SCTE•ISBE receives patent on APSIS technology, expects more to come

Dec. 3, 2018
The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) and its global arm, the International Society of Broadband Experts (ISBE), has announced receipt of the organizations’ first U.S. patent. If SCTE•ISBE President and CEO Mark Dzuban has his way, it won’t be the last.
50-year milestone for the SCTE
50-year milestone for the SCTE
50-year milestone for the SCTE
50-year milestone for the SCTE
50-year milestone for the SCTE
50-year milestone for the SCTE

The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) and its global arm, the International Society of Broadband Experts (ISBE), has announced receipt of the organizations’ first U.S. patent. If SCTE•ISBE President and CEO Mark Dzuban has his way, it won’t be the last.

The patent, U.S. Patent No. 10,139,845, “System and Method for Energy Consumption Management in Broadband Telecommunications Networks via Adaptive Power Management,” leverages the work SCTE•ISBE performed in creating SCTE 216 2015, Adaptive Power System Interface Specification (APSIS™), developed in conjunction with SCTE•ISBE’s Energy 2020 program (see "SCTE Starts on Power Management Standard" and “SCTE Energy 2020 Program Sets Benchmarks with Initial Standards”). The patent describes a framework for matching network energy consumption with network use.

“Because 73% to 83% of cable energy usage takes place in hubs and headends, the ability of APSIS to enable transactional energy use is core to cable’s ability to meaningfully reduce consumption,” said Chris Bastian, senior vice president, engineering and CTO of SCTE•ISBE, via a press release announcing the patent award. “Our efforts to enable network elements to use little or even no power without impacting service quality are of critical importance from the standpoints of both operators’ bottom lines as well as their stewardship of global resources.”

Dzuban says the patent was three years in the making. It reflects his desire to differentiate the cable industry from other groups of communications services and content providers as well as help protect the IP generated by SCTE•ISBE members in the course of developing specifications such as SCTE 216 2015. It also will help to ensure uniform access to that IP, he adds. How such access will be granted is one of the subjects SCTE•ISBE leadership will tackle in its January 2019 board meeting. Dzuban anticipates there will be “a good view” of how the access process will work within the first half of the year.

Meanwhile, the organization has filed for four other U.S. patents and is contemplating filing more. Dzuban declined to reveal the subjects of the pending applications.