U.S. patent application number 17/125906 was filed with the patent office on 2021-04-08 for full duplex cable communication.
This patent application is currently assigned to VECIMA NETWORKS INC.. The applicant listed for this patent is VECIMA NETWORKS INC.. Invention is credited to Rex Coldren, Werner Coomans.
Application Number | 20210105128 17/125906 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000005287818 |
Filed Date | 2021-04-08 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20210105128 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Coomans; Werner ; et
al. |
April 8, 2021 |
Full Duplex Cable Communication
Abstract
Example embodiments describe a controller comprising means for
performing i) discovering a mapping between receive analogue to
digital converters, RxADCs, of a full duplex node (100) and cable
modems (111-113, 121-123, 131-133, 141-143) connected to the full
duplex node; and wherein the cable modems share a common
communication bandwidth; and ii) determining, based on the mapping,
sounding groups (152, 162) by grouping cable modems (111-131,
121-123) mapped to a same RxADC (151) into a respective sounding
group (152); and wherein a sounding group is indicative for an
upper bound of possible interfering cable modems.
Inventors: |
Coomans; Werner; (Antwerp,
BE) ; Coldren; Rex; (Phoenix, AZ) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
VECIMA NETWORKS INC. |
Victoria |
|
CA |
|
|
Assignee: |
VECIMA NETWORKS INC.
Victoria
CA
|
Family ID: |
1000005287818 |
Appl. No.: |
17/125906 |
Filed: |
December 17, 2020 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
16369407 |
Mar 29, 2019 |
10917224 |
|
|
17125906 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04B 3/52 20130101; H04L
5/0007 20130101; H04B 3/20 20130101; H04B 1/38 20130101; H04L 5/14
20130101; H04L 5/1461 20130101; H04J 3/00 20130101; H04B 3/487
20150115 |
International
Class: |
H04L 5/14 20060101
H04L005/14; H04J 3/00 20060101 H04J003/00; H04B 3/20 20060101
H04B003/20 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Mar 29, 2018 |
EP |
18164936.9 |
Claims
1. A controller comprising: at least one processor; and at least
one memory configured to store information for the at least one
processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
discover a mapping between receive analogue to digital converters
(RxADCs) of a full duplex node and cable modems connected to the
full duplex node, and wherein the cable modems share a common
communication bandwidth; and determine, based on the mapping,
sounding groups by grouping cable modems mapped to a same RxADC
into a respective sounding group, wherein a sounding group is
indicative of an upper bound of possible interfering cable
modems.
2. The controller according to claim 1, wherein the at least one
processor is further configured to group, based on the sounding
groups, the cable modems into transmission groups, and wherein: the
common communication bandwidth is configurable into a plurality of
non-overlapping full duplex sub-bands; and all cable modems within
a transmission group are configured to perform all together either
upstream or downstream communication within a respective sub-band
during any allocated time-slot.
3. The controller according to claim 2, wherein the at least one
processor is further configured to obtain interference measurements
between cable modems of a respective sounding group, wherein the
grouping of the cable modems into transmission groups by the at
least one processor is further based on the interference
measurements.
4. The controller according to claim 3 wherein the grouping of the
cable modems into transmission groups further comprises: the at
least one processor grouping interfering cable modems within a
respective sounding group into respective interference groups based
on the interference measurements; and the at least one processor
grouping one or more of the interference groups into a respective
transmission group.
5. The controller according to claim 1, wherein the at least one
processor is further configured to: detect a joining cable modem
connecting to the full duplex node and thereby joining the cable
modems; discover a mapping between one of the RxADCs and the
joining cable modem; and add, based on the mapping, the joining
cable modems to a selected sounding group of the sounding
groups.
6. The controller according to claim 5, wherein the at least one
processor is further configured to obtain additional sounding
measurements between the joining cable modem and the other cable
modems of the selected sounding group.
7. The controller according to claim 3, wherein the interference
measurements are performed by the at least one processor
sequentially sounding between cable modems of the respective
sounding group.
8. The controller according to claim 3, wherein the interference
measurements are performed by the at least one processor in
parallel for the different sounding groups.
9. The controller according to claim 1, wherein cable modems mapped
to a respective RxADC are connected to a single radio frequency
(RF) port.
