Full Duplex Cable Communication

Abstract

Example embodiments describe a controller comprising means for performing i) discovering a mapping between receive analogue to digital converters, RxADCs, of a full duplex node ( 100 ) and cable modems ( 111 - 113, 121 - 123, 131 - 133, 141 - 143 ) connected to the full duplex node; and wherein the cable modems share a common communication bandwidth; and ii) determining, based on the mapping, sounding groups ( 152, 162 ) by grouping cable modems ( 111 - 131, 121 - 123 ) mapped to a same RxADC ( 151 ) into a respective sounding group ( 152 ); and wherein a sounding group is indicative for an upper bound of possible interfering cable modems.

1 . A controller comprising:
 at least one processor; and   at least one memory configured to store information for the at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
 discover a mapping between receive analogue to digital converters (RxADCs) of a full duplex node and cable modems connected to the full duplex node, and wherein the cable modems share a common communication bandwidth; and 
 determine, based on the mapping, sounding groups by grouping cable modems mapped to a same RxADC into a respective sounding group, 
   wherein a sounding group is indicative of an upper bound of possible interfering cable modems.   
     
     
         2 . The controller according to  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to group, based on the sounding groups, the cable modems into transmission groups, and wherein:
 the common communication bandwidth is configurable into a plurality of non-overlapping full duplex sub-bands; and   all cable modems within a transmission group are configured to perform all together either upstream or downstream communication within a respective sub-band during any allocated time-slot.   
     
     
         3 . The controller according to  claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to obtain interference measurements between cable modems of a respective sounding group, wherein the grouping of the cable modems into transmission groups by the at least one processor is further based on the interference measurements. 
     
     
         4 . The controller according to  claim 3  wherein the grouping of the cable modems into transmission groups further comprises:
 the at least one processor grouping interfering cable modems within a respective sounding group into respective interference groups based on the interference measurements; and 
 the at least one processor grouping one or more of the interference groups into a respective transmission group. 
 
     
     
         5 . The controller according to  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
 detect a joining cable modem connecting to the full duplex node and thereby joining the cable modems;   discover a mapping between one of the RxADCs and the joining cable modem; and   add, based on the mapping, the joining cable modems to a selected sounding group of the sounding groups.   
     
     
         6 . The controller according to  claim 5 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to
 obtain additional sounding measurements between the joining cable modem and the other cable modems of the selected sounding group.   
     
     
         7 . The controller according to  claim 3 , wherein the interference measurements are performed by the at least one processor sequentially sounding between cable modems of the respective sounding group. 
     
     
         8 . The controller according to  claim 3 , wherein the interference measurements are performed by the at least one processor in parallel for the different sounding groups. 
     
     
         9 . The controller according to  claim 1 , wherein cable modems mapped to a respective RxADC are connected to a single radio frequency (RF) port. 
     
     
         10 . The controller according to  claim 1 , wherein cable modems mapped to a respective RxADC are connected to a plurality of RF ports. 
     
     
         11 . The controller according to  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to discover the mapping is based on topology information. 
     
     
         12 . The controller according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the at least one memory is configured to store computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the performance of the controller.   
     
     
         13 . A full duplex node comprising the controller according to  claim 1 . 
     
     
         14 . A full duplex node comprising another controller configured to interoperate remotely with the controller of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         15 . A method comprising:
 discovering a mapping between receive analogue to digital converters (RxADCs) of a full duplex node and cable modems connected to the full duplex node, wherein the cable modems and full duplex node share a common communication bandwidth; and
 determining, based on the mapping, sounding groups by grouping cable modems mapped to a same RxADC into a respective sounding group, wherein a sounding group is indicative of an upper bound of possible interfering cable modems.