Patent ID: 7984474

Claim:
A cable network point of presence, external to a cable headend location, comprising: a receiver adapted to receive a plurality of signals transmitted by a cable headend transmitter, wherein said signals are in a time division multiplexed format; a sample rate expander adapted to receive a plurality of signals derived from said plurality of time multiplexed signals; an anti-imaging filter adapted to receive an output of said sample rate expander; a transmitter co-located with said receiver for transmitting a plurality of modulated signals, derived from said plurality of time division multiplexed signals, to a first plurality of subscribers and a second plurality of subscribers, wherein: said transmitter comprises a plurality of quadrature amplitude modulators, said quadrature amplitude modulators are configured to frequency-division multiplex two or more signals derived from said plurality of time division multiplexed signals, said transmitter allocates bandwidth among said plurality of subscribers by adding or dropping at least one channel, and wherein said point of presence is at a location that is different from a location of said cable headend transmitter or locations of said first or second plurality of subscribers, wherein said first plurality of subscribers receives a first set of channels, wherein said second plurality of subscribers receives a second set of channels, and wherein, at a given moment in time, said first set of channels is different from said second set of channels.