Methods and apparatus for using bandwidth subject to cellular interference

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10462797-B2
Application number	US-201816046839-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 26, 2018
Priority date	Oct 31, 2014
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for using communications channels corresponding to frequency bands subject to cellular network, e.g., LTE, interference and/or other interference are described. The methods are well suited for use of cable networks where communications over a coax cable or via cable device may be subject to LTE interference. In various embodiments data traffic is classified based on whether the traffic corresponds to a protocol that supports a retry communications mechanism in the event of a communication error, the type of traffic data and/or the priority of the traffic data. In some embodiments data being communicated using a protocol which supports a retry mechanism are routed over channels subject to interference even if, in some cases, the packets correspond to data which has a higher priority or QoS requirements than packets, e.g., best effort packets, which are transmitted using a protocol that does not support a packet retry mechanism.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A communications method comprising:
operating a traffic classifier, in a communications device of a communications network, to classify traffic based on at least whether the traffic is being communicated using a retry mechanism in the event of a communication error, the traffic classifier classifying traffic communicated using a communications protocol which supports a retry communications mechanism as being traffic of a first type and traffic communicated using a communications protocol which does not support a communications retry mechanism as traffic of a second type; and
operating a traffic to channel assignment device, located in the communications device, to assign classified traffic of the first and second types to communications channels based on traffic classification, said assigning including assigning at least some traffic of said first type to communications channels in a first group of communications channels, said first group of communications channels corresponding to frequencies which are subject to wireless communications device interference, said assigning classified traffic further including assigning traffic of the second type to one or more communications channels in a second group of communications channels, said second group of communications channels corresponding to frequencies that are not subject to wireless communications device interference.

2. The communications method of claim 1 , wherein said communications device is a termination system.

3. The communications method of claim 2 , wherein said termination system is modem termination system located at a customer premises.

4. The communications method of claim 2 , wherein said termination system is modem termination system located at a network location outside a customer premises.

5. The communications method of claim 2 , wherein classifying traffic includes identifying Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) packets as first type packets and identifying User Data Protocol (UDP) packets as second type packets.

6. The communications method of claim 5 , wherein at least some of said UDP packets are best effort packets having a lower communications priority than at least some of said first type packets.

7. The communications method of claim 5 , further comprising:
monitoring for signals which are part of a retransmission mechanism indicating a failure to successfully communicate a packet over channels in said first group of communications channels; and
changing at least one of the level of packet interleaving and error correction coding used on at least one of the communications channels in said first group of communications channels in response to a change in a packet transmission failure rate for the communications channel determined from said monitoring.

8. The communications method of claim 1 ,
wherein said wireless communications device interference is interference from one or more cellular network devices; and
wherein said first type traffic includes first type packets, the communications method further comprising:
prioritizing first type packets based on packet content type;
allocating packets having a first level of priority to communications channels in a first sub-group of said first group of communications channels, channels in said first sub-group being subject to a first level of cellular network interference; and
allocating packets having a second level of priority to communications channels in a second sub-group of said first group of communications channels, channels in said second sub-group being subject to a second level of cellular network interference which is higher than said first level of cellular network interference.

9. The communications method of claim 8 , further comprising:
applying a first level of packet interleaving to packets allocated to a communications channel in said first sub-group; and
applying a second level of packet interleaving to packets allocated to a communications channel in said second sub-group, said second level of packet interleaving being higher than said first level of packet interleaving.

10. The communications method of claim 8 , further comprising:
applying a first level of error correction coding to packets allocated to said communications channel in said first sub-group; and
applying a second level of error correcting coding to packets allocated to said communications channel in said second sub-group, said second level of error correction coding being higher than said first level of error correction coding.

11. A communications apparatus comprising:
a traffic classifier circuit, located in a communications device of a communications network, that classifies traffic based on at least whether the traffic is being communicated using a retry mechanism in the event of a communication error, the traffic classifier circuit classifying traffic communicated using a communications protocol which supports a retry communications mechanism as being traffic of a first type and traffic communicated using a communications protocol which does not support a communications retry mechanism as traffic of a second type; and
a traffic to channel assignment circuit, located in the communications device, that assigns classified traffic of the first and second types to communications channels based on traffic classification, said assigning including assigning at least some traffic of said first type to communications channels in a first group of communications channels, said first group of communications channels corresponding to frequencies which are subject to wireless network interference, said assigning classified traffic further including assigning traffic of the second type to one or more communications channels in a second group of communications channels, said second group of communications channels corresponding to frequencies that are not subject to wireless network interference.

12. The communications apparatus of claim 11 , wherein said communications device is a termination system.

13. The communications apparatus of claim 12 , wherein said termination system is modem termination system located at a customer premises.

14. The communications system of claim 12 , wherein said termination system is modem termination system located at a network location outside a customer premises.

15. The communications apparatus of claim 11 , wherein said traffic classifier circuit includes an identification circuit configured to identify Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) packets as first type packets.

16. The communications apparatus of claim 15 , wherein said identification circuit is further configured to identify User Data Protocol (UDP) packets as second type packets.

17. The communications apparatus of claim 16 , wherein at least some of said UDP packets are best effort packets having a lower communications priority than at least some of said first type packets.

18. The communications apparatus of claim 17 , wherein said wireless network interference is cellular network interference.

19. The communications apparatus of claim 18 , wherein said wireless network interference is interference from LTE devices.

20. The communications apparatus of claim 11 ,
wherein said first type traffic includes first type packets;
wherein the traffic classifier circuit is further configured to prioritize first type packets based on packet content type; and
wherein said traffic to channel assignment circuit is further configured to:
allocate packets havi

Assignees

• Time Warner Cable Entpr Llc

Inventors

• Williamson Louis D
• Kelsen Michael

Classifications

• H04W72/56

  based on priority criteria · CPC title

• H04W72/541 Primary

  using the level of interference · CPC title

• H04L43/0847 Primary

  Transmission error · CPC title

• H04L1/007

  Unequal error protection (for format H04L1/0078; for codes per se H03M13/35) · CPC title

• H04L1/0071

  Use of interleaving (interleaving per se H03M13/27) · CPC title