USOO9282365B2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 9.282,365 B2 Cholas et al. (45) Date of Patent: *Mar. 8, 2016 (54) PREMISES GATEWAY APPARATUS AND (2011.01) METHODS FOR USE IN A CONTENT (2011.01) DISTRIBUTION NETWORK (2006.01) (Continued) (71) Applicant: TIME WARNER CABLE ENTERPRISES LLC, New York, NY (52) U.S. Cl. CPC. H04N21/43615 (2013.01); H04L 12/2856 (US) (2013.01); H04N21/4147 (2013.01); H04N (72) Inventors: Chris Cholas, Frederick, CO (US); 21/42676 (2013.01); H04N 2 1/438 (2013.01); William L. Helms, Longmont, CO (US); H04N 2 1/4433 (2013.01); H04N 2 1/4627 Louis Williamson, Denver, CO (US); (2013.01); H04N 21/6118 (2013.01); H04N Jeffrey P. Markley, Superior, CO (US) 21/6168 (2013.01); H04N 2 1/64322 (2013.01) (58) Field of Classification Search (73) Assignee: Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC, CPC .................. H04N21/463615; H04N 21/.4147; New York, NY (US) HO4N 21f42676 See application file for complete search history. (*) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 (56) References Cited U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days. U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS This patent is Subject to a terminal dis claimer. 5,557,319 A 9, 1996 GuruSami et al. 5,765,097 A 6, 1998 Dail (21) Appl. No.: 14/612,032 (Continued) (22) Filed: Feb. 2, 2015 Primary Examiner — Hunter B Lonsberry (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm — GaZdzinski & Associates, (65) Prior Publication Data PC US 2015/0215669 A1 Jul 30, 2015 (57) ABSTRACT Apparatus and methods for premises gateway functions that Related U.S. Application Data integrate or unify functions typically distributed across mul (63) Continuation of application No. 13/888,210, filed on tiple devices within a content-based network. In one embodi May 6, 2013, now Pat. No. 8,949,919, which is a ment, the out-of-band (OOB) signaling functionality nor continuation of application No. 13/118,192, filed on mally provided in each of a set-top-box (STB) and digital May 27, 2011, now Pat. No. 8,438,607, which is a video recorder (DVR) are unified into a common OOB (e.g., continuation of application No. 1 1/818.236, filed on DOCSIS) capable premises gateway device, thereby obviat Jun. 13, 2007, now Pat. No. 7,954,131. ing OOB tuners and related components from each device. In another variant, the premises gateway is adapted for all-IP (51) Int. C. operation, such as for use with IP-based computers and IP H04N 7/8 (2006.01) set-top boxes, etc. Fully unified variants are also disclosed, H4N2L/436 (2011.01) wherein the DVR and/or STB functions are physically inte H4N2L/4I47 (2011.01) grated within the premises gateway. H4N2L/426 (2011.01) H4N2L/443 (2011.01) 20 Claims, 21 Drawing Sheets OS COAXA CAB 218 EEASON 2 PRESES - CASE U3 SN SERCES - 200 GAEA Y AN 222 ---/ ROTER 28 y CA-5 ABE -2.6n 26-- COMPUTER 220 COTER -1 US 9,282,365 B2 Page 2 (51) Int. Cl. 8,520,850 B2 8/2013 Helms et al. 8,738,607 B2 * 5/2014 Dettinger et al. ............. 707/713 H4N2L/438 (2011.01) 8,949,919 B2* 2/2015 E. et al. ................. 