical communication channel is at least 28 decibels (dB); the at least one upstream RF signal further includes at least a second upstream RF signal having a second carrier frequency of between approximately 5 MHz and at least approximately 42 MHz; a modulation order of the QAM for the second upstream RF signal is at least 256; and the at least one demodulation tuner includes a second demodulation tuner configured to receive and demodulate the second upstream RF signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. In a cable communication system to provide voice and/or data services to a plurality of subscriber premises, the system comprising:
-
an ingress-mitigated cable plant to convey at least upstream information from the plurality of subscriber premises over an upstream path bandwidth including a range of frequencies; and a cable modem system coupled to the cable plant and including at least one demodulation tuner to receive and demodulate at least one upstream radio frequency (RF) signal, wherein the at least one upstream RF signal includes at least one encoded carrier wave having a carrier frequency in the upstream path bandwidth 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 premise to the cable modem system, the method comprising; transmitting from at least one of the plurality of subscriber premises a first upstream RF signal having a first carrier frequency of between approximately 5 MHz and 25 MHz, wherein; a modulation order of the QAM for the first upstream RF signal is at least 256; the at least one demodulation tuner includes a first demodulation tuner configured to receive and demodulate the first upstream RF signal the first upstream RF signal defines a first upstream physical communication channel in the upstream path bandwidth; a carrier-to-interference-noise ratio (CNIR) of the first upstream physical communication channel is at least 34 decibels (dB); an unequalized modulation error ratio (MER) of the first upstream physical communication channel is at least 28 decibels (dB); the at least one upstream RF signal further includes at least a second upstream RF signal having a second carrier frequency of between approximately 5 MHz and at least approximately 42 MHz; a modulation order of the QAM for the second upstream RF signal is at least 256; and the at least one demodulation tuner includes a second demodulation tuner configured to receive and demodulate the second upstream RF signal. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
-
-
25. 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 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, wherein; the cable plant in the first neighborhood node 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 in the first neighborhood node 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; 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 at least one encoded carrier wave having at least one 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 between approximately 5 MHz and at least approximately 25 MHz; a modulation order of the QAM for the first upstream RF signal is at least 256; the plurality of demodulation tuners includes at least a first demodulation tuner configured to receive and demodulate the first upstream RF signal; the at least one upstream RF signal further includes at least a second upstream RF signal having a second carrier frequency of between approximately 5 MHz and at least approximately 42 MHz; a modulation order of the QAM for the second upstream RF signal is at least 256; and the at least one demodulation tuner includes a second demodulation tuner configured to receive and demodulate the second upstream RF signal. - View Dependent Claims (26)
-
-
27. 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 including a cable plant to convey at least upstream information from the plurality of subscriber premises in the first neighborhood node over an upstream path bandwidth assigned to the first neighborhood node; a cable modem system coupled to the cable plant in the first neighborhood node and including at least one demodulation tuner to receive and demodulate at least one upstream radio frequency (RF) signal, wherein the at least one upstream RF signal includes at least one encoded carrier wave having a carrier frequency in the upstream path bandwidth assigned to 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 in the first neighborhood node, wherein; the at least one upstream RF signal includes a first upstream RF signal having a first carrier frequency of between approximately 5 MHz and approximately 25 MHz; a modulation order of the QAM for the first upstream RF signal is at least 256; the at least one demodulation tuner includes a first demodulation tuner configured to receive and demodulate the first upstream RF signal; the at least one upstream RF signal further includes at least a second upstream RF signal having a second carrier frequency of between approximately 5 MHz and at least approximately 42 MHz; a modulation order of the QAM for the second upstream RF signal is at least 256; and the at least one demodulation tuner includes a second demodulation tuner configured to receive and demodulate the second upstream RF signal; the first upstream RF signal defines a first upstream physical communication channel in the upstream path bandwidth, the first upstream physical communication channel having a first upstream average channel power; and a highest value for an average noise power in the upstream path bandwidth, as measured from 5 MHz to 42 MHz over at least a 24 hour period at the cable modem system, is at least 34 decibels (dB) below the first upstream average channel power. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
-
Specification