Architecture for two-way data services over residential area CATV networks

Abstract

An architectural design for high speed residential data access using the traditional IEEE 802.3 medium access protocol over the existing CATV network is proposed. The described architecture is attractive in using the existing infrastructure combined with the existing access scheme in the residential area and thus it is cost effective and well suited for home Internet access. However, the traditional CSMA/CD protocol is not suitable for the cable TV network due to its long propagation delay. Thus, we propose to combine the existing IEEE 802.3 CSMA/CD MAC with the segmented cable subnetworks so that a home user can get access to the Internet as if he is using the Ethernet at 10 Mbps, or Fast-Ethernet at 100 Mbps. Only three subcarriers in the passband cable is used and therefore it will not interfere with the traditional broadcasting channels and the future digital video channels. The segmented cable are interconnected by the defined cable bridge (CB) and a simple flow control mechanism is proposed among the CBs. The functional components and operations of each CB are also described. For a fair performance among the subnetworks, a prioritized queueing scheme is also proposed on each CB.