Simultaneous transmission of an analog pots signal and a digital signal on a subscriber line

• US 20030039348A1
• Filed: 10/03/2002
• Published: 02/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/1997
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DZS, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Paradyne Corporation (Dasan Networks Incorporated)
• Inventors: Bremer, Gordon, Davis, Jeff
• Granted Patent: US 7,020,266 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/220.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2863 Arrangements for combining access network resources elements, e.g. channel bonding modem pooling H04L25/14; routing of packets H04L45/00; multichannel or multilink protocols H04L69/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2889 Multiservice, e.g. MSAN
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2898 Subscriber equipments DSL modems H04M11/062; cable modems H04L12/2801
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/002 with telemetering systems telemetering in general G08C
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/062 using different frequency bands for speech and other data
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

Apparatus and method for simultaneously providing multiple telephone-type services to any/all POTS-type devices on a single wire pair at a user premises. The present invention provides for the ability to add separately addressable POTS devices on a single service loop. This can be accomplished in at least two ways: first by the use of a multipoint protocol or second by Frequency Division Multiplexing.

Claims

1. A data communications apparatus for enabling a plurality of telephone-type services to be provided to a plurality of telephone-type devices connected to a single subscriber line, said apparatus comprising:

circuitry connectable to at least one of said plurality of telephone-type devices wherein said circuitry enables said at least one of said plurality of telephone-type devices to operate using a frequency band higher than a plain old telephone system (POTS) frequency band on the subscriber line; and

interface circuitry attachable to said single subscriber line to enable said at least one of said plurality of telephone-type devices using said frequency band higher than said POTS frequency band to simultaneously share said single subscriber line with another one of said plurality of telephone-type devices that uses the POTS frequency band.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said plurality of telephone-type services are concurrent.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of telephone-type services is determinable by a telephone service provider.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said plurality of telephone-type services comprises at least one of digitized analog communications, audio services utilizing audio compression, digitized audio service that transmits and receives said digitized audio at a data rate of about 8 KPS, DSL service, Multimedia service, video phone service, digital phone service with a protocol required for communication over Internet, digital facsimile services, audio and visual data streaming services, a home security service, and a meter reading system service.

5. A method for use in a data communications apparatus, said method comprising:

providing a plurality of telephone-type services to a plurality of telephone-type devices connected to a single subscriber line using a frequency band higher than a plain old telephone system (POTS) frequency band; and

enabling said at least one of said plurality of telephone-type devices to operate using said frequency band higher than said POTS frequency band and attached to said data communications apparatus to simultaneously share said single subscriber line with another one of said plurality of telephone-type devices that uses the POTS frequency band.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of providing a plurality of telephone-type services further comprises the step of:

providing said plurality of telephone-type services concurrently.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of providing a plurality of telephone-type services further comprises the step of:

making each of said plurality of telephone-type services determinable by a telephone service provider.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein providing a plurality of telephone-type services comprises providing at least one of digitized analog communications, audio services utilizing audio compression, digitized audio service that transmits and receives said digitized audio at a data rate of about 8 KPS, DSL service, Multimedia service, video phone service, digital phone service with a protocol required for communication over Internet, digital facsimile service, audio and visual data streaming service, a home security service, and a meter reading system service.

9. A data communications system comprising:

a means for connecting to at least one of a plurality of telephone-type devices that uses a frequency band higher than a plain old telephone system (POTS) frequency band; and

a means for providing a plurality of telephone-type services to said plurality of telephone-type devices connected to a single subscriber line, said providing means enabling said at least one of said plurality of telephone-type devices attached to said data communications system to operate using a frequency band higher than a POTS frequency band to simultaneously share said single subscriber line with another one of said plurality of telephone-type devices that uses the POTS frequency band.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said telephone-type services providing means further comprises:

a means for providing said plurality of telephone-type services concurrently.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein said telephone-type services providing means further comprises:

a means for making each of said plurality of telephone-type services determinable by a telephone service provider.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the means for providing a plurality of telephone-type services further comprises means for providing at least one of digitized analog communications, audio services utilizing audio compression, digitized audio service that transmits and receives said digitized audio at a data rate of about 8 KPS, DSL service, Multimedia service, video phone service, digital phone service including a protocol required for communication over Internet, digital facsimile service, audio and visual data streaming service, a home security service, and a meter reading system service.

