The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 08, 2001
Filed:
Jan. 29, 1998
Alexis M. Butrym, Morristown, NJ (US);
Michael W. Goodwin, North Andover, MA (US);
Kyoo J. Lee, Acton, MA (US);
David L. Sprague, Salem, MA (US);
Stuart Warmink, Morristown, NJ (US);
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
A central controller, such as an RF distribution shelf (RFDS) of a hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) access system, keeps track of the different channels assigned to different remote units, such as the network interface units (NIUs) of the HFC system. Information about the different channel assignments (e.g., for upstream channels) is broadcast to the remote units as part of the overhead bits in each of the downstream channels. Each remote unit monitors the broadcast messages and, over time, updates its own version of the data structure containing the channel assignments, as appropriate. In one embodiment, the central controller also transmits a second type of broadcast message indicating when changes in the channel assignments occur. In this embodiment, the second type of broadcast message is transmitted more frequently than the entire data structure containing the channel assignments, and the remote units only update their copies of the data structure when the second type of broadcast message indicates a change in the data structure.