10. The controller according to claim 1, wherein cable modems
mapped to a respective RxADC are connected to a plurality of RF
ports.
11. The controller according to claim 1, wherein the at least one
processor is configured to discover the mapping is based on
topology information.
12. The controller according to claim 1, wherein the at least one
memory is configured to store computer program code configured to,
with the at least one processor, cause the performance of the
controller.
13. A full duplex node comprising the controller according to claim
1.
14. A full duplex node comprising another controller configured to
interoperate remotely with the controller of claim 1.
15. A method comprising: discovering a mapping between receive
analogue to digital converters (RxADCs) of a full duplex node and
cable modems connected to the full duplex node, wherein the cable
modems and full duplex node share a common communication bandwidth;
and determining, based on the mapping, sounding groups by grouping
cable modems mapped to a same RxADC into a respective sounding
group, wherein a sounding group is indicative of an upper bound of
possible interfering cable modems.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] Various example embodiments relate to the determination of
transmission groups for full duplex communication between a full
duplex node and cable modems.
BACKGROUND
[0002] A full duplex cable modem termination system, CMTS,
typically comprises a full duplex node with a plurality of output
ports. An output port can be connected to a separate cable plant
section which connects to a plurality of cable modems. The CMTS
further connects to an aggregation network thereby providing
downstream and upstream network access to the cable modems and,
hence, end users.
[0003] Although connected to different output ports, cable modems
on different cable plant sections may still share the same
communication bandwidth on the cable medium by combining different
output ports to a single downstream or upstream processing chain
within the full duplex node. All cable modems that share the same
communication bandwidth are typically referred to as a service
group.
[0004] Full duplex communication allows simultaneous upstream and
downstream communication within the same frequency sub-bands of the
communication bandwidth. To avoid interference between upstream
traffic from one cable modem and downstream traffic for another
cable modem, interfering cable modems within a service group may
further be assigned to the same transmission group. Cable modems
within a transmission group are then not allowed to perform
simultaneous upstream and downstream communication within a
respective sub-band during any allocated time-slot.
[0005] To determine the transmission groups, interference sounding
is performed between the cable modems, i.e., every modem on its
turn generates an upstream sounding signal while the other modems
measure the impact on the corresponding frequencies. From these
sounding measurements, the interfering cable modems are identified
and grouped together in interference groups. The interference
groups on their turn are then assigned to a transmission group. A
transmission group may further comprise more than one interference
group of cable modems.
SUMMARY
[0006] In order to determine the transmission groups, interfering
cable modems must be identified. Therefore, sounding is performed
for each cable modem within a service group and is typically done
sequentially. This results in a long process during which the cable
network experiences reduced operability.
[0007] Amongst others, it is an object to provide a solution that
overcomes the above shortcoming and to make the determination of
the transmission groups more efficient.
[0008] This object is achieved, according to a first example aspect
of the present disclosure, by a controller comprising means for
performing i) discovering a mapping between receive analogue to
digital converters, RxADCs, of a full duplex node and cable modems
connected to the full duplex node; and wherein the cable modems
share a common communication bandwidth; and ii) determining, based
on the mapping, sounding groups by grouping cable modems mapped to
a same RxADC into a respective sounding group; and wherein a
sounding group is indicative for an upper bound of possible
interfering cable modems.
[0009] In other words, the full duplex node comprises multiple
receive analogue to digital converters or, shortly, RxADCs, which
connect to different subsets of the cable modems. For example,
cable modems mapped to a respective RxADC may be connected to a
single radio frequency, RF, output port or to a plurality of such
radio frequency, RF, output ports. The cable modems that are
operating on the same communication bandwidth are thus subdivided
into sounding groups according to the RxADC they are connected to.
By the fact that the different cable modems are connected to a
different RxADC, cable modems connected to different RxADCs will
not interfere with each other because they are guaranteed to be
connected to different RF output ports. Therefore, the sounding
groups define a coarse grouping of cable modems into groups that do
not interfere with each other. The sounding groups are thus
indicative for an implicit assumption that cable modems from
different sounding groups are allowed to perform simultaneous
upstream and downstream communication within the same frequency
sub-band and within the same time slot because they will not
interfere with each other.