13. A method, comprising the steps of:

providing a first telephone-type service over a subscriber line in a plain old telephone system (POTS) frequency band; and

providing a second telephone-type service over the subscriber line in a frequency band that is higher than the POTS frequency band.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the providing steps are performed at a central office.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the providing steps are performed at a customer premises.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

communicating a data signal in the frequency band that is higher than the POTS frequency band; and

communicating a voice signal in the POTS frequency band.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of:

providing said first and second telephone-type services concurrently on the subscriber line.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of:

making each of the plurality of telephone-type services determinable by a telephone service provider.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of:

providing digitized analog communications in the frequency band that is higher than the POTS frequency band.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the second telephone-type service is at least one of an audio service utilizing audio compression, a DSL service, a multimedia service, a video phone service, a digital phone service including a protocol for communication over Internet, a digital facsimile service, an audio and visual data streaming service, a home security service, and a meter reading system service.

21. A central office wire center system, comprising:

means for providing a first telephone-type service over a subscriber line in a plain old telephone system (POTS) frequency band; and

means for providing a second telephone-type service over the subscriber line in a frequency band that is higher than the POTS frequency band.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the first and second telephone-type services are provided concurrently on the subscriber line.

23. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

a means for making each of the first and second telephone-type services determinable by a telephone service provider.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the second telephone-type service uses digitized analog communications.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the second telephone-type service is at least one of an audio service utilizing audio compression, a DSL service, a multimedia service, a video phone service, a digital phone service including a protocol required for communication over Internet, a digital facsimile service, an audio and visual data streaming service, a home security service, and a meter reading system service.

26. A system comprising:

a subscriber line;

one or more first telephone-type devices connected to the subscriber line and communicating in a plain old telephone system (POTS) frequency band; and

one or more second telephone-type devices connected to the subscriber line and communicating in a frequency band that is higher than the POTS frequency band.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the existence of the first and second telephone-type services can be determined by a telephone service provider.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein at least one of the one or more second telephone-type devices is a digitized analog communications device.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein at least one of the one or more second telephone-type devices implements at least one of an audio service utilizing audio compression, a DSL service, a multimedia service, a video phone service, a digital phone service including a protocol for communication over the Internet, a digital facsimile service, an audio and visual data streaming service, a home security service, and a meter reading system service.

30. The system of claim 26, wherein at least one of the second telephone-type devices has a transfer rate that is higher than that associated with at least one of the first telephone-type devices.

31. A system comprising:

a subscriber line;

a first telephone-type device connected to the subscriber line;

a second telephone-type device designed to communicate in a frequency band above the plain old telephone system (POTS) frequency band; and

interface circuitry that interfaces the second telephone type-device to the subscriber line and enables the second telephone-type device to communicate in a frequency band that is higher than the POTS frequency band.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein at least one of the one or more second telephone-type devices is a digitized analog communications device.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein at least one of the one or more second telephone-type devices implements at least one of an audio service that utilizes audio compression, a DSL service, a multimedia service, a video phone service, a digital phone service including a protocol for communication over the Internet, a digital facsimile service, an audio and visual data streaming service, a home security service, and a meter reading system service.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein at least one of the first telephone-type devices is designed to communicate a voice signal, and at least one of the second telephone-type devices is designed to communicate a data signal.

