Abstract: A pipelined digital data receiver for a cable TV headend which is capable of receiving DOCSIS 1.0 or 1.1 or advanced PHY TDMA or SCDMA bursts having programmable symbol rates and programmable modulation types as well as a host of other burst parameters such at Trellis code modulation on or off, scrambling on or off, various values for Reed-Solomon T number and codeword length. The receiver has an RF section to filter and digitize incoming RF signals. It also has an input section to detect impulse noise and do match filtering and despread SCDMA bursts. A timing recovery section recovers the symbol clock and detects the start of bursts and collisions. A rotational amplifier and equalizer calculate and track gain, phase and frequency offsets and correct symbols and calculates equalization coefficients. A decoder section decodes TCM and non TCM bursts, and a Reed-Solomon decoder section reconstructs RS codewords and uses them to error correct the payload data.

Abstract: Method and apparatus to carry out wideband DOCSIS both upstream and downstream in a point-to-multipoint environment of an HFC system using port trunking concepts. For the downstream, each CMTS has a frame distributor which distributes frames to various transmitters transmitting on downstream channels to be used to transmit downstream data simultaneously to a CM using wideband DOCSIS. The frame distributor adds sequence numbers in some embodiments to guarantee proper order of frames can be restored at the CM, and schedules transmissions according to quality of service considerations to meet guaranteed and committed portions of constant bit rate and variable bit rate flows. The CMTS sends and Extended Channel Enable (ECE) message to wideband capable CMs telling them which downstreams to enable. Each CM has a frame collector to which all frames received on various downstream channels are sent. The frame collector makes sure they are all there, puts them into the proper order and delivers them to a NI.

Abstract: Method and apparatus to carry out wideband DOCSIS both upstream and downstream in a point-to-multipoint environment of an HFC system using port trunking concepts. For the downstream, each CMTS has a frame distributor which distributes frames to various transmitters transmitting on downstream channels to be used to transmit downstream data simultaneously to a CM using wideband DOCSIS. The frame distributor adds sequence numbers in some embodiments to guarantee proper order of frames can be restored at the CM, and schedules transmissions according to quality of service considerations to meet guranteed and committed portions of constant bit rate and variable bit rate flows. The CMTS sends and Extended Channel Enable (ECE) message to wideband capable CMs telling them which downstreams to enable. Each CM has a frame collector to which all frames received on various downstream channels are sent. The frame collector makes sure they are all there, puts them into the proper order and delivers them to a NI.

Abstract: Circuitry and processes carried out thereby are disclosed for implementing simple single tuner set top box decoders which do not require a separate tuner for an out of band management and control channel. Removable smart card conditional access circuitry and replaceable modules having decoding circuitry for different compression schemes and encoding circuitry for different format television circuits is disclosed. An embodiment with a single tuner and a full DOCSIS compatible modem which can interface to personal computers, etc. is also disclosed to make the set top box a simple, inexpensive home gateway is also disclosed.

Abstract: A pipelined digital data receiver for a cable TV headend which is capable of receiving DOCSIS 1.0 or 1.1 or advanced PHY TDMA or SCDMA bursts having programmable symbol rates and programmable modulation types as well as a host of other burst parameters such at Trellis code modulation on or off, scrambling on or off, various values for Reed-Solomon T number and codeword length. The receiver has an RF section to filter and digitize incoming RF signals. It also has an input section to detect impulse noise and do match filtering and despread SCDMA bursts. A timing recovery section recovers the symbol clock and detects the start of bursts and collisions. A rotational amplifier and equalizer calculate and track gain, phase and frequency offsets and correct symbols and calculates equalization coefficients. A decoder section decodes TCM and non TCM bursts, and a Reed-Solomon decoder section reconstructs RS codewords and uses them to error correct the payload data.

Abstract: A method for allowing upstream channels having the same multiplexing type but different symbol rates or the same symbol rates but different multiplexing types to be transmitted on the same frequency band without interfering with each other. In particular, a method for allowing DOCSIS 1.0 TDMA only cable modems to coexist on a digital data delivery distributed system with advanced PHY TDMA or SCDMA mode cable modems without the need for modification of the DOCSIS 1.0 cable modems or the need for the DOCSIS 1.0 modems to transmit on a different frequency.

Abstract: A bidirectional digital data communication system which generate phase coherent upstream clock and carrier signals from recovered downstream clock generated from a master clock in a central unit. The preferred species uses any downstream clock rate and generates a phase coherent upstream clock so long as the two clock rates can be related by the ratio M/N where M and N are integers. One embodiment uses an MCNS downstream and an SCDMA upstream and uses MNCN timestamp messages in the downstream to achieve an estimate of RU frame offset prior to establishing frame alignment using a ranging process. The use of timestamp messages to estimate the offset is aided by a low jitter method for inserting timestamp messages by avoiding straddling of MPEG packet headers with the sync message. Clock slip is detected by counting upstream clock cycles over a predetermined downstream clock interval and the RU transmitter is shut down if slip is detected to prevent ISI interference from misaligned codes.

Abstract: A bidirectional digital data communication system which generate phase coherent upstream clock and carrier signals from recovered downstream clock generated from a master clock in a central unit. The preferred species uses any downstream clock rate and generates a phase coherent upstream clock so long as the two clock rates can be related by the ratio M/N where M and N are integers. One embodiment uses an MCNS downstream and an SCDMA upstream and uses MNCN timestamp messages in the downstream to achieve an estimate of RU frame offset prior to establishing frame alignment using a ranging process. The use of timestamp messages to estimate the offset is aided by a low jitter method for inserting timestamp messages by avoiding straddling of MPEG packet headers with the sync message. Clock slip is detected by counting upstream clock cycles over a predetermined downstream clock interval and the RU transmitter is shut down if slip is detected to prevent ISI interference from misaligned codes.

Abstract: A bidirectional digital data communication system which generate phase coherent upstream clock and carrier signals from recovered downstream clock generated from a master clock in a central unit. The preferred species uses any downstream clock rate and generates a phase coherent upstream clock so long as the two clock rates can be related by the ratio M/N where M and N are integers. One embodiment uses an MCNS downstream and an SCDMA upstream and uses MNCN timestamp messages in the downstream to achieve an estimate of RU frame offset prior to establishing frame alignment using a ranging process. The use of timestamp messages to estimate the offset is aided by a low jitter method for inserting timestamp messages by avoiding straddling of MPEG packet headers with the sync message. Clock slip is detected by counting upstream clock cycles over a predetermined downstream clock interval and the RU transmitter is shut down if slip is detected to prevent ISI interference from misaligned codes.