Systems and methods for ethernet passive optical network over coaxial (EPOC) power saving modes

1. An Ethernet Passive Optical Network Over Coaxial (EPOC) Coaxial Network Unit (CNU), comprising:

an Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) medium access control (MAC) module configured to receive a control message, the control message containing instructions to enter a sleep mode;

a radio frequency (RF) module, configured to couple the EPOC CNU to a coaxial cable;

an EPOC physical layer (PHY) module, coupled between the EPON MAC module and the RF module;

a traffic detection module configured to determine traffic characteristics of user traffic at the EPOC PHY module in response to the control message; and

a power manager module configured to determine a power profile based on the determined traffic characteristics and to control one or more modules of the EPOC CNU according to the power profile in order to enter the sleep mode,

wherein the traffic characteristics indicate an upstream bandwidth capacity usage is below a predefined threshold, and wherein the power manager module is configured to control the EPOC PHY module to reduce at least one of: frequencies of frequency sub-carriers used for upstream transmission; a modulation order used for upstream transmission; or a symbol rate used for upstream transmission.

2. The EPOC CNU of claim 1 , wherein the traffic characteristics indicate one or more of: presence of upstream data traffic, absence of upstream data traffic, presence of downstream data traffic, absence of downstream data traffic, presence of active joined multicast groups, and the upstream bandwidth capacity usage.

3. The EPOC CNU of claim 2 , wherein the RF module further comprises:

RF transmit (TX) circuitry configured to transmit a first RF signal onto the coaxial cable; and

RF receive (RX) circuitry configured to receive a second RF signal from the coaxial cable,

and wherein the EPOC CNU further comprises:

a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), coupled to the RF TX circuitry; and

an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), coupled to the RF RX circuitry.

4. The EPOC CNU of claim 3 , wherein the traffic characteristics indicate the absence of upstream data traffic, and wherein the power manager module is further configured to power down the RF TX circuitry and the DAC for a duration defined by the sleep mode.

5. The EPOC CNU of claim 3 , wherein the traffic characteristics indicate the absence of downstream data traffic, and wherein the power manager module is further configured to power down the RF RX circuitry and the ADC for a duration defined by the sleep mode.

6. The EPOC CNU of claim 3 , wherein the traffic characteristics indicate the upstream bandwidth capacity usage is below the predefined threshold, and wherein the power manager module is configured to power down the RF TX circuitry, the DAC, the RF RX circuitry, and the ADC for a duration defined by the sleep mode.

7. The EPOC CNU of claim 1 , wherein the power manager module is further configured to control the EPOC PHY to reduce a number of frequency sub-carriers used for upstream transmission.

8. The EPOC CNU of claim 3 , wherein the RF module further comprises a pilot recovery module, the pilot recovery module configured to extract a pilot tone from the second RF signal and to provide the pilot tone to the EPOC PHY module.

9. An Ethernet Passive Optical Network Over Coaxial (EPOC) Coaxial Network Unit (CNU), comprising:

an Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) medium access control (MAC) module configured to receive a control message, the control message containing instructions to enter a sleep mode;

a physical layer (PHY) module, coupled between the EPON MAC module and a user-network interface (UNI);

a traffic detection module configured to determine traffic characteristics of user traffic by monitoring bit streams at the PHY module in response to the control message; and

a power manager module configured to determine a power profile based on the determined traffic characteristics and to control one or more modules of the EPOC CNU according to the power profile in order to enter the sleep mode.

10. The EPOC CNU of claim 1 , wherein the control message includes an Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) message.

11. A method for power saving in an Ethernet Passive Optical Network Over Coaxial (EPOC) coaxial network unit (CNU), comprising:

receiving a control message containing instructions to enter a sleep mode;

determining traffic characteristics of user traffic at a physical layer (PHY) module in response to the control message;

determining a power profile based on the determined traffic characteristics; and

controlling one or more modules of the EPOC CNU according to the power profile in order to enter the sleep mode,

wherein the traffic characteristics indicate the upstream bandwidth capacity usage is below a predefined threshold, and wherein said controlling comprises reducing at least one of: frequencies of frequency sub-carriers used for upstream transmission; a modulation order used for upstream transmission; or a symbol rate used for upstream transmission.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the traffic characteristics indicate one or more of: presence of upstream data traffic, absence of upstream data traffic, presence of downstream data traffic, absence of downstream data traffic, presence of active joined multicast groups, and the upstream bandwidth capacity usage.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the traffic characteristics indicate the absence of upstream data traffic, and wherein said controlling comprises powering down radio frequency (RF) transmit (TX) circuitry and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) of the EPOC CNU for a duration defined by the sleep mode.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the traffic characteristics indicate the absence of downstream data traffic, and wherein said controlling comprises powering down radio frequency (RF) receive (RX) circuitry and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) of the EPOC CNU for a duration defined by the sleep mode.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein said controlling comprises powering down radio frequency (RF) transmit (TX) circuitry, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), RF receive (RX) circuitry, and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) of the EPOC CNU for a duration defined by the sleep mode.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein said controlling comprises reducing a number of frequency sub-carriers used for upstream transmission.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein determining traffic characteristics comprises:

selecting a packet type;

inspecting packets passing through the PHY module; and

determining the traffic characteristics based on the packets passing through the PHY module that are of the selected packet type.

18. A method for power saving in an Ethernet Passive Optical Network Over Coaxial (EPOC) coaxial network unit (CNU), comprising:

monitoring upstream data traffic in a physical layer (PHY) module of the EPOC CNU;

comparing a data rate of the upstream data traffic to available upstream bandwidth capacity;

selecting a power profile of the EPOC CNU based on the comparison of the data rate of the upstream data traffic to the available upstream bandwidth capacity; and

controlling the EPOC CNU to enter the power profile in order to enter a sleep mode,

wherein the data rate of the upstream data traffic is below a predefined threshold of the available upstream bandwidth capacity, and wherein controlling the EPOC CNU comprises controlling the PHY module of the EPOC CNU to reduce frequencies of frequency sub-carriers used for upstream transmission by the EPOC CNU.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein controlling the EPOC CNU further comprises:

controlling the PHY module of the EPOC CNU to reduce a number of frequency sub-carriers used for upstream transmission by the EPOC CNU.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein controlling the EPOC CNU further comprises:

controlling the PHY module of the EPOC CNU to reduce a modulation order used for upstream transmission by the EPOC CNU.

21. The method of claim 18 , wherein controlling the EPOC CNU further comprises:

controlling the PHY module of the EPOC CNU to reduce a symbol rate used for upstream transmission by the EPOC CNU.