Patent ID: 9344769
Filing Date: 2016-05-17
CPC Classification: H04B,H04L,H04N

Claim Text:
1. A digital optical fiber node system for a Hybrid Fiber Cable (HFC) network, the system comprising: a cable head end (CHE) located at a central office; a plurality of digital optical fiber nodes that each comprises a processor, a memory, and an address stored either in the processor or the memory, each of the plurality of digital optical fiber nodes at a location remote from the central office for receiving digital data from the CHE and for generating downstream radio frequency RF signals based on the received digital data that is directed to the digital optical fiber node's specific address, the received digital data comprising Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) symbols carried by IP packets; and a multiple port switch disposed at the CHE or between the CHE and the plurality of digital optical fiber nodes that is configured to read specific digital optical fiber node addresses associated with the received digital data and to direct any of the digital data that has a specific digital optical fiber node address to a particular digital optical fiber node that has a particular address corresponding to the specific digital optical fiber node address, wherein the CHE exchanges digital data with each digital optical fiber node over an optical fiber, and the digital optical fiber node is in RF communication with a plurality of cable modems for transmitting the generated downstream RF signals, wherein the generated downstream RF signals comprise RF waveforms modulated according to the received QAM symbols.