Patent ID: 6757253
Filing Date: 2004-06-29
Classification: H04H,H04L,H04N

Abstract:
In a cable modem system, a method for performing spectrum management to reassign a degraded active upstream channel to an unused upstream channel having superior transmission characteristics comprising the steps of:monitoring the quality of an unused upstream channel in the background during the transmission of data on an active upstream channel; establishing the best of the unused upstream channels from the monitored quality thereof; and, switching the data on the degraded channel to the best of the unused upstream channels, wherein the monitoring step includes selecting a modem, retuning the modem to one of the unused channels, and transmitting a reference signal in the upstream direction, wherein said monitoring step includes analyzing the channel with the reference signal for upstream channel quality, wherein the monitoring step includes polling modems at taps on the cable by selecting a modem to transmit the reference signal, wherein the modem selected is at a tap location exhibiting the worst quality connection.