Facilitating digital subscriber line services via a subscriber premise network interface device

• US 20030204393A1
• Filed: 04/25/2002
• Published: 10/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Alcatel SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Sharpe, Randall B., Rzonca, Richard R., Czerwiec, Richard M., Sutherland, Joseph E., Sanders, Gus C. Jr., Bailey, Richard H.
• Granted Patent: US 7,274,669 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/201
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/062 using different frequency bands for speech and other data
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/203 composed of PSTN and data network, e.g. the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2209 for lines also used for data transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/30 for subscriber's lines , for the local loop

Abstract

Various aspects of apparatuses and methods for enabling a subscriber premise network interface device (NID) to facilitate communication services including digitally derived voice services to be facilitated between a central office and a subscriber premise are disclosed herein. In accordance with one embodiment of the disclosures herein, such a method includes facilitating a downstream DSL voice channel transmission process at a subscriber premise Network Interface Device (NID) and facilitating an upstream DSL voice channel transmission process at the subscriber premise NID. The downstream DSL voice channel transmission process facilitates converting a voice component of a downstream DSL data stream to a corresponding downstream analog voice signal. The upstream DSL voice channel transmission process facilitates converting an upstream analog voice signal to an upstream voice component of an upstream DSL data stream.

Claims

1. A method for communicating voice signals, comprising:

facilitating a downstream DSL voice channel transmission process at a subscriber premise Network Interface Device (NID), wherein the downstream DSL voice channel transmission process facilitates converting a voice component of a downstream DSL data stream to a corresponding downstream analog voice signal; and

facilitating an upstream DSL voice channel transmission process at the subscriber premise NID, wherein the upstream DSL voice channel transmission process facilitates converting an upstream analog voice signal to an upstream voice component of an upstream DSL data stream.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein facilitating the downstream voice channel transmission process includes:

receiving the downstream DSL data stream;

identifying voice signal downstream transmission units of the downstream DSL data stream; and

converting said voice signal downstream transmission units to the corresponding downstream analog voice signal.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein identifying said voice signal downstream transmission units includes performing a transmission unit processing operation for determining a channel identifier associated with each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein identifying said voice signal downstream transmission units includes assessing a virtual channel identifier associated with each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein identifying said voice signal downstream transmission units includes determining a transmission layer protocol associated with each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein converting said voice signal downstream transmission units to the corresponding downstream analog voice signal includes performing a transmission unit-to-analog conversion operation for converting contents of said voice signal downstream transmission units to the corresponding downstream analog voice signal.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units is received by the subscriber premise NID as an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cell.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units is received by the subscriber premise NID as an Internet Protocol (IP) packet.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

assembling content of said voice signal downstream transmission units thereby generating processed voice signal downstream transmission units, wherein said assembling is performed prior to converting said voice signal downstream transmission units.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein:

each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units is received by the subscriber premise NID as an Asynchronous Transfer Mode cell; and

each one of said processed voice signal downstream transmission units is an Internet Protocol packet.

11. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

facilitating a downstream DSL data channel transmission process, wherein facilitating the downstream DSL data channel transmission process includes identifying data downstream transmission units of the DSL data stream and transmitting each one of said data downstream transmission units for reception by at least one of a plurality of designated subscriber interface ports.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein identifying said data signal downstream transmission units includes performing a transmission unit processing operation for determining a channel identifier associated with each one of said data downstream transmission units.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein identifying said data downstream transmission units includes assessing a virtual channel identifier associated with each one of said data downstream transmission units.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein identifying said data downstream transmission units includes determining a transmission layer protocol associated with each one of said data downstream transmission units.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein transmitting each one of said data downstream transmission units includes transmitting each one of said data downstream transmission units in accordance with Home Phone Networking Alliance protocol.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein transmitting each one of said data downstream transmission units includes transmitting each one of said data downstream transmission units in accordance with a subscriber premise specific transport methodology from a transmission unit circuit of the subscriber premise NID.

17. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

transmitting the corresponding downstream analog voice signal for reception by a designated subscriber interface port of the NID.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein transmitting the corresponding downstream analog voice signal includes determining a port identifier associated with the corresponding downstream analog voice signal.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the port identifier is designated in each one of said processed voice signal downstream transmission units associated with the corresponding downstream analog voice signal.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein transmitting the corresponding downstream analog voice signal includes determining a voice channel associated with the corresponding downstream analog voice signal.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the voice channel is designated in each one of the voice signal downstream transmission units associated with the corresponding downstream analog voice signal.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein facilitating the upstream voice channel transmission process includes:

receiving the upstream analog voice signal at a designated subscriber interface port of the NID;

converting the upstream analog voice signal to a plurality of voice signal upstream transmission units.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein receiving the upstream analog voice signal includes filtering an aggregate upstream signal for removing a designated frequency component of the aggregate upstream signal.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the designated frequency component includes a frequency component associated with a data component of the aggregate upstream.

25. The method of claim 22 wherein converting the upstream analog voice signal includes performing an analog-to-transmission unit conversion operation for converting the analog voice signal to contents of said voice signal upstream transmission units.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units is an Asynchronous Transfer Mode cell.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units is an Internet protocol packet.

28. The method of claim 25 wherein performing the analog-to-transmission unit conversion operation includes associating a port identifier with each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein performing the analog-to-transmission unit conversion operation further includes associating a voice channel identifier with each one of said aggregate voice signal upstream transmission units.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein each one of said processed voice signal upstream transmission units is an Asynchronous Transfer Mode cell.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein:

each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units as received for processing is an Internet Protocol packet; and

each one of said processed voice signal upstream transmission units is an Asynchronous Transfer Mode cell.

32. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

facilitating an upstream DSL data channel transmission process, wherein facilitating the upstream DSL data channel transmission process includes filtering an aggregate upstream signal for removing a designated frequency component of the aggregate upstream signal, thus generating a data component of the upstream DSL data stream.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the designated frequency component includes a frequency component associated with a voice signal component of the aggregate upstream signal.

34. A method for facilitating transmission of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) information at a subscriber premise Network Interface Device (NID), comprising:

receiving a downstream DSL data stream including a plurality of downstream transmission units;

assessing each one of said downstream transmission units for identifying voice signal downstream transmission units and data downstream transmission units; and

converting each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units to a corresponding downstream analog voice signal.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein each one of said downstream transmission units is an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cell.

36. The method of claim 34 wherein each one of said downstream transmission units is an Internet Protocol (IP) packet.

37. The method of claim 34 wherein assessing each one of said downstream transmission units includes determining a channel identifier associated with each one of said downstream transmission units.

38. The method of claim 34 wherein assessing each one of said downstream transmission units includes determining a transmission layer protocol associated with each one of said downstream transmission units.

39. The method of claim 34 wherein converting said voice signal downstream transmission units includes performing a transmission unit-to-analog conversion operation for said voice signal downstream transmission units to respective portions of the corresponding downstream analog voice signal.

40. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

determining a port identifier associated with the corresponding downstream analog voice signal.

41. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

assembling content of said voice signal downstream transmission units thereby generating processed voice signal downstream transmission units, wherein said assembling is performed prior to converting said voice signal downstream transmission units.

42. The method of claim 41 wherein:

each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units is an Asynchronous Transfer Mode cell; and

each one of said processed voice signal downstream transmission units is an Internet Protocol packet.

43. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

transmitting each one of said data downstream transmission units for reception by it least one of a plurality of subscriber interface ports.

44. The method of claim 43 wherein transmitting each one of said data downstream transmission units includes transmitting each one of said data downstream transmission units in accordance with Home Phone Networking Alliance protocol.

45. The method of claim 43 wherein transmitting each one of said data downstream transmission units includes transmitting each one of said data downstream transmission units in accordance with a subscriber premise specific transport protocol from a transmission unit circuit of the subscriber premise.

46. A method for facilitating transmission of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) information at a subscriber premise Network Interface Device (NID), comprising:

receiving an upstream analog voice signal at a designated subscriber interface port of the subscriber premise NID;

performing an upstream voice channel transmission process for generating a plurality of voice signal upstream transmission units corresponding to the upstream analog voice signal;

processing said voice signal upstream transmission units for enabling contents of said voice signal upstream transmission units to be transmitted via a DSL data transport protocol toward a central office communication apparatus.

47. The method of claim 46 wherein each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units is an Internet Protocol packet.

48. The method of claim 46 wherein each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units is an Asynchronous Transfer Mode cell.

49. The method of claim 46 wherein receiving the upstream analog voice signal includes filtering an aggregate upstream signal for removing a first frequency component of the aggregate upstream signal.

50. The method of claim 49 wherein the first frequency component includes a frequency component associated with a data component of the aggregate upstream signal.