[0010] It is an advantage that no interference measurements need to
be performed between modems in different sounding groups, which
already provide a first subdivision of the cable modem into
non-interfering groups. These groupings may then for example be
used to derive the further transmission groups. It is therefore a
further advantage that the sounding or any other type of
interference measurement may be performed in parallel for the
different sounding groups thereby reducing the time needed for
sounding measurements by at least a factor of two.
[0011] According to an example embodiment, the controller further
comprises means for performing iii) grouping, based on the sounding
groups, the cable modems into transmission groups; and wherein the
common communication bandwidth is configurable into a plurality of
non-overlapping full duplex sub-bands; and wherein all cable modems
within a transmission group are configured to perform all together
either upstream or downstream communication within a respective
sub-band during any allocated time-slot.
[0012] According to a further example embodiment, the controller
further comprises means for performing i) obtaining interference
measurements between cable modems of a respective sounding group;
and wherein grouping the cable modems into transmission groups is
further based on the interference measurements.
[0013] For example, this may be achieved by grouping interfering
cable modems within a respective sounding group into respective
interference groups based on the sounding measurements; and
grouping one or more of the interference groups into a respective
transmission group.
[0014] It is thus an advantage that transmissions groups can be
defined with a finer granularity while avoiding the need for
performing interference measurements between all the cable
modems.
[0015] Alternatively, the transmission groups may also be obtained
directly from the sounding groups, e.g., by assigning one or more
sounding groups directly to a transmission group. This even avoids
the need for interference measurements all together. Furthermore,
this reduces the initialization time of the cable network.
Moreover, further sounding measurements may then be performed at a
later stage within the sounding groups, but with less impact on the
network.
[0016] According to an example embodiment, the controller further
comprises means for performing: [0017] detecting a joining cable
modem connecting to the full duplex node and thereby joining the
cable modems; and [0018] discovering a mapping between one of
RxADCs, and the joining cable modem; and [0019] adding, based on
the mapping, the joining cable modems to a selected sounding group
of the sounding groups.
[0020] In other words, during operation, cable modems may be
removed or added to the cable network. A joining cable modem will
also interfere with the existing cable modems and additional
sounding measurement may be required. By first adding the joining
cable modem to one of the sounding groups, the amount of further
sounding measurements are again reduced.
[0021] Additionally, the controller may then further comprise means
for performing: [0022] obtaining additional sounding measurements
between the joining cable modem and the other cable modems of the
selected sounding group.
[0023] The interference measurements may further be performed by
sequential sounding between cable modems of the respective sounding
group.
[0024] Advantageously, the interference measurements are performed
in parallel for the different sounding groups. This has the further
advantage that the time needed for performing the measurements and
the related overhead will be reduced.
[0025] According to an example embodiment, the discovering the
mapping is based on topology information.
[0026] Topology information comprises information on the topology
of the cable network, i.e., which cable modem is connected to what
output port of the full duplex node. Topology information may be
available locally in the full duplex node, may be retrieved from an
upstream node or obtained by interaction with the cable modems
themselves. By using topology information, the mapping may be done
during normal operation of the cable network.
[0027] According to an example embodiment the means of the
controller comprise at least one processor and at least one memory
including computer program code, the at least one memory and
computer program code configured to, with the at least one
processor, cause the performance of the controller.
[0028] According to an example embodiment, a full duplex node
comprising the controller according to any one of the example
embodiments is disclosed.
[0029] According to an example embodiment, a full duplex node
comprising means for interoperating remotely with the controller
according to any one of the example embodiments is disclosed.
