EXPLICIT CONGESTION NOTIFICATION FOR DOCSIS BASED BROADBAND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

摘要

Satellite communications are carried out using the Data Over Cable Interface Specification (DOCSIS). Satellite modems are notified of upstream channel congestion by inserting a congestion notification message in a medium access protocol (MAP) message (300) for the upstream channel. Specifically, the congestion notification message is inserted in an unused field of the MAP message, such as the explicit congestion notification (ECN) field (302). The MAP message can also carry other characteristics of the upstream channel, including priority threshold, multicast access burst availability, and available bandwidth.