Patent ID: 8910230

Claim:
A method of digitally transmitting downstream data over at least the optical fiber portion of a Hybrid Fiber Cable (HFC) network, said HFC network comprising at least a head end and at least one digital optical fiber node (DOFN) that is connected to at least one set of neighborhood CATV cables, and wherein said data comprises downstream QAM channels, said method comprising: transmitting at least one downstream QAM channel over the optical fiber as a plurality of QAM constellation symbols by encapsulating said QAM constellation symbols into a plurality of Ethernet frames or other digital transmission format frames, and digitally transmitting said plurality of Ethernet frames or other digital transmission format frames over said optical fiber; using said DOFN to receive said plurality of Ethernet frames or other digital transmission format claims, extract said downstream QAM constellation symbols, and use said downstream video QAM constellation symbols to modulate at least one DOFN QAM modulator, thus producing downstream QAM RF signals, and transmitting said DOFN generated downstream QAM modulated RF signals further downstream over said at least one set of neighborhood CATV cables; wherein said downstream data further comprises National Television System Committee (NTSC) or Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) RF channels, and further digitally transmitting said data over said optical fiber by: digitally sampling said NTSC or OFDM RF channels at said head end, producing a plurality of digitized waveform data, encapsulating said digitized waveform data into a plurality of digitized waveform data containing Ethernet frames or other digital transmission frames, and digitally transmitting said plurality of digitized waveform data containing Ethernet frames or other digital transmission frames downstream over said optical fiber; using said DOFN to receive said plurality of digitized waveform data containing Ethernet frames or other digital transmission frames, extract said plurality of digitized waveform data, and use said plurality of digitized waveform data to drive at least one digital to analog converter, thus producing downstream NTSC or OFDM RF channels; and further transmitting said DOFN generated NTSC or OFDM RF signals further downstream over said at least one set of neighborhood CATV cables.