Patent ID: 6940874

Claim:
A method for reducing interference from initializing network devices in a data-over-cable system having a plurality of upstream channels, the method comprising: aligning a plurality of maintenance intervals, wherein each maintenance interval of the plurality of maintenance intervals is associated with a corresponding upstream channel of the plurality of upstream channels; instructing the initializing network devices to range during the corresponding maintenance intervals of the plurality of maintenance intervals; and wherein the aligning step comprises the steps of: determining a measure of common maintenance start time for the plurality of maintenance intervals; deciding whether the measure of common maintenance start time falls within a plurality of usage intervals, wherein each usage interval of the plurality of usage intervals is associated with an upstream channel of the plurality of upstream channels; and when the measure of common maintenance start time falls within the plurality of usage intervals, scheduling the plurality of maintenance intervals to start at the measure of common maintenance start time; and wherein the determining step comprises the steps of: receiving a measure of present time, T P ; calculating the measure of common maintenance start time equal to expression T P +T B −T P mod(T B ), wherein T B is a measure of a base insertion time for the plurality of maintenance intervals in the data-over-cable system.