Patent ID: 6662368
Filing Date: 2003-12-09
Classification: H04L,H04N

Abstract:
A cable modem system for providing variable spare circuit group sizes and variable quantities of spare circuit groups, the system comprising:a group of one or more active circuits that provide information signals; at least one spare circuit, each spare circuit comprising circuitry that is substantially similar to each of the group of one or more active circuits; and a plurality of switching circuits, each switching circuit being coupled to, and corresponding to, one of either the group of one or more active circuits or the at least one spare circuit, wherein each switching circuit corresponding to one of the active circuits comprises a switch having a first input which is daisy-chain coupled with an immediately preceding switching circuit, a second input coupled to said corresponding active circuit, and a connection for inputting and outputting RF signals to and from subscriber cable modems, and wherein each corresponding switching circuit coupled to one of the at least one spare circuit comprises a feed-through switch circuit with an input coupled to said spare circuit and an output which is daisy-chained coupled to a succeeding switching circuit associated with an active circuit.