51. The method of claim 46 wherein performing the upstream voice channel transmission process includes performing an analog-to-transmission unit conversion operation for converting the analog voice signal to said contents of said voice signal upstream transmission units.

52. The method of claim 46 wherein performing the upstream voice channel transmission process further includes associating a port identifier corresponding to the designated subscriber interface port with each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units.

53. The method of claim 46 wherein performing the upstream voice channel transmission process further includes associating a voice channel identifier with each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units.

54. The method of claim 46 wherein processing said voice signal upstream transmission units include associating a voice channel identifier with each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units thereby generating processed voice signal upstream transmission units.

55. The method of claim 46 wherein performing the upstream voice channel transmission process includes assembling voice samples associated with an aggregate signal for generating said voice signal upstream transmission units.

56. The method of claim 55 wherein:

each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units is an Asynchronous Transfer Mode cell.

57. The method of claim 49, further comprising:

filtering the aggregate upstream signal for removing a second frequency component of the aggregate upstream signal thereby generating an upstream data signal including a plurality of data upstream transmission units.

58. The method of claim 57 wherein the second frequency component includes a frequency component associated with the voice signal component of the aggregate upstream signal.

59. A subscriber premise Network Interface Device (NID), comprising:

a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) data stream processing circuit capable of facilitating reception of voice signal downstream transmission units, wherein said voice signal downstream transmission units are received in accordance with a DSL protocol;

a transmission unit processing circuit capable of facilitating channel identifier assessment of said voice signal downstream transmission units and facilitating reassembly of voice signal content of said voice signal downstream transmission units; and

a voice signal conversion circuit capable of facilitating conversion of said voice signal downstream transmission units to a corresponding downstream analog voice signal.

60. The subscriber premise NID of claim 59 wherein the transmission unit processing circuit is connected between the DSL data stream processing circuit and the voice signal conversion circuit.

61. The subscriber premise NID of claim 59 wherein:

each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units includes a virtual channel identifier; and

the transmission unit processing circuit includes circuitry for determining virtual channel identifiers, thus enabling channel identifier assessment of said voice signal downstream transmission units.

62. The subscriber premise NID of claim 59 wherein the transmission unit processing circuit is further capable of removing data transport protocol overhead from said voice signal downstream transmission units.

63. The subscriber premise NID of claim 62 wherein:

each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units is received by the transmission unit processing circuit as an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cell; and

said data transport protocol overhead is ATM overhead.

64. The subscriber premise NID of claim 59 wherein the transmission unit processing circuit is further capable of removing data transport protocol overhead and data transport protocol headers from said voice signal downstream transmission units.

65. The subscriber premise NID of claim 64 wherein:

each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units is received by the transmission unit processing circuit as an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cell; and

said data transport protocol overhead is ATM overhead and said data transport protocol headers are ATM headers.

66. The subscriber premise NID of claim 59 wherein:

each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units is received at the transmission unit processing circuit as an Asynchronous Transfer Mode cell; and

facilitating reassembly of voice signal content of said voice signal downstream transmission units includes reassembling a plurality of said voice signal downstream transmission units into a corresponding Internet Protocol packet.

67. The subscriber premise NID of claim 59 wherein:

each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units received by the transmission unit processing circuit is a transmission unit configured according to a first data transport protocol; and

facilitating reassembly of said voice signal downstream transmission units includes combining contents of a plurality of said transmission units configured according to the first data transport protocol into a corresponding transmission unit configured according to a second data transport protocol.

68. The subscriber premise NID of claim 59 wherein the transmission unit processing circuit includes a voice digital signal processor.

69. The subscriber premise NID of claim 59 wherein voice signal conversion circuit is connected between the transmission unit processing circuit and a plurality of subscriber interface ports.

70. The subscriber premise NIL) of claim 59 wherein the voice signal conversion circuit is capable of facilitating a transmission unit-to-analog conversion operation and facilitating an analog-to-transmission unit conversion operation.

71. The subscriber premise NID of claim 70 wherein:

said voice signal downstream transmission units are received by the voice signal conversion circuit as Internet Protocol (IP) packets; and

the voice signal conversion circuit converts said IP packets to the corresponding downstream analog voice signal.

72. The subscriber premise NID of claim 59 wherein the voice signal conversion circuit includes digital encode-decode circuitry.

73. The subscriber premise NID of claim 72 wherein the voice signal conversion circuit includes a voice digital signal processor.

74. The subscriber premise NID of claim 59, further comprising:

a test circuit capable of facilitating functional operability evaