Time and frequency allocation for concurrent communications on a shared coaxial cable

1. A system comprising:

circuitry comprising a processor and memory for use in a controller of a network comprising a plurality of devices connected via a shared coaxial cable, wherein:

the circuitry is operable to maintain one or more data structures that hold, for each sender-receiver pair of the plurality of devices that are directly connected to each other via the shared coaxial cable, at least:

one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters other than device identity parameters, wherein the one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise:

a respective list of spectral characteristics for a plurality of frequencies; and

link parameters used for previous communications on the shared coaxial cable; and

per-sender-receiver-pair bandwidth grant status;

the circuitry is operable to, in response to receipt of a reservation request on the shared coaxial cable, decide which one or more of a plurality of subbands and which one or more of a plurality timeslots to reserve for a transmission based, at least in part, on the per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters and the per-sender-receiver-pair bandwidth grant status in the one or more data structures; and

generate a reservation grant message that indicates the decided one or more subbands and the decided one or more timeslots.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise a minimum transmit power parameter.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor and memory are operable to determine the one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters based, at least in part, on probes communicated over the shared coaxial cable between said each sender-receiver pair of the plurality of devices that are directly connected to each other via the shared coaxial cable.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the per-sender-receiver-pair bandwidth grant status comprises one of a plurality of status indicators comprising:

a first status indicator that indicates no reservation requested is pending or granted;

a second status indicator that indicates a reservation request is pending; and

a third status indicator that indicates a reserved one or more subbands and a reserved one or more timeslots have been granted.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise link parameters, other than link scheduling information, to be used for future communications on the shared coaxial cable.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry comprises a transceiver operable to:

measure a performance metric on the shared coaxial cable; and

make the measured performance metric available to the processor.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the processor is operable to update the one or more data structures based, at least in part, on the measured performance metric.

8. A method comprising:

receiving, by circuitry in a network controller of a network comprising a plurality of devices connected via a shared coaxial cable, a reservation request on the shared coaxial cable;

maintaining, by the circuitry, one or more data structures stored in memory, wherein the one or more data structures hold, for each sender-receiver pair of the plurality of devices that are directly connected to each other via the shared coaxial cable, at least:

one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters other than device identity parameters, wherein the one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise:

a respective list of spectral characteristics for a plurality of frequencies; and

link parameters used for previous communications on the shared coaxial cable; and

per-sender-receiver-pair bandwidth grant status;

deciding, by the circuitry, which one or more of a plurality of subbands and which one or more of a plurality timeslots to reserve for a transmission based, at least in part, on the per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters and the per-sender-receiver-pair bandwidth grant status in the one or more data structures; and

generating, by the circuitry, a reservation grant message that indicates the decided one or more subbands and the decided one or more timeslots.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise a minimum transmit power parameter.

10. The method of claim 8 , comprising determining, by the circuitry, the one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters based, at least in part, on probes communicated over the shared coaxial cable between said each sender-receiver pair of the plurality of devices that are directly connected to each other via the shared coaxial cable.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the per-sender-receiver-pair bandwidth grant status comprises one of a plurality of status indicators comprising:

a first status indicator that indicates no reservation requested is pending or granted;

a second status indicator that indicates a reservation request is pending; and

a third status indicator that indicates a reserved one or more subbands and a reserved one or more timeslots have been granted.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more per-sender-receiver-pair link parameters comprise link parameters, other than link scheduling information, to be used for future communications on the shared coaxial cable.

13. The method of claim 8 , comprising:

measuring by a transceiver of the circuitry, a performance metric on the shared coaxial cable; and

making the measured performance metric available to a processor of the circuitry.

14. The method of claim 13 , comprising updating, by the processor, the one or more data structures based, at least in part, on the measured performance metric.