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:
Nov. 09, 2004
Filed:
Feb. 16, 2001
John M. Brooks, Niwot, CO (US);
Brett A. Bernath, San Diego, CA (US);
Conexant Systems, Inc., Newport Beach, CA (US);
Abstract
A cable modem having a programmable media access controller (MAC). A single cable modem device includes all necessary MAC functions. The invention allows programmable MAC functions to support evolving standards (e.g., DOCSIS) without requiring expensive hardware upgrades. Bifurcated microprocessor architecture, in which first processing circuitry is programmed to implement MAC functionality for processing information flowing to and from cable media interface circuitry, and second embedded processor core or host system processor provides operating system functionality are used. Alternatively, separate processor cores provide MAC functionality for downstream and upstream data paths, respectively. Cable media interface circuitry, and other peripheral circuitry, are coupled to a peripheral bus that is linked by a bridge circuit to a system bus. The processing circuitry MAC is communicatively coupled to the system bus. Centralized DMA control directs data transfer between the peripheral and system buses as determined, at least in part, by the programmable MAC.