725, 112 H4N2L/4627 (2011.01) 2002/0038459 A1 3/2002 Talmola et al. 2002fOO61012 A1 5, 2002 Thietal. (56) References Cited 2003/0005453 A1 1/2003 Rodriguez et al. 2003.0056217 A1 3, 2003 Brooks U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 2003/O120742 A1 6/2003 Ohgami et al. 2003/0217365 A1 1 1/2003 Caputo 2004/O133920 A1 7, 2004 Kim et al. ; f 8. 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C. a. 2011/01458712011/01033.74 A1 6,5/2011 2011 LajoieLee et al.et al. s: R 2.58: H. a 2013/0125194 A1 5/2013 Finkelstein et al. 8,347,341 B2 1/2013 Markley et al. * cited by examiner U.S. Patent Mar. 8, 2016 Sheet 1 of 21 US 9.282,365 B2 OO N CONTENT DATA/ SOURCE APPECAON SOURCE HEAD END 04 APPLICATION SERVERS U.S. Patent Mar. 8, 2016 Sheet 2 of 21 US 9.282,365 B2 150 Y 154 156 52 SUBSCRIBER MANAGEMEN SYSTEM (SMS) & CPE CABE MODEM BING CONFIGURAON TERMINATION SYSTEM (CMTS) 158 & OOB SYSTEM AN 57 105 CONDITIONA ACCESS SYSEM DEMODULAE (CAS) AND SPLIT VOD SERVER 162 MULTIPLEXER, ENCRYPTER AND MODULATOR DEMODUAE AND DECRYPT 170 60 AN 101 OCAL 8. REMOTE FE 64 SERVERS OSTRBUION SERVERS NEWORK MANAGEMEN 06 TO & FROM SYSTEM (NMS) CONSUMER PREMISES EQUIPMEN (CPE) F.G. 1 a U.S. Patent US 9.282,365 B2 U.S. Patent Mar. 8, 2016 Sheet 4 of 21 US 9.282,365 B2 (3) (o) (C)(e) (E) Z6% (INBOWEJH H?WdWICHWWS8 TO}}NOOWS8 U.S. Patent Mar. 8, 2016 Sheet 5 of 21 US 9.282,365 B2 SI?Od 49004/01 GOW}{SdÒ SOOW-30? WWD-9WS WWÒÅ{}}\cd0}}? 18004/01 sigoa661 U.S. Patent Mar. 8, 2016 Sheet 6 of 21 US 9.282,365 B2 90|| OZZ | | ~, 09#2 ez'91-' (18W80188) U.S. Patent US 9.282,365 B2 904 U.S. Patent US 9.282,365 B2 U.S. Patent US 9.282,365 B2 U.S. Patent Mar. 8, 2016 Sheet 12 of 21 US 9.282,365 B2 / 700 ESABSH PSG OR CO A 702 PREMSES ESTABLISH AN A 704 PREMESES OPERATE PSG OR CD AS OOB PROXY FOR INCOMING 706 AND OUTGOING OOB COMMUNICATIONS F.G. 7 U.S. Patent Mar. 8, 2016 Sheet 13 of 21 US 9.282,365 B2 Z98 U.S. Patent US 9.282,365 B2 No. $$9 #18 949 U.S. Patent US 9.282,365 B2 No. 946 U.S. Patent Mar. 8, 2016 Sheet 17 of 21 US 9.282,365 B2 U.S. Patent US 9.282,365 B2 €1,'98.-) U.S. Patent Mar. 8, 2016 Sheet 20 of 21 US 9.282,365 B2 (ISHHETIOHINOO/300188 8||60||||09 Z09) U.S. Patent Mar. 8, 2016 Sheet 21 of 21 US 9.282,365 B2 /WWGHISdn US 9,282,365 B2 1. 2 PREMISES GATEWAY APPARATUS AND networks' discloses a subscriber premise local bus (SPLB) is METHODS FOR USE IN A CONTENT connected to a cable drop from a wide-band 2-way network DISTRIBUTION NETWORK through a gateway device providing frequency conversion and blocking of certain frequencies used in the Subscriber This application is a continuation of and claims priority to premises local bus (SPLB). Service channels to the consumer co-owned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. are provided in a first band such as 54 to 750 MHZ, carried 13/888,210 filed on May 6, 2013 and issuing as U.S. Patent unchanged over the SPLB. Return signals from the subscriber No. 8,949,919 on Feb. 3, 2015, which is a continuation of and are generated at Subscriber devices. Such as TV, computers, claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/118,192 etc. at, or are up-converted to, signals in a higher frequency filed on May 27, 2011 of the same title, and which issued as 10 band, such as 900 to 950 Mhz, for transmission on the SPLB U.S.