Patent · US Expired

Cable modem with dribble grant access system and method

US6807193B1 · kind B1 · utility

64Cited by
4References
19Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateJun 20, 2000
Grant dateOct 19, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 14, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L12/2801
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A modem, communications system and method are provided with a transmitter and a receiver connected to a modem termination system (CMTS) by a medium. The modem has a memory forming a transmit queue including voice and video. The modem has a controller for sending data units from the receive queue to CMTS. The modem requests unsolicited grant service (UGS) from CMTS when the frame controller detects periodic stream to transmit. Upon detecting a data accumulation in the receive queue, the controller asserts a queue indicator. The Modem receives an occasional extra grant per interval and uses these grants until the queue indicator is not asserted. According to another feature, during transmission, the modem requests subsequent grants in a subsequent interval using an extended header having multiple bits for requesting the multiple grants. The CMTS allocates at least an extra grant to form a grant burst in response to the request.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.