Method and system for service group management in a cable network

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a cable modem termination system (CMTS), for a plurality of cable modems served by said CMTS, a corresponding plurality of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) related metrics;

assigning, by said CMTS, said plurality of cable modems among a plurality of service groups based on said plurality of SNR-related metrics;

generating, by said CMTS for each one of said plurality of service groups, a composite SNR-related metric based at least in part on a worst-case SNR profile of said plurality of SNR-related metrics corresponding to said one of said plurality of service groups;

selecting, by said CMTS, physical layer communication parameters to be used for communicating with said one of said plurality of service groups based on said composite SNR-related metric; and

communicating, by said CMTS, with a portion of said plurality of cable modems corresponding to said one of said plurality of service groups using said selected physical layer communication parameters.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said physical layer communication parameters include one or more of: transmit power, receive sensitivity, timeslot duration, modulation type, modulation order, forward error correction (FEC) type, and FEC code rate.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said CMTS uses orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) over a plurality of subcarriers for said communicating.

4. The method of claim 3 , comprising selecting, by said CMTS, said physical layer communication parameters on a per-OFDM-subcarrier basis.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein said physical layer communication parameters include one or both of: which of said OFDM subcarriers to use for transmission to said CMTS, and which of said OFDM subcarriers to use for reception of information from said CMTS.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

said plurality of service groups comprises a first service group and a second service group;

said first service group has a first composite SNR versus frequency profile, said second service group has a second composite SNR versus frequency profile, and a third cable modem has a particular SNR versus frequency profile; and

said assigning said plurality of cable modems among said plurality of service groups comprises:

assigning said third cable modem to said first service group if said particular SNR versus frequency profile is more similar to said first composite SNR versus frequency profile than to said second composite SNR versus frequency profile; and

assigning said third cable modem to said second service group if said particular SNR versus frequency profile is more similar to said second composite SNR versus frequency profile than to said first composite SNR versus frequency profile.

7. The method of claim 1 , comprising assigning said plurality of cable modems among said plurality of service groups based on distances between said CMTS and said plurality of cable modems.

8. The method of claim 1 , comprising assigning any particular one of said plurality of cable modems to one of said plurality of service groups based on which one or more of a plurality of branch amplifiers are upstream of said one of said plurality of cable modems.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining said plurality of SNR-related metrics comprises:

transmitting a probe message to each said plurality of cable modems, said probe message comprising instructions for measuring a metric and reporting said measured metric back to said CMTS; and

receiving a metric reporting message from each of said plurality of cable modems.

10. A system comprising:

circuitry for use in a cable modem termination system (CMTS), said circuitry comprising a network interface and a processor wherein:

said processor is configured to determine, for a plurality of cable modems served by said CMTS, a corresponding plurality of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) related metrics;

said processor is configured to assign said plurality of cable modems among a plurality of service groups based on said plurality of SNR-related metrics;

said processor is configured to generate, for each one of said plurality of service groups, a composite SNR-related metric based at least in part on a worst-case SNR profile of said plurality of SNR-related metrics corresponding to said one of said plurality of service groups;

said processor is configured to select physical layer communication parameters to be used for communicating with said one of said plurality of service groups based on said composite SNR-related metric; and

said network interface is configured to communicate with a portion of said plurality of cable modems corresponding to said one of said plurality of service groups using the selected physical layer communication parameters.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein said physical layer communication parameters include one or more of: transmit power, receive sensitivity, timeslot duration, modulation type, modulation order, forward error correction (FEC) type, and FEC code rate.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein said network interface and said plurality of cable modems are configured to communicate using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) over a plurality of subcarriers.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein said network interface is configured such that said physical layer communication parameters are configurable on a per-OFDM-subcarrier basis.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein said physical layer communication parameters include one or both of: which of said OFDM subcarriers to use for transmission to said CMTS, and which of said OFDM subcarriers to use for reception of information from said CMTS.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein:

said plurality of service groups comprises a first service group and a second service group;

said first service group has a first composite SNR versus frequency profile, said second service group has a second composite SNR versus frequency profile, and a third cable modem has a particular SNR versus frequency profile;

said assignment of said plurality of cable modems among said plurality of service groups comprises:

assignment of said third cable modem to said first service group if said particular SNR versus frequency profile is more similar to said first composite SNR versus frequency profile than to said second composite SNR versus frequency profile; and

assignment of said third cable modem to said second service group if said particular SNR versus frequency profile is more similar to said second composite SNR versus frequency profile than to said first composite SNR versus frequency profile.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein said processor is configured to assign said plurality of cable modems among said plurality of service groups based on distances between said CMTS and said plurality of cable modems.

17. The system of claim 10 , wherein said processor is configured to assign said plurality of cable modems among said plurality of service groups based on a branch further branch amplifier that serves each of said plurality of cable modems.

18. The system of claim 10 , wherein said determination of said plurality of SNR-related metrics comprises:

transmission, via said network interface, of a probe message to each said plurality of cable modems, said probe message comprising instructions for measuring a metric and reporting said measured metric back to said CMTS; and

reception, via said network interface of said CMTS, of a metric reporting message from each of said plurality of cable modems.