METHOD OF ALLOCATING A BANDWIDTH ON THE UPSTREAM CHANNEL IN A CABLE MODEM SYSTEM

摘要

PURPOSE: An upstream channel bandwidth allocation method in a cable modem system is provided to reduce roundtrip delay and make data transfer more flexible by setting up part of the upstream channel width as a reservation bandwidth. CONSTITUTION: Many subscribers are accessed to a cable network through cable modems. A CMTS(cable modem termination system) divide an upstream channel to a determined number of minislots and allots bandwidths to the cable modems by transmitting MAP messages. Data is transferred between the CMTS and the cable modem using MAC(medium access control) frame. The CMTS sets up part of the upstream minislots as RBM(reservation based minislot)s(603). The CMTS reserves or clears the RBMs according to the request of the cable modems.