Convergence layer bonding over multiple carriers

摘要

A cable modem termination system (CMTS) is disclosed that allocates one or more minislots of a super-frame arrangement to cable modems for upstream transmission. The super-frame arrangement includes multiple minislots that correspond to multiple communication channels of one or more super-frames. The CMTS receives requests for upstream bandwidth from the cable modems. The CMTS continuously allocates the minislots of the super-frame to provide upstream bandwidth grants to accommodate these requests. The CMTS communicates the upstream bandwidth grants as a single upstream bandwidth allocation map (MAP) to the cable modems.

主权项

1. A cable modem for transmitting a sequence of data in accordance with a super-frame arrangement, the super-frame arrangement being characterized by a continuous sequence of minislots spread over a first communication channel and a second communication channel from among a plurality of communication channels, the cable modem comprising:
a super-frame module configured to:
arrange a first portion of the sequence of data onto a first set of minislots, corresponding to the first communication channel, from among the continuous sequence of minislots, andarrange a second portion of the sequence of data onto a second set of minislots, corresponding to the second communication channel, from among the continuous sequence of minislots; and a physical layer (PHY) configured to:
transmit the first set of minislots over the first communication channel, andtransmit the second set of minislots over the second communication channel.