Dynamic upstream attenuation for ingress noise reduction

1. An apparatus for reducing the presence of ingress noise from a communications gateway, including an embedded cable modem, at a subscriber location, said communications gateway comprising an RF module containing separate upstream and downstream signal paths, the apparatus comprising:

a variable attenuation element disposed in the upstream signal path in the RF module;

a signal processor configured to calculate the value of upstream loss as used in attenuation during operation, said signal processor is further configured to control the operation of said variable attenuation element during operation so as to reduce the presence of ingress noise in the upstream signal path based on the value of the upstream loss,

a signal amplifier, exhibiting predetermined gain, disposed in said upstream signal path in said RF module; and

a bypass switch disposed at the input of said signal amplifier, said bypass switch for controlling the presence of said signal amplifier in said upstream signal path such that when said bypass switch is in the “open” position said signal amplifier is removed from said upstream signal path and when said bypass switch is in the “closed” position said signal amplifier is inserted in said upstream signal path,

wherein the signal processor controls the attenuation level of said variable attenuation element such that when the calculated upstream loss is positive the attenuation is set to be essentially equal to said calculated upstream loss, and

the signal processor is configured to close said bypass switch and activate said signal amplifier to further reduce the presence of ingress noise in the upstream signal path.

2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the signal processor controls the bypass switch such that the switch is “opened” when the calculated upstream loss is positive and the switch is “closed” when the calculated loss is negative.

3. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the signal processor controls the amplifier to be “off” when the calculated upstream loss is positive and “on” when the calculated upstream loss is negative.

4. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein the signal processor controls the attenuation level of the variable attenuation element such that when the calculated upstream loss is negative the attenuation is set to be essentially equal to the maximum of the sum of the upstream loss and the predetermined gain of the amplifier, or zero.

5. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein in calculating upstream loss, the signal processor uses the following relationship:

USLossCalc=(MaxInBuildingTxLevel−InBuildingPathLoss−CGPassthroughLoss)−(CMTxLevel−CMpathLoss)+MaxChannelBandDelta−CalcErrorMargin,

where MaxInBuildingTxLevel is defined as an estimate of the maximum transmit level for two-way cable devices at a subscriber, InBuildingPathLoss is defined as an estimate of the nominal high-end upstream path loss at said subscriber, CGPassthroughLoss is defined as the loss in the communication gateway between the RF subscriber interface and the RF cable-drop interface ignoring any adjusted attenuation or amplification in said path, CMTxLevel is defined as the communication gateway's monitored cable modem transmit level, CMPathLoss is defined as the communication gateway's upstream path loss between its embedded cable modem interface and the RF cable-drop interface, CalcErrorMargin is defined as a predetermined “margin of error” used for adapting the determined value of the upstream loss calculation, and MaxChannelBandDelta is defined as 10 log(CMTxBW/MaxInBuildingTxBW), where CNTxBW is defined as the bandwidth of the upstream channel in the communication gateway's cable modem being used to provide the CMTxLevel reference, and MaxInBuildingTxBW is defined as the maximum bandwidth of said in-building cable device with MaxInBuildingTxLevel as a reference.

6. A method of reducing the presence of ingress noise in the upstream path of a bidirectional cable system at a communications gateway located at a subscriber premises, the method comprising the steps of:

calculating the upstream loss present at the communications gateway during operation; and

if the calculated loss is positive, setting an upstream variable attenuation element to exhibit an attenuation equal to the calculated upstream loss value,

wherein the step of calculating the upstream loss utilizes the following relation:

USLossCalc=(MaxInBuildingTxLevel−InBuildingPathLoss−CGPassthroughLoss)−(CMTxLevel−CMPathLoss)+MaxChannelBandDelta−CalcErrorMargin,

where MaxInBuildingTxLevel is defined as an estimate of the maximum transmit level for two-way cable devices at a subscriber, InBuildingPathLoss is defined as an estimate of the nominal high-end upstream path loss at said subscriber, CGPassthroughLoss is defined as the loss in the communication gateway between the RF subscriber interface and the RF cable-drop interface ignoring any adjusted attenuation or amplification in said path, CMTxLevel is defined as the communication gateway's monitored cable modem transmit level, CMPathLoss is defined as the communication gateway's upstream path loss between its embedded cable modem interface and the RF cable-drop interface, CalcErrorMargin is defined as a predetermined “margin of error” used for adapting the determined value of the upstream loss calculation, and MaxChannelBandDelta is defined as 10 log(CMTxBW/MaxInBuildingTxBW), where CMTxBW is defined as the bandwidth of the upstream channel in the communication gateway's cable modem being used to provide the CMTxLevel reference, and MaxInBuildingTxBW is defined as the maximum bandwidth of said in-building cable device with MaxInBuildingTxLevel as a reference.

7. The method as defined in claim 6 , further comprising the step of: if the calculated loss is negative, inserting an amplifier along the upstream path, said amplifier exhibiting a predetermined positive gain value and setting an upstream variable attenuation element to exhibit an attenuation equal to the maximum of the sum of the predetermined positive gain value and the calculated upstream loss value, or zero.

8. An apparatus for reducing the presence of ingress noise from a communications gateway, including an embedded cable modem, at a subscriber location, said communications gateway comprising an RF module containing separate upstream and downstream signal paths, the apparatus comprising:

a variable attenuation element disposed in the upstream signal path in the RF module;

a signal processor configured to calculate the value of upstream loss as used in attenuation during operation, said signal processor is further configured to control the operation of said variable attenuation element during operation so as to reduce the presence of ingress noise in the upstream signal path, and

a bypass switch for controlling the presence of a signal amplifier in said upstream signal path such that when said bypass switch is in the “open” position said signal amplifier is removed from said upstream signal path and when said bypass switch is in the “closed” position said signal amplifier is inserted in said upstream signal path, said bypass switch being controlled by said signal processor,

wherein the signal processor controls the attenuation level of said variable attenuation element such that when the calculated upstream loss is positive the attenuation is set to be essentially equal to said calculated upstream loss.