Patent ID: 7773537

Claim:
A host unit for a multi-point to point communication system, the host unit comprising: a transceiver communicatively coupled with a plurality of remote units in a multi-point to point configuration, the transceiver configured to communicate with the plurality of remote units using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), wherein upstream OFDM signals from at least two of the plurality of remote units combine to a unified OFDM waveform of adjacent spectrally overlapping carriers at the host unit; a multi-carrier modem coupled to the transceiver and configured to demodulate upstream information from the unified OFDM waveform based on a Fourier transform algorithm, the multi-carrier modem further configured to modulate downstream information data onto a downstream OFDM waveform based on an inverse Fourier transform algorithm; wherein the multi-carrier modem is further configured to estimate an overall path delay correction based on at least one tone of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing waveform transmitted by a first remote unit of the plurality of remote units; and wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit the overall path delay correction to the first remote unit.