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:
Jan. 21, 2003
Filed:
Apr. 29, 1996
Timothy C. Kwok, Kowloon, HK;
Yoram Bernet, Seattle, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
Described herein is an ATM cable network having a plurality of ATM subscriber interface units or set-top boxes (STBs) in individual neighborhood homes. A coax distribution plant provides a plurality of communication channels between the STBs and a neighborhood node. A cable headend serves the neighborhood node and its associated STBs through a fiber-optic trunk providing a plurality of different communication channels or frequencies. The headend includes an ATM node switch having switch ports associated with each of the different communication channels. A resource manager at the headend assigns individual STBs to respective communications channels. STBs share both upstream and downstream communications channels and switch ports. In an extended autoregistration procedure, the ATM node switch is configured to assign exclusive ranges of VPI/VCI values to the individual STBs tuned to the single switch port. During ATM cell transfer, an ATM cell originating from or destined to a specific STB uses a VPI/VCI value within the range of routing indicators assigned to the STB. This allows the headend to determine the source of all upstream data cells and allows STBs to disregard any cells not intended for them.