DIGITAL TRANSMISSION SYSTEM HAVING MODULATORS REMOTELY LOCATED FROM CENTRAL MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL LAYER

摘要

A hybrid distributed cable modem termination systems having mini fiber nodes (6) containing CMTS modulators remotely located from the headend (4). DOCSIS MAC (66) layer components are located at the headend (4). This lowers cost and allows use of a smaller mFN (6) enclosure. The mFN (6) has A/D converters (49, 52) for DOCSIS upstream traffic and for legacy upstream traffic. A multiplexor (55) using forward error correction combines the legacy and DOCSIS traffic for upstream transmission along a single fiber at rates of approximately 2 Gbps. A splitter (62) at the headend (4) routes legacy traffic to legacy equipment and the DOCSIS traffic to the MAC (66) layer components. A single power supply at the head end can be used to power the mFNs (6).