Patent ID: 7889759

Claim:
A method for determining a common bit-loading modulation scheme for communicating between a plurality of nodes in a broadband cable network (“BCN”), the method comprising: transmitting a probe signal from a transmitting node within the plurality of nodes to a sub-plurality of receiving nodes within the plurality of nodes; receiving a plurality of response signals from the sub-plurality of receiving nodes wherein each response signal includes a bit-loading modulation scheme determined by a corresponding receiving node; and determining the common bit-loading modulation scheme from the received plurality of response signals; receiving the probe signal at one receiving node of the plurality of receiving nodes through a channel path of transmission; determining the transmission characteristics of the channel path at the one receiving node; and transmitting a response signal from the one receiving node to the transmitting node, wherein the transmission characteristics of the channel path are determined by measuring the signal-to-noise (“SNR”) characteristics of the received probe signal at the one receiving node and wherein determining a common bit-loading modulation scheme includes: comparing a plurality of bit-loading modulation schemes from the corresponding received plurality of response signals; and determining the common bit-loading modulation scheme in response to comparing the plurality of bit-loaded modulation schemes.