Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for improving the signal quality and performance in a cable operator's Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) plant by adding DOCSIS intelligence to components within the HFC plant. These intelligent DOCSIS devices, referred to here as DOCSIS Intelligent Nodes (DINs), intercept the upstream signal from cable modems and set top boxes, and perform various types of signal processing on the signals based upon knowledge of the signal characteristics obtained from CMTS control structures such as MAPs and Upstream Channel Descriptors (UCDs). The DIN functionality can be integrated into any type of device found in HFC networks such as RF amplifiers and fiber nodes.