[0030] According to a second example aspect a method is disclosed
comprising i) discovering a mapping between receive analogue to
digital converters, RxADCs, of a full duplex node and cable modems
connected to the full duplex node; and wherein the cable modems and
full duplex node share communication bandwidth; and ii)
determining, based on the mapping, sounding groups by grouping
cable modems mapped to a same RxADC into a respective sounding
group; and wherein a sounding group is indicative for an upper
bound of possible interfering cable modems.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0031] Some example embodiments will now be described with
reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0032] FIG. 1 illustrates an example embodiment of a full duplex
node connected to a plurality of cable modems; and
[0033] FIG. 2 illustrates another example embodiment of a full
duplex node connected to a plurality of cable modems; and
[0034] FIG. 3 illustrates different bandwidth configurations
comprising a plurality of sub-bands for full duplex communication;
and
[0035] FIG. 4 illustrates an example embodiment of steps performed
by a controller for determining transmission groups in a cable
network; and
[0036] FIG. 5 illustrates an example embodiment of steps performed
by a controller for adding a joining cable modem to existing
transmission groups in a cable network; and
[0037] FIG. 6 illustrates an example embodiment of a full duplex
node comprising a controller for performing the steps as
illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5; and
[0038] FIG. 7 illustrates another example embodiment of a full
duplex node and a remote controller for performing the steps as
illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5; and
[0039] FIG. 8 illustrates an example embodiment of a computing
system for performing the steps as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and
5.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT(S)
[0040] FIG. 1 illustrates an example embodiment of a full duplex
node 100 or, shortly, FDX node 100. FDX node 100 comprises a
plurality of radio frequency, RF, output ports 110, 120, 130, 140.
Each output port may be connected to a cable plant section 115,
125, 135, 145. A respective cable plant section is then further
connectable to a plurality of cable modems 111-113, 121-123,
131-133, 141-143. Cable modems on a same cable plant section share
the cable medium as they are connectable to the same output port.
Cable modems on a same cable plant section therefore also share the
communication bandwidth available on the cable medium. Analogue
communication signals from different output ports, e.g. output
ports 110, 120 or 130, 140 may then be combined together by a
multiplexer 150, 160 into a single analogue communication signal.
FDX node 100 further comprises a plurality of receive analogue to
digital converters 151, 161 or, shortly, RxADCs. An RxADC converts
a multiplexed analogue communication signal from a respective
multiplexer into a digital communication signal which may then be
further processed by a baseband processing chain in the FDX node
100 or further upstream in an aggregation network. FIG. 1 only
illustrates some of the upstream processing means but may also
comprise further downstream processing means for providing
downstream communication to the connected cable modems. FDX node
100 is further configured such that cable modems connected to ports
110, 120, 130, 140 share the same communication bandwidth, i.e.,
the cable modems are not allowed to transmit within the same
frequency band at the same time and, the other way around,
downstream signals transmitted by the FDX node are received at all
cable modems.
[0041] FIG. 2 illustrates another example embodiment of an FDX node
200. FDX node 200 comprises a plurality of radio frequency, RF,
output ports 210, 220, 230, 240. Each output port may be connected
to a cable plant section 115, 125, 135, 145. A respective cable
plant section is then further connectable to a plurality of cable
modems 111-113, 121-123, 131-133, 141-143. Cable modems on a same
cable plant section share the cable medium as they are connectable
to the same output port. Cable modems on a same cable plant section
therefore also share the communication bandwidth available on the
cable medium. FDX node 200 further comprises a plurality of RxADCs
201, 202, 203, 204. An RxADC converts an analogue communication
signal received on a respective output port into a digital
communication signal which may then be further processed by a
baseband processing chain in the FDX node 200 or further upstream
in an aggregation network. FIG. 2 only illustrates some of the
upstream processing means but may also comprise further downstream
processing means for providing downstream communication to the
connected cable modems. FDX node 200 is further configured such
that cable modems connected to ports 210, 220, 230, 240 share the
same communication bandwidth, i.e., the cable modems are not
allowed to transmit within the same frequency band at the same time
and, the other way around, downstream signals transmitted by the
FDX node are received at all cable modems.
[0042] FDX nodes 100 and 200 are configured to perform full duplex
communication with connected cable modems over the shared
communication bandwidth. Full duplex communication is to be
understood as the possibility for simultaneous upstream and
downstream communication between cable modems and the FDX node
within the same frequency bands of the communication bandwidth and
within the same time slot. Full duplex communication is not the
same as emulated full-duplex communication such as frequency
division duplexing, FDD, or time division duplexing, TDD.
