GLOSSARY
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customize its operation for use by a customer in a particular cable system. Typically,
during this process the controller sends reset and initialize commands along with
configuration and terminal control bytes.
International Electrotechnical Commission
International standards and conformity assessment body for all fields of
electrotechnology
Integrated Receiver Transcoder (IRT 1000, IRT 2000)
Motorola digital headend equipment that receives digital satellite signals and
remodulates data from QPSK to QAM IF for cable plant transmission.
Internet Protocol (IP) Address
This public standard address is used for packet- and connection-type
communications.
IPPV
Impulse Pay-Per-view. An ordering mechanism in which subscribers place orders
directly into set-tops by remote control. Events are authorized immediately for
viewing.
MAC address
Media Access Control address. A proprietary address used for
upstream/downstream communications. This is the lower sub-layer of the Data Link
layer in the OSI model and is used to describe the mechanisms used to arbitrate
access to a shared medium.
MPEG-2 (MPEG-II)
An international standard (ISO/IEC 13818) for delivering compressed digital video.
MPEG-2 broadcast quality is 704x480 pixels at 30 frames per second (fps) in North
America and 704x576 pixels at 25 fps in Europe. MPEG-2 is typically compressed at
higher than 5 Mbs and intended for higher quality broadcast uses.
OAM&P
A telephone industry acronym referring to operations, administration, maintenance,
and provisioning. The term refers to software required to generate the reports and
commands needed to control all network equipment. The OAM&P port is a network
(Ethernet) port through which a device communicates with the headend network.
The OAM&P port is assigned a hardware (MAC) address at the factory; this MAC
address is used for communication with the bootp server before the network (IP)
address is assigned to the port.
Packet Identifier (PID)
A number assigned to MPEG transport packets to identify the information stream to
which they belong. The PID number is assigned in the packet header, and all packets
from the same stream have the same PID number. A 13 bit number included in
MPEG-2 transport packet headers.
