Gateway for transporting out-of-band messaging signals

1. A device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory having stored therein computer executable instructions, that when executed by the processor, cause the device to perform:

receiving out-of-band (OOB) signals through a signaling pathway that provides firewall separation between control data and content data, the OOB signals comprising at least a first message having a first message type and a second message having a second message type;

transmitting the first message to a first destination address via a first data tunnel having a first tunnel type corresponding to the first message type and the second message to a second destination address via a second data tunnel having a second tunnel type corresponding to the second message type; and

transmitting, to a third destination address, information associating the first tunnel type with the first destination address and associating the second tunnel type with the second destination address.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein at least one of the tunnel types comprises a broadcast tunnel, a conditional access tunnel, an application tunnel or a code download tunnel.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting via the first data tunnel and the second data tunnel collectively comprises transmitting via a plurality of output ports.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein a first one of the plurality of output ports is associated with the first message type and a second one of the plurality of output ports is associated with the second message type.

5. The device of claim 4 further comprising: a plurality of blades, each blade comprising one or more of the plurality of output ports.

6. The device of claim 5 wherein the plurality of output ports includes a first output port and a second output port located on a first blade of the plurality of blades.

7. The device of claim 5 wherein the plurality of output ports includes a first output port located on a first blade of the plurality of blades and a second output port located on a second blade of the plurality of blades.

8. The device of claim 1 wherein the first message and the second message are transmitted according to protocols defined in a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS).

9. A method comprising:

receiving out-of-band (OOB) signals through a signaling pathway that provides firewall separation between control data and content data, the OOB signals comprising at least a first message having a first message type and a second message having a second message type;

transmitting the first message to a first destination address via a first data tunnel having a first tunnel type corresponding to the first message type and the second message to a second destination address via a second data tunnel having a second tunnel type corresponding to the second message type; and

transmitting, to a third destination address, information associating the first tunnel type with the first destination address and associating the second tunnel type with the second destination address.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising: transmitting the first message and the second message to one or more devices having modem functionality.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the transmitting to the third destination address comprises transmitting via a management data stream.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the transmitting to the third destination address comprises transmitting via a third data tunnel.

13. A method comprising:

receiving out-of-band (OOB) messaging signals through a signaling pathway that provides firewall separation between control data and content data;

transmitting the OOB messaging signals via at least two types of data tunnels over a network to user devices, each data tunnel characterized as a one-way data stream of the OOB messaging signals, where each type of data tunnel is associated with a different type of OOB messaging signal such that different types of data tunnels transfer different types of OOB messaging signals; and

transmitting, via a third type of data tunnel, downstream channel information associating, for each of the at least two types of data tunnels, a tunnel type and a destination address.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein at least one of the at least two types of data tunnels comprises a broadcast tunnel.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein at least one of the at least two types of data tunnels comprises a conditional access tunnel.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein at least one of the at least two types of data tunnels comprises an application tunnel.

17. A method comprising:

receiving out-of-band (OOB) messaging signals through a signaling pathway that provides firewall separation between control data and content data;

transmitting the OOB messaging signals via at least two types of data tunnels for transfer over a network to user devices, wherein each data tunnel comprises a one-way data stream having a corresponding destination address;

associating each type of data tunnel with a different type of OOB messaging signal such that different types of data tunnels transfer different types of OOB messaging signals; and

transmitting, via a third type of data tunnel, downstream channel information associating, for each of the least two types of data tunnels, a tunnel type and the corresponding destination address.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein at least one of the at least two types of data tunnels comprises a broadcast tunnel, a conditional access tunnel, an application tunnel or a code download tunnel.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the transmitting the OOB messaging signals via the at least two types of data tunnels comprises transmitting via a plurality of output ports.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein the transmitting via the third type of data tunnel comprises transmitting via a management data stream.