[0043] To provide full duplex communication, FDX nodes 100, 200 and
the connected cable modems may operate according to the extension
for full duplex communication of the international
telecommunications standard Data Over Cable Service Interface
Specification, DOCSIS, permitting the addition of high-bandwidth
data transfer over an existing hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC)
infrastructure, e.g., according to the DOCSIS 3.1 Full Duplex
specification. FIG. 3 illustrates different full duplex bandwidth
configurations for the DOCSIS 3.1 specifications. The plot 310
illustrates a first configuration where 192 MHz of the
communication bandwidth is reserved for two full-duplex sub-bands
315 and 316 each comprising one upstream OFDMA channel and one
downstream OFDM channel. The plot 320 illustrates a second
configuration where 288 MHz of the communication bandwidth is
reserved for three full-duplex sub-bands 325, 326 and 327 each
comprising one upstream OFDMA channel and one downstream OFDM
channel. The plot 330 illustrates a third configuration where 384
MHz of the communication bandwidth is reserved for two full-duplex
sub-bands 335 and 336 each comprising two upstream OFDMA channels
332, 333 and one downstream OFDM channel. The plot 340 illustrates
a fourth configuration where 576 MHz of the communication bandwidth
is reserved for three full-duplex sub-bands 345, 346 and 347 each
comprising two upstream OFDMA channels and one downstream OFDM
channel. Within the DOCSIS specification, cable modems that share
the communication bandwidth are referred to as a Service Group
(SG). In both examples of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, all cable modems
111-113, 121-123, 131-133, 141-143 belong to the same Service
Group.
[0044] Because of the full duplex operation, one cable modem's
upstream communication signals may interfere with downstream
communication signals from the FDX node 100, 200. FIG. 4
illustrates steps performed according to an example embodiment to
determine groups of possibly interfering cable modems, referred to
as sounding groups, and, subsequently, to assign cable modems to
transmission groups based on these sounding groups. The steps are
further illustrated by an example case applied to the FDX node 100
by showing different groups 404, 405, 406, 433, 434 resulting from
different grouping operations. The reference numbers within these
groups refer to the reference numbers of FIG. 1.
[0045] In a first discovering step 401, a mapping 404 is determined
between the RxADCs of the FDX node and the connected cable modems.
For example, for FDX node 100, cable modems 111-113 and 121-123 are
mapped to RxADC 151 and cable modems 131-133 and 141-143 are mapped
to RxADC 161. Similarly, for FDX node 200, cable modems 111-113 may
be mapped to RxADC 201, cable modems 121-123 mapped to RxADC 202,
cable modems 131-133 mapped to RxADC 203 and cable modems 141-143
mapped to RxADC 204. The mapping may be done based on topology
information 410 outlining the architecture of the cable network,
i.e., how each cable modem is connected to the FDX node. Topology
information may be obtainable from the aggregation network upstream
of the FDX node, e.g. from a network management apparatus. Topology
information may also be derivable from within the FDX node itself,
e.g. by inspection of data retrieved from the different RxADCs or
by control messages exchanged between the FDX node and the
connected cable modems.
[0046] In a subsequent grouping step 402, the identified and mapped
cable modems are grouped into sounding groups 405. The grouping is
performed by grouping the cable modems that are mapped to the same
RxADC into a single sounding group. For FDX node 100 for example,
cable modems 111-113 and 121-123 are grouped into a first sounding
group 152 and cable modems 131-133 and 141-143 are grouped into a
second sounding group 162. Similarly, for FDX node 200, cable
modems 111-113 may be grouped into a first sounding group 218,
cable modems 121-123 grouped into a second sounding group 228,
cable modems 131-133 grouped into a third sounding group 238 and
cable modems 141-143 grouped into a fourth sounding group 248. A
sounding group is further indicative for an upper bound of a set of
the cable modems that will interfere with each other. In other
words, a sounding group is defined as a group of cable modems that
will not suffer from interference from cable modems from another
sounding group. The above may further be assured by providing a
sufficient isolation between cable modems that are connected to
different RxADCs or between cable modems that are connected to
different output ports. State of the art cable output ports already
offer an isolation of more than 25 dB which is more than sufficient
to achieve an interference level at the cable modem of less than 63
dB with respect to the received downstream signal.
