Upstream contention measurement reporting and mitigation in DOCSIS remote PHY network environments

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP) core from a remote physical layer (R-PHY) node over a converged interconnect network (CIN) in a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) R-PHY network environment, an indication of a collision level in an upstream network between the R-PHY node and a plurality of cable modems (CMs);

calculating a congestion level in the upstream network based on the collision level indicated by the R-PHY node;

adjusting back-off window parameters for cable modem retransmissions based on the calculated congestion level; and

adjusting a contention transmission opportunity density in a downstream Media Access Protocol (MAP) message based on the adjusted back-off window parameters, wherein the adjusting the contention transmission opportunity density comprises calculating a maximum number of contention transmission opportunities in a specific back-off window bounded by the adjusted back-off window parameters, and changing a value of the contention transmission opportunity density on a specific channel for a specific contention type to ensure the maximum number of contention transmission opportunities within a maximum acceptable access delay.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting by the CCAP core to the R-PHY node, the downstream MAP message having the contention transmission opportunity density and including the adjusted back-off window parameters in an Upstream External Physical Interface (UEPI) MAP pseudowire (PW), wherein the contention transmission opportunity density bounds a transmission back-off delay at the CMs.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the congestion level is calculated as a ratio of a number of collisions to a number of successful requests, wherein the collision level comprises a ratio of the number of collisions to a number of transmission opportunities indicated in at least one previously sent MAP message during a preconfigured calculation window.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the back-off window parameters are adjusted if the calculated congestion level falls outside a preconfigured congestion window.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contention transmission opportunity density is adjusted to achieve the maximum acceptable access delay.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication from the R-PHY node is received at the CCAP core in a UEPI PW.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the R-PHY node detects collisions between initial ranging requests from the plurality of cable modems, wherein the detected initial ranging request collisions are indicated in a trailing segment of a UEPI ranging (RNG) request (REQ) PW.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the R-PHY node detects the initial ranging request collisions using at least a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) and power level threshold.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the R-PHY node detects collisions between bandwidth requests from the plurality of cable modems, wherein the detected bandwidth request collisions are indicated in a request block of a UEPI REQ PW.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the R-PHY node detects the bandwidth request collisions using at least a packet header check sum (HCS) and power level threshold.

11. A non-transitory tangible computer readable medium embedded with instructions, which when executed by a processor, performs method steps comprising:

receiving, at a Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP) core from a remote physical layer (R-PHY) node over a converged interconnect network (CIN) in a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) R-PHY network environment, an indication of a collision level in an upstream network between the R-PHY node and a plurality of cable modems (CMs);

calculating a congestion level in the upstream network based on the collision level indicated by the R-PHY node;

adjusting back-off window parameters for cable modem retransmissions based on the calculated congestion level; and

adjusting a contention transmission opportunity density in a downstream MAP message based on the adjusted back-off window parameters, wherein the adjusting the contention transmission opportunity density comprises calculating a maximum number of contention transmission opportunities in a specific back-off window bounded by the adjusted back-off window parameters, and changing a value of the contention transmission opportunity density on a specific channel for a specific contention type to ensure the maximum number of contention transmission opportunities within a maximum acceptable access delay.

12. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise transmitting by the CCAP core to the R-PHY node, the downstream MAP message having the contention transmission opportunity density and including the adjusted back-off window parameters in a UEPI MAP PW, wherein the contention transmission opportunity density bounds a transmission back-off delay at the CMs.

13. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the back-off window parameters are adjusted if the calculated congestion level falls outside a preconfigured congestion window.

14. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the contention transmission opportunity density is adjusted to achieve the maximum acceptable access delay.

15. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the indication from the R-PHY node is received at the CCAP core in a UEPI PW.

16. An apparatus, comprising:

a Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP) core;

a memory element for storing data; and

a processor, wherein the processor executes instructions associated with the data, wherein the processor and the memory element cooperate, such that the apparatus is configured for:

receiving, at the CCAP core from a remote physical layer (R-PHY) node over a converged interconnect network (CIN) in a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) R-PHY network environment, an indication of a collision level in an upstream network between the R-PHY node and a plurality of cable modems (CMs);

calculating a congestion level in the upstream network based on the collision level indicated by the R-PHY node;

adjusting back-off window parameters for cable modem retransmissions based on the calculated congestion level; and

adjusting a contention transmission opportunity density in a downstream Media Access Protocol (MAP) message based on the adjusted back-off window parameters, wherein the adjusting the contention transmission opportunity density comprises calculating a maximum number of contention transmission opportunities in a specific back-off window bounded by the adjusted back-off window parameters, and changing a value of the contention transmission opportunity density on a specific channel for a specific contention type to ensure the maximum number of contention transmission opportunities within a maximum acceptable access delay.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , further configured for transmitting by the CCAP core to the R-PHY node, the downstream MAP message having the contention transmission opportunity density and including the adjusted back-off window parameters in a UEPI MAP PW, wherein the contention transmission opportunity density bounds a transmission back-off delay at the CMs.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the back-off window parameters are adjusted if the calculated congestion level falls outside a preconfigured congestion window.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the contention transmission opportunity density is adjusted to achieve the maximum acceptable access delay.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the indication from the R-PHY node is received at the CCAP core in a UEPI PW.