35. Communication signals transmitted along a subscriber line in a communication system, the communication signals comprising:

an analog plain old telephone system (POTS) signal within a first frequency band, the first frequency band comprising a range of frequencies for carrying POTS signals; and

a digital signal within a second frequency band, the second frequency band comprising a range of frequencies for carrying digital signals, the second frequency band having frequencies greater than the frequencies in the first frequency band;

wherein the analog POTS signal and the digital signal appear on the subscriber line simultaneously.

36. The communication signals of claim 35, wherein the first frequency band comprises frequencies within a range from 0 to 4 kHz.

37. The communication signals of claim 36, wherein the second frequency band comprises frequencies within a range from 20 kHz to 1 MHz.

38. The communication signals of claim 37, wherein a guard frequency band comprises frequencies within a range from 4 kHz to 20 kHz.

39. The communication signals of claim 35, wherein the subscriber line is connected to a plurality of subscriber devices.

40. The communication signals of claim 39, wherein the subscriber devices comprise at least one POTS device that transmits and receives the analog POTS signal and at least one digital device that transmits and receives the digital signal.

41. The communication signals of claim 40, wherein the at least one digital device operates in both the first frequency band and the second frequency band when the at least one analog POTS device is not in operation.

42. The communication signals of claim 35, further comprising a plurality of digital signals, each digital signal transmitted along the subscriber line within a frequency range that is a sub-set of the second frequency band, each sub-set being separate from the sub-sets of the other digital signals.

43. The communication signals of claim 42, wherein the subscriber line is connected to a plurality of digital devices, each digital device configured to transmit and receive one of the plurality of digital signals.

44. The communication signals of claim 35, wherein the analog POTS signal is transmitted along the subscriber line in one direction and the digital signal is transmitted along the subscriber line in the opposite direction.

45. A communication system comprising:

a subscriber premises having a subscriber line connected to a plurality of subscriber devices; and

a central office wire center comprising a plain old telephone system (POTS) splitter, a POTS switch, and a multipoint master modem, the POTS splitter connected to the subscriber line of the subscriber premises and further connected to the POTS switch and multipoint master modem of the central office wire center;

wherein a communication signal is communicated between the POTS splitter and the subscriber devices along the subscriber line, the communication signal comprising an analog POTS signal within a first frequency range and a digital signal within a second frequency range, the second frequency range comprising frequencies higher than the frequencies in the first frequency range.

46. The communication system of claim 45, wherein the first frequency range includes frequencies from 0 to 4 kHz.

47. The communication system of claim 45, wherein the second frequency range includes frequencies from 20 kHz to 1 MHz.

48. The communication system of claim 45, wherein the analog POTS signal is communicated between the POTS splitter and POTS switch, and the digital signal is communicated between the POTS splitter and the multipoint master modem.

49. The communication system of claim 48, wherein the multipoint master modem comprises means for transmitting and receiving a plurality of digital signals within a plurality of separate frequency bands, each frequency band being a sub-set of the second frequency range, each frequency band being dedicated to one of the plurality of subscriber devices.

50. The communication system of claim 45, wherein the POTS splitter transmits the analog POTS signal onto the subscriber line and simultaneously receives the digital signal from the subscriber line.

51. The communication system of claim 45, wherein the POTS splitter receives the analog POTS signal from the subscriber line and simultaneously transmits the digital signal onto the subscriber line.

52. The communication system of claim 45, wherein the subscriber line is a single wire pair.

53. The communication system of claim 45, wherein the subscriber devices comprise at least one POTS device that transmits and receives the analog POTS signal and at least one digital device that transmits and receives the digital signal.

54. The communication system of claim 53, wherein the subscriber devices comprise a plurality of digital devices, each digital device configured to transmit and receive one of a plurality of digital signals, each digital signal transmitted along the subscriber line within a frequency range that is a sub-set of the second frequency range, each sub-set being separate from the sub-sets of the other digital signals.

55. The communication system of claim 53, wherein the at least one POTS device is an analog device.

56. The communication system of claim 55, wherein the at least one POTS device comprises at least one device from a list comprising telephones and facsimile machines.

