Patent ID: 7986880

Claim:
A return path for RF-modulated video service control signals comprising: a subscriber optical interface for receiving downstream optical signals and for transmitting downstream analog RF-modulated video service control signals in an electrical domain, and for receiving upstream analog RF-modulated video service control signals in the electrical domain that are propagated according to one of a contention network protocol and a query-response protocol, the contention network protocol and query-response protocol supporting the control signals independently of time, the video service control signals comprising one or more commands for managing video programming that is displayable on a display device, the subscriber optical interface comprising an analog RF filter for passing the upstream analog RF-modulated video service control signals in the electrical domain and blocking any extraneous RF-modulated signals, the analog RF filter coupled to an A/D converter, the A/D converter for converting the upstream analog RF-modulated video service control signals to digital signals, the subscriber optical interface modulating an optical carrier with the digital signals for generating optical signals according to a timing dependent protocol and which are sent upstream relative to the subscriber optical interface.