[0047] In a next step 403, the cable modems are grouped into
transmission groups 406, 434 based on the sounding groups. Cable
modems within such a transmission group are then only allowed to
either transmit or receive data on any full-duplex sub-band and
allocated time-slot of the communication bandwidth. For example,
referring to the bandwidth configuration 330, cable modems within a
same transmission group would not be allowed to simultaneously,
i.e. at the same time, receive data from OFDM channel 331 and to
transmit data on any one of OFDMA channel 332 and 333. In other
words, cable modems from different transmission groups are allowed
to simultaneously transmit and receive on a full-duplex sub-band,
i.e. to perform upstream communication on an upstream OFMDA channel
of the full-duplex sub-band and to perform downstream communication
on a downstream OFDM channel of the same full-duplex sub-band.
Therefore, cable modems from different transmission groups may not
interfere with each other because otherwise a transmitting modem
from one transmission group could possibly interfere with a
receiving cable modem of another transmission group. As the
sounding groups already define an upper bound for interfering cable
modems, the grouping of cable modems into transmission groups may
be based on the sounding groups.
[0048] For example, the transmission groups may be selected
identical to the sounding groups as shown in the grouping 406.
Alternatively, a transmission group may be selected as a
combination of different sounding groups. Referring to FDX node
200, a first transmission group may be selected as comprising all
the cable modems of sounding groups 218 and 228 and a second
transmission group may be selected as comprising all the cable
modems of sounding groups 238 and 248.
[0049] According to a further example embodiment, the transmission
groups may be determined by performing further interference
measurements. This is illustrated by sub-steps 430, 431 and 432. In
step 430, interference measurements between cable modems of each
sounding group are obtained. Based on these interference
measurements, in step 431, each sounding group is further
subdivided into groups 433 of interfering cable modems, also
referred to as interference groups (IGs). Referring to FDX node
100, the interference groups 116, 117, 126 and 127 of interfering
cable modems may be obtained within the sounding group 152.
Referring to FDX node 200, the interference groups 216, 217 may be
obtained for the sounding group 218 and the interference groups 226
and 227 may be obtained for the sounding group 228. Then, in the
next step 432, the grouping of the cable modems in transmission
groups 434 is based on the obtained interference groups, i.e.
interference groups are combined into the transmissions groups. For
this, interference groups from different sounding groups may be
combined. Advantageously, the transmission groups are composed such
that each group accounts for equal amount of upstream and
downstream traffic, thereby achieving an optimal use of the
communication bandwidth.
[0050] Interference measurements for the different sounding groups
may further be performed in parallel because, by design,
interference measurements within one sounding group will not
interfere with interference measurements in another sounding
group.
[0051] Interference measurements between cable modems of a sounding
group may be performed by sounding. One cable modem then transmits
a predefined test or sounding signal onto the cable medium and the
other cable modems listen for the signal from which the
interference from the transmitting modem to the receiving modems is
determined. This process is then repeated for each cable modem
within the sounding group. The sounding process may be done
sequentially, i.e. the cable modems transmit the test signal one
after the other. The sounding process may also be performed in
parallel, i.e. multiple modems transmit sounding signals at
different frequencies, at the cost of a reduced resolution of the
measurement.
[0052] FIG. 5 illustrates steps performed according to an example
embodiment when a cable modem joins a cable modem network, for
example, when one of cable modem initiates communication with FDX
node 100 or 200. In a first step 501, a joining cable modem
connecting to the FDX node 100 or 200 is detected. Then, in step
502, the mapping between the joining cable modem and the RxADCs of
the FDX node is performed. This may be done in a similar fashion as
in step 401 above. Thereupon, in step 503, the joining cable modem
is added to one of the sounding groups based on the mapping, i.e.,
the joining cable modem is added to the sounding group which groups
the cable modems that are connected to the same RxADC as the
joining cable modem. The method then proceeds to the next step 504
and adds the joining cable modem to one of the transmission groups
based on the sounding group it belongs to.
[0053] Similar to step 403, step 504 may be performed by executing
a first sub-step 540 in which interference measurements are
performed between the joining cable modems and the other cable
modems in the sounding group. These interference measurements may
again be performed by sounding. Based on the additional
interference measurements, in sub-step 541, the joining cable modem
is then added to one of the interference groups within the
respective sounding group, similar to step 431. Lastly, in step
542, the joining cable modem is then added to the transmission
group to which the interference group was assigned, similar to step
432.
