Patent ID: 7961754

Claim:
An apparatus for multimedia data transmission in a cable network between a cable modem termination system (CMTS) and at least one to a plurality of cable modems (CM) using a broadband and physical layer frame structure, comprising: an external network matching unit for transmitting data inputted or outputted from and to an external network to a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) Media Access Control (MAC) layer; a DOCSIS MAC processing unit for transmitting the data from the external network matching unit to a corresponding destination; a first downstream physical layer processing unit for handling an existing standard transmission in the data from the DOCSIS MAC processing unit; a second downstream physical layer processing unit for dealing with a new broadband transmission in the data from the DOCSIS MAC processing means; and an upstream physical layer processing unit for providing received data to the DOCSIS MAC processing unit, wherein the new broadband transmission of data is transmitted simultaneously with the existing standard transmission of data, wherein the existing standard transmission of data is a single transmission band, wherein the new broadband transmission of data is one or more transmission bands, wherein the new broadband transmission of data is transmitted based on a negotiation from the transmission of the existing standard transmission of data in the single transmission band to an existing cable modem (CM), wherein the negotiation is configured to determining by way of signaling between the CMTS and each of the at least one to the plurality of CMs during an initialization process of each of the at least one to the plurality of CMs whether each of the at least one to the plurality of CMs is the existing CM or a new CM, wherein the existing CM receives the existing standard transmission in the data from the DOCSIS MAC processing unit, and wherein the new CM receives the new broadband transmission in the data from the DOCSIS MAC processing unit.