57. The communication system of claim 53, wherein the at least one digital device comprises at least one device from a list comprising digital telephones, personal computers, multimedia devices, Internet telephones, Internet video telephones, digital facsimile machines, digital televisions, home security systems, and power meter reading systems.

58. A method of forming a communication signal, the method comprising the steps of:

providing an analog plain old telephone system (POTS) signal on a subscriber line of a communication system, the analog POTS signal comprising a POTS signal within a first frequency band; and

simultaneously providing a digital signal on said subscriber line, the digital signal comprising digital data within a second frequency band, the second frequency band having frequencies different from the frequencies within the first frequency band.

59. A central office wire center comprising:

a plain old telephone system (POTS) splitter electrically connected to a subscriber line, the POTS splitter transmitting a first signal onto the subscriber line and receiving a second signal from the subscriber line;

a POTS switch connected to the POTS splitter;

a multipoint master modem connected to the POTS splitter;

one of the first and second signals comprising one of an analog POTS signal and at least one digital signal, the analog POTS signal having a POTS signal within a first frequency band, the at least one digital signal having digital data within a second frequency band; and

the other of the first and second signals comprising at least one digital signal within the second frequency band.

60. The central office wire center of claim 59, wherein the analog POTS signal is communicated between the POTS splitter and POTS switch, and the digital signal is communicated between the POTS splitter and the multipoint master modem.

61. The central office wire center of claim 60, wherein the multipoint master modem comprises means for transmitting and receiving a plurality of digital signals within a plurality of separate frequency bands, each frequency band being a sub-set of the second frequency range, each frequency band being dedicated to a subscriber service accessed by one of a plurality of subscriber devices.

62. The central office wire center of claim 59, wherein the analog POTS signal and the at least one digital signal are simultaneously transmitted along the subscriber line.

63. A subscriber system located at a subscriber premises, the subscriber system comprising:

a subscriber line in electrical communication with a central office of a communication system; and

a plurality of subscriber devices connected to the subscriber line, the subscriber devices comprising at least one plain old telephone system (POTS) device that transmits and receives analog POTS signals, the subscriber devices further comprising at least one digital device that transmits and receives digital signals;

wherein the analog POTS signals comprise POTS signals within a first frequency band, and the digital signals comprise digital data within a second frequency band, the second frequency band having frequencies greater than the frequencies in the first frequency band.

64. The subscriber system of claim 63, wherein the at least one POTS device is an analog POTS device.

65. The subscriber system of claim 64, wherein the analog POTS device is one of a telephone and a facsimile machine.

66. The subscriber system of claim 64, wherein the analog POTS device communicates directly with the subscriber line without the use of a modem.

67. The subscriber system of claim 63, further comprising a modem, wherein the at least one digital device communicates with the subscriber line via the modem.

68. The subscriber system of claim 67, wherein the at least one digital device comprises at least one of a digital telephone, a personal computer, a multimedia device, an Internet telephone, an Internet video telephone, a digital facsimile machine, a digital television, a home security system, and a power meter reading system.

69. The subscriber system of claim 63, wherein the subscriber line is a single wire pair.

70. The subscriber system of claim 69, wherein the single wire pair allows simultaneous transmission of the analog POTS signals and digital signals.

71. The subscriber system of claim 63, wherein the analog POTS signals and the digital signals are transmitted along the subscriber line within a frequency range comprising the first frequency band, a guard frequency band, and the second frequency band, the first frequency band comprising frequencies within a range from 0 to 4 kHz, the guard frequency band comprising frequencies within a range from 4 kHz to 20 kHz, and the second frequency band comprising frequencies within a range from 20 kHz to 1 MHz.

72. The subscriber system of claim 71, wherein the at least one digital device operates in the first frequency band, the guard frequency band, and the second frequency band when the at least one POTS device is not in operation.