Patent ID: 7809011

Claim:
A method for reducing contention between customer premise equipment (CPE) devices during ranging on a plurality of upstream channels coupled to a cable modem termination system (CMTS) and to each of the CPE devices, the method comprising: grouping a first customer premises equipment (CPE) device with a first acquisition group of the CPE devices logically assigned to range on a first group of upstream channels in response to a loss of power, the first group of upstream channels selected from the plurality of upstream channels coupled to the CMTS and to each of the CPE devices; and grouping a second CPE device with a second acquisition group of the CPE devices logically assigned to range on a second group of upstream channels in response to the loss of power, the second group of upstream channels selected from the plurality of upstream channels coupled to the CMTS and to each of the CPE devices, wherein the first group of upstream channels comprise different upstream channels than the second group of upstream channels.