Patent ID: 7443873
Filing Date: 2008-10-28
Classification: H04J,H04N

Abstract:
1. A method of partitioning groups of cable modems in a broadband communications system, comprising: segregating a first physical upstream channel, that transmits data through a cable segment connected to a plurality of groups of cable modems, into a plurality of virtual upstream channels; assigning each group of cable modems to one of said virtual upstream channels, wherein each group of cable modems is initially assigned a unique upstream channel identifier, wherein the initially assigned unique upstream channel identifier is determined based upon a MAC address initially received from a cable modem and a port that received the MAC address; and provisioning said communications system by sending the initially assigned unique upstream channel identifier to each of the cable modems in the assigned group of cable modems within a MAC management message, wherein each cable modem can utilize their initially assigned virtual upstream channel to transmit data thereon.