MAPPING CABLE SERVICE FLOWS TO IP NETWORK

摘要

A novel method of handling network traffic for cable service flows in a distributed cable system is presented. Such a cable systems use remote distribution nodes in the fields to handle RF communications with cable modems in a distributed fashion. A packet engine is configured to assign a logical interface to each cable service flow in the cable system. Each logical interface in the packet engine is uniquely identifiable by a compound identifier that includes the identifier of the corresponding service flow and the identifier of the remote distribution node. Upon receiving upstream data packet from a particular cable service flow, the remote distribution node applies a set of tags or labels to the data packet identifying the data packet as being from the particular cable service flow. The remote distribution node then forwards the tagged packet toward the packet engine, where the tags/labels are used to direct the packet toward the corresponding logical interface of the particular cable service flow.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a remote distribution node, radio frequency (RF) signals from a plurality of cable modems for a plurality of cable service flows; creating a packet for a particular service flow based on the received RF signals; inserting first and second tags into the packet, the first tag identifying the particular cable service flow, the second tag identifying the remote distribution node; forwarding the packet to a packet engine in a cable head end, wherein the first and second tags are jointly used to identify a logical interface in the packet engine that is configured to handle the particular cable service flow.