Apparatus, system, and method for providing energy management, profiles, and message blocks in a cable service environment

摘要

A method is provided in one example and includes generating one or more message blocks to be propagated along a narrow-band channel, wherein the message blocks are sub-components of a Physical Link Channel (PLC) frame; and communicating the PLC frame from a cable modem termination system (CMTS) to one or more cable modems.

主权项

1. A method, comprising:
generating one or more message blocks (MBs) to be propagated along a narrow-band channel, wherein the message blocks are sub-components of a Physical Link Channel (PLC) frame, wherein each MB comprises a message header indicating a type of the MB, a message body and a forward error correction (FEC)-parity block, wherein length of the FEC-parity block depends on the type of the MB, wherein the MB belongs to one of the following types: a Timestamp MB comprising a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) timestamp in the message body, an Energy Management MB comprising a sleep timer to wake up a group of cable modems (CMs) in the message body, and a Message Channel MB comprising DOCSIS Media Access Control (MAC) Management Messages in the message body; and communicating the PLC frame from a cable modem termination system (CMTS) to one or more cable modems.