Electrical connectors – Preformed panel circuit arrangement – e.g. – pcb – icm – dip,... – With mating connector which receives panel circuit edge
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-18
2002-10-01
Nguyen, Khiem (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
Preformed panel circuit arrangement, e.g., pcb, icm, dip,...
With mating connector which receives panel circuit edge
C439S062000, C361S788000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06457978
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for arranging cable connectors to allow for easier cable installation.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The world is on the verge of a revolution that promises to change the way the Internet works and it is guaranteed to change the way the entire world communicates, works and plays. The revolution is the introduction of quality of service (QoS) to the Internet. This QoS revolution is already beginning, because most computer networking products (switches and routers) have already added some type of QoS to their feature sets. Unfortunately, there are many different forms of QoS from which to choose and they are not all compatible with one another. Different standards committees (DiffServ, RSVP, MPLS, etc.) are still deciding which of many different QoS proposals will actually be used in the Internet, and hybrid solutions will likely be developed in the very near future that will enable the QoS revolution.
The change is important, because it will eliminate the current Internet routing model that provides the same “best effort” service to all users, all packets, and all traffic flows. When QoS is enabled in a ubiquitous, end to end fashion across the Internet, differentiated services will be permitted, and all packets will be treated differently. High priority packets will be routed with lower latency and lower jitter, while low priority packets may experience more delay and jitter. The throughput needs of each application will determine the priority associated with its corresponding traffic flows, and it is likely that advanced application programs of the future will dynamically change the priority of traffic flows to match the very needs of the user through the entire duration of the session.
Since all packets will not be passed using the same priority level, it follows that all packets cannot be billed using the same charges in the future either. Future Internet users are likely to pay differently for different classes of service, and they may even be billed on a usage basis, e.g., per-minute, per packet, or per byte, similar to the billing schemes used for long distance telephone service today. The use of high priority traffic flow for an application will undoubtedly result in higher Internet usage costs than the use of low priority traffic flows and service level agreements (SLAs) between the Internet user and their service provider will detail the available priority and throughputs in and their associated costs. These changes in the Internet billing model represent an incredible revenue generating potential for access providers that can provide and bill for these new differentiated services, and multiple system operators (MSOs) are key members of this group.
MSOs are positioned in an ideal location within the Internet to play a major role in the QoS revolution, and they will be able to capitalize on the resulting changes. This is because the MSOs are positioned to act as the QoS gatekeeper into the future Internet. They can perform this function because they have access to each subscriber's service level contract and can appropriately mark the priority of all packets that are injected into the Internet by their subscribers. In fact, the MSOs head end equipment, the cable modem termination system CMTS is actually the first piece of trusted equipment not owned by the subscriber to which subscriber packets must pass on their way to the Internet. The CMTS is positioned at the head end office and it provides basic connectivity between the cable plant and the Internet.
FIG. 1
illustrates a simplified cable data system with a CMTS
30
. The CMTS
30
is connected through Internet link
40
to the Internet
20
. The CMTS
30
is also connected through various cable links
50
to a plurality of subscribers
60
.
The MSO also provides customer subscription packages and is able to offer (and bill for) many different subscriber service levels. In addition, if the CMTS equipment permits it, the MSO will also be able to offer dynamic service level upgrades to its subscribers. Features contained within an MSOs CMTS must provide most of these revenue generating QoS capabilities. This will result in even greater increases in revenues if the MSOs can maintain adequate counts on usage of different services levels consumed by its subscribers.
As set forth above, this CMTS provides basic connectivity between the cable plant and the local area network that interfaces to an edge router on the Internet. The CMTS is responsible for appropriately classifying, prioritizing, flow controlling, queuing, scheduling and shaping all the traffic flows between cable data subscribers and the Internet. As a result, this type of service experienced by the cable data subscribers will primarily be determined by the features in the CMTS core.
When selecting a CMTS for cable data deployment or expansion, MSOs have several different options from which to choose. The choice is complicated by a broad spectrum of prices and features such as reliability levels, ease of use, controllability, manageability, observability, support for various interfaces, support for various counts and measurements, support for proprietary features and feature upgrades, vendor service levels, etc. The CMTS selection process is even further complicated by the fact that a particular set of CMTS features that are required in one head end area may actually be undesirable in a different head end area because subscriber usage patterns and traffic profiles within the one region may be entirely different from those in another region.
Nevertheless, there is one CMTS feature that will undoubtedly be desirable and necessary for most of the head end that almost all of the MSOs as cable data service expands into the future. This feature is scalability. When referring to the size of a CMTS, the term scalable can be assigned two different meanings. According to one definition, a scalable CMTS should allow growth along a graduated path from very small sizes to very large sizes without imparting any large costs increments onto the MSO at any step along the graduated growth path. According to a second definition, a scalable CMTS should be capable of reaching the maximum capacity for size permitted by the underlined CMTS technology. For many reasons, MSOs might want to look for both of these scalability features when making their CMTS purchasing decisions.
The first of these features (graduated growth) is desirable in a CMTS because cable data services almost always greeted with incredible popularity when ever it enters a new subscription area. This typically leads to the dramatic increase in subscribers within a very short interval of time. To accommodate the sporadic usage increases, the CMTS must be able to rapidly increase the number of downstream and upstream channels being delivered to the subscribers. Any delay in this channel increase may force an MSO to temporarily over subscribe the existing cable data channels. The densely packed subscribers on the over subscribed channels are likely to complain and/or lose interest in the service giving the competitors with cable data service a chance to steal subscribers.
Even an established cable data service area where the upstream and downstream channel counts have been nicely matched to the current subscriber base, the subscriber demand for bandwidth will continually increase over time as new bandwidth hungry Internet applications are introduced. This increase in bandwidth demand will manifest itself as an increase in the subscription rate for higher service level agreements and that will force the MSOs to pack fewer subscribers on a given channel, and that will again require the CMTS to be able to rapidly increase the number of channels even if it is providing to the same number of customers. This illustrates a second reason why graduated growth is a desirable feature in a MSOs CMTS.
The second definition of scalability (maximum capacity) is also a desirable feature within a CMTS, because the ultimate subscriber rates for cable
Cloonan Thomas J.
Hickey Daniel W.
Johnson David R.
Mack Thomas J.
Cadent, Inc.
Nguyen Khiem
Prasad Chandrika
Vedder Price Kaufman & Kammholz
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