[0054] FIG. 6 illustrates an FDX node 600 according to an example
embodiment. FDX 600 illustrates a further detail of FDX node 100.
FDX node 600 further comprises a controller 601. Controller 601 may
be configured to perform any of the steps according to the above
example embodiments and may be configured to interact with the
other components of FDX node 600 for performing these steps.
[0055] FIG. 7 illustrates an FDX node 700 according to an example
embodiment. FDX 700 illustrates a further detail of FDX node 100.
FDX node 700 further comprises a controller 702. Controller 702 may
be configured to interact with a remote controller 701 wherein the
remote controller 701 is further configured to perform any of the
steps according to the above example embodiments. Controller 702
may then be configured to interact with the other components of FDX
node 700 and to exchange information and instructions with
controller 701 to perform the step according to the above example
embodiments. The controllers 601, 701 and 702 may also be arranged
into FDX node 200 in an equivalent way.
[0056] FIG. 8 shows a suitable computing system 800 according to an
example embodiment. Computing system 800 comprises means for
performing the steps according to the above example embodiments.
Computing system 800 may therefore be used as suitable
implementation of controller 601, 701 or 702. Computing system 800
may in general be formed as a suitable general-purpose computer and
comprise a bus 810, a processor 802, a local memory 804, one or
more optional input interfaces 814, one or more optional output
interfaces 816, a communication interface 812, storage element
interface 806 and one or more storage elements 808. Bus 810 may
comprise one or more conductors that permit communication among the
components of the computing system 800. Processor 802 may include
any type of conventional processor or microprocessor that
interprets and executes programming instructions. Local memory 804
may include a random-access memory (RAM) or another type of dynamic
storage device that stores information and instructions for
execution by processor 802 and/or a read only memory (ROM) or
another type of static storage device that stores static
information and instructions for use by processor 802. Input
interface 814 may comprise one or more conventional mechanisms that
permit an operator to input information to the computing device
800, such as a keyboard 820, a mouse 830, a pen, voice recognition
and/or biometric mechanisms, etc. Output interface 816 may comprise
one or more conventional mechanisms that output information to the
operator, such as a display 840, etc. Communication interface 812
may comprise any transceiver-like mechanism such as for example one
or more Ethernet interfaces that enables computing system 800 to
communicate with other devices and/or systems. The communication
interface 812 of computing system 800 may be connected to such
another computing system by means of a local area network (LAN) or
a wide area network (WAN) such as for example the internet. Storage
element interface 806 may comprise a storage interface such as for
example a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) interface or
a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) for connecting bus 810 to
one or more storage elements 808, such as one or more local disks,
for example SATA disk drives, and control the reading and writing
of data to and/or from these storage elements 808. Although the
storage elements 808 above is described as a local disk, in general
any other suitable computer-readable media such as a removable
magnetic disk, optical storage media such as a CD or DVD, -ROM
disk, solid state drives, flash memory cards, . . . may be
used.
[0057] Although the present invention has been illustrated by
reference to specific embodiments, it will be apparent to those
skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the details
of the foregoing example embodiments, and that the present
invention may be embodied with various changes and modifications
without departing from the scope thereof. The present embodiments
are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and
not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the
appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all
changes which come within the scope of the claims are therefore
intended to be embraced therein.
[0058] It will furthermore be understood by the reader of this
patent application that the words "comprising" or "comprise" do not
exclude other elements or steps, that the words "a" or "an" do not
exclude a plurality, and that a single element, such as a computer
system, a processor, or another integrated unit may fulfil the
functions of several means recited in the claims. Any reference
signs in the claims shall not be construed as limiting the
respective claims concerned. The terms "first", "second", third",
"a", "b", "c", and the like, when used in the description or in the
claims are introduced to distinguish between similar elements or
steps and are not necessarily describing a sequential or
chronological order. Similarly, the terms "top", "bottom", "over",
"under", and the like are introduced for descriptive purposes and
not necessarily to denote relative positions. It is to be
understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under
appropriate circumstances and embodiments of the invention are
capable of operating according to the present invention in other
sequences, or in orientations different from the one(s) described
or illustrated above.
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