Docsis radio frequency (RF) leakage management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12063078-B2
Application number	US-202217676135-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 19, 2022
Priority date	Feb 19, 2022
Publication date	Aug 13, 2024
Grant date	Aug 13, 2024

Abstract

A method, performed by a node, of provisioning a plurality of cable modems connected to the node, the method including: recording a respective transmit power level for each cable modem of the plurality of cable modems; determining a first set of the plurality of cable modems that can be allocated to a specified frequency band available for upstream communications according to an aggregation of the transmit power levels of the first set of the plurality of cable modems; and provisioning each cable modem of the first set to use at least a portion of the specified frequency.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, performed by a node, of provisioning a plurality of cable modems connected to the node, the method comprising:
obtaining an identification of a specified frequency band susceptible to radio frequency interference;
recording a respective transmit power level for each cable modem of the plurality of cable modems;
determining a first set of the plurality of cable modems that can be allocated to the specified frequency band available for upstream communications according to an aggregation of the transmit power levels of the first set of the plurality of cable modems wherein the first set of the plurality of cable modems comprises cable modems aggregately characterized by lower transmit power levels compared to cable modems of a second set of the plurality of cable modems; and
reducing radio frequency interference of the specified frequency band by provisioning each cable modem of the first set to use at least a portion of the specified frequency band.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sorting the plurality of cable modems by the transmit power levels,
wherein determining the first set of the plurality of cable modems comprises:
adding a first cable modem of the plurality of cable modems to the first set, the first cable modem having a lowest transmit power level among the plurality of cable modems; and
adding successive ones of the plurality of cable modems, sorted by the transmit power levels, to the first set based on a lowest transmit power level such that the aggregation of the transmit power levels of the first set of the plurality of cable modems does not exceed a threshold total transmit power level.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the addition of the successive ones of the plurality of cable modems comprises ensuring that the aggregation of the transmit power levels of the first set of the plurality of cable modems does not exceed the threshold total transmit power level for the specified frequency band.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a location of at least two of the cable modems of the plurality of cable modems,
wherein the determination of the first set of the plurality of cable modems that can be allocated to the specified frequency band available for upstream communications is performed according to the aggregation of the transmit power levels of the first set of the plurality of cable modems and a separation of the at least two cable modems.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
recording an identification of each cable modem of the first set;
recording a location of each cable modem of the first set;
receiving information about a leak of a signal in the specified frequency band; and
dispatching a technician using the locations of the cable modems of the first set.

6. A method, performed by a node, of provisioning a plurality of cable modems connected to the node, the method comprising:
receiving a request from a first cable modem of the plurality of cable modems for provisioning;
obtaining an identification of a specified frequency band susceptible to radio frequency interference;
determining that capacity is available outside of the specified frequency band;
directing the first cable modem to transmit in a band outside of the specified frequency band;
receiving a request from a second cable modem of the plurality of cable modems for provisioning;
determining that capacity is not available outside of a specified frequency band;
determining that a transmit power level of the second cable modem is below a threshold for the specified frequency band; and
reducing radio frequency interference of the specified frequency band by directing the second cable modem to transmit in at least a portion of the specified frequency band.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
receiving a request from a third cable modem of the plurality of cable modems for provisioning;
determining that capacity is not available outside of a specified frequency band;
determining that a transmit power level of the third cable modem is above a threshold for the specified frequency band;
determining that a fourth cable modem has a transmit power level below the threshold and is operating outside of the specified frequency band;
directing the fourth cable modem to move into at least a portion of the specified frequency band; and
directing the third cable modem to transmit outside of the specified frequency band.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
receiving a request from a fifth cable modem of the plurality of cable modems for provisioning;
determining that capacity is not available outside of a specified frequency band;
determining that a transmit power level of the fifth cable modem is above a threshold for the specified frequency band;
determining that no other cable modem of the plurality of cable modems has a transmit power level below the threshold and is operating outside of the specified frequency band;
moving a sixth cable modem having a lowest transmit power level among a set of cable modems operating outside of the specified frequency band into the specified frequency band; and
directing the fifth cable modem to transmit outside of the specified frequency band.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
recording an identification of the second cable modem;
recording a location of the second cable modem;
receiving information about a leak of a signal in the specified frequency band; and
dispatching a technician using the location of the second cable modem.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method of provisioning a plurality of cable modems connected to a node, the method comprising:
obtaining an identification of a specified frequency band susceptible to radio frequency interference;
recording a respective transmit power level for each cable modem of the plurality of cable modems;
determining a first set of the plurality of cable modems that can be allocated to the specified frequency band available for upstream communications according to an aggregation of the transmit power levels of the first set of the plurality of cable modems wherein the first set of the plurality of cable modems comprises cable modems aggregately characterized by lower transmit power levels compared to cable modems of a second set of the plurality of cable modems; and
reducing radio frequency interference of the specified frequency band by provisioning each cable modem of the first set to use at least a portion of the specified frequency band.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising sorting the plurality of cable modems by the transmit power levels,
wherein determining the first set of the plurality of cable modems comprises:
adding a first cable modem of the plurality of cable modems to the first set, the first cable modem having a lowest transmit power level among the plurality of cable modems; and
adding successive ones of the plurality of cable modems, sorted by the transmit power levels, to the first set based on a lowest transmit power level such that the aggregation of the transmit power levels of the first set of the plurality of cable modems does not exceed a threshold total transmit power level.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the addition of the successive ones of the plurality of cable modems comprises ensuring that the aggregation of the transmit power levels of the first set of the plurality of cable modems does not exceed the threshold total transmit power level for the

Assignees

• Charter Communications Operating Llc

Inventors

• Cook Charles
• Stafford Roger

Classifications

• H04L41/0896

  Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities (flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76) · CPC title

• H04L41/0806

  for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play · CPC title

• H04L12/2801

  Broadband local area networks · CPC title

• H04B3/48 Primary

  Testing attenuation (H04B3/466 takes precedence) · CPC title