Cable network gateway with digital DOCSIS/MoCA bridge
View Patent ↗A cable network gateway receives a downstream broadband signal via service provider cabling at an interface. An Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) converts the downstream broadband signal to a digital downstream broadband signal. A digital filter attenuates an upper spectrum from the digital downstream broadband signal to produce a filtered digitized downstream broadband signal. An in-home communications transceiver produces a digital in-home communications signal that overlaps the upper spectrum. Summing circuitry sums the filtered digitized downstream broadband signal with the digital in-home communications signal to produce a combined digital signal. A Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) converts the combined digital signal to a combined analog signal and an in-home cable interface transmits the combined analog signal via in-home cabling. The downstream broadband signal may be a Data over Cable System Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 3.0/3.1 signal and the digital in-home communications signal comprises a Multimedia over Coaxial Alliance (MoCA) signal.
1. A cable network gateway comprising:
a service provider cable interface configured to receive a downstream broadband signal via service provider cabling;
an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) configured to convert the downstream broadband signal to a digital downstream broadband signal;
a digital filter having an input coupled to an output of the ADC, and configured to attenuate at least an upper portion of a spectrum included in the digital downstream broadband signal to produce a filtered digitized downstream broadband signal;
a downstream channelizer including an input coupled to the output of the ADC and an output coupled to a Data over Cable System Interface Specification (DOCSIS) transceiver, the downstream channelizer configured to produce a channelized filtered signal from the filtered digitized downstream broadband signal;
an in-home communications transceiver configured to produce a digital in-home communications signal that overlaps the upper portion of the spectrum;
summing circuitry configured to sum the filtered digitized downstream broadband signal with the digital in-home communications signal to produce a combined digital signal;
a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) configured to convert the combined digital signal to a combined analog signal;
an in-home cable interface configured to transmit the combined analog signal via in-home cabling; and
a transmit path coupling the digital in-home communications signal to the in-home cable interface.
2. The cable network gateway of claim 1 , wherein the downstream broadband signal comprises a Data over Cable System Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 3.0/3.1 format signal.
3. The cable network gateway of claim 1 , wherein the digital in-home communications signal comprises a Multimedia over Coaxial Alliance (MoCA) format signal.
4. The cable network gateway of claim 1 , wherein the upper portion of the spectrum comprises approximately 1,000 to 1,200 MHz.
5. The cable network gateway of claim 1 , further comprising a band-pass filter configured to filter the digital in-home communications signal.
6. The cable network gateway of claim 1 , further comprising at least one of:
a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) interface;
a Wired Local Area Network (LAN) interface;
an optical interface; or
a local device interface.
7. The cable network gateway of claim 1 , further comprising a downstream channelizer configured to channelize the filtered digitized downstream broadband signal.
8. A method for servicing cable communications comprising:
receiving a downstream broadband signal via service provider cabling;
converting the downstream broadband signal to a digital downstream broadband signal using a wide-band analog to digital converter;
low pass filtering the digital downstream broadband signal, using a digital filter having an input coupled to an output of the wide-band analog to digital converter, to attenuate an upper portion of a spectrum of the digital downstream broadband signal to produce a filtered digitized downstream broadband signal;
generating a channelized filtered signal from the filtered digitized downstream broadband signal using a downstream channelizer having an input coupled to the output of the wide-band analog to digital converter and an output coupled to a Data over Cable System Interface Specification (DOCSIS) transceiver;
receiving a first signal from a local network interface at an in-home communications transceiver;
producing a digital in-home communications signal from the first signal, the digital in-home communications signal overlapping the upper portion of the spectrum;
summing the filtered digitized downstream broadband signal with the digital in-home communications signal to produce a combined digital signal;
converting the combined digital signal to a combined analog signal; and
transmitting the combined analog signal via in-home cabling.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the downstream broadband signal comprises a Data over Cable System Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 3.0/3.1 format signal.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the digital in-home communications signal comprises a Multimedia over Coaxial Alliance (MoCA) format signal.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the upper portion of the spectrum comprises approximately 1,000 to 1,200 MHz.
12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising band-pass filtering the digital in-home communications signal.
13. The method of claim 8 , further processing the digital downstream broadband signal to service at least one of:
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) communications;
Wired Local Area Network (LAN) communications;
streamed video communications;
streamed audio communications
optical communications; or
local device communications.
14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising channelizing the filtered digitized downstream broadband signal.
15. A cable network gateway integrated circuit comprising:
an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) configured to receive a downstream broadband signal and to convert the downstream broadband signal to a digital downstream broadband signal;
a digital filter having an input coupled to an output of the ADC, and configured to attenuate at least an upper portion of a spectrum of the digital downstream broadband signal to produce a filtered digitized downstream broadband signal;
a downstream channelizer including an input coupled to the output of the ADC and an output coupled to a DOCSIS transceiver, the downstream channelizer configured to produce a channelized filtered signal from the filtered digitized downstream broadband signal;
an in-home communications transceiver configured to produce a digital in-home communications signal that overlaps the upper portion of the spectrum;
summing circuitry configured to sum the filtered digitized downstream broadband signal with the digital in-home communications signal to produce a combined digital signal;
a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) configured to convert the combined digital signal to a combined analog signal and to transmit the combined analog signal; and
a transmit path coupling the digital in-home communications signal to the in-home cable interface, wherein the transmit path bypasses the summing circuitry.
16. The cable network gateway integrated circuit of claim 15 , wherein the downstream broadband signal comprises a Data over Cable System Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 3.0/3.1 format signal.
17. The cable network gateway integrated circuit of claim 15 , wherein the digital in-home communications signal comprises a Multimedia over Coaxial Alliance (MoCA) format signal.
18. The cable network gateway integrated circuit of claim 15 , wherein the upper portion of the spectrum comprises approximately 1,000 to 1,200 MHz.
19. The cable network gateway integrated circuit of claim 15 , further comprising a band-pass filter configured to filter the digital in-home communications signal.
20. The cable network gateway integrated circuit of claim 15 , further comprising a downstream channelizer configured to channelize the filtered digitized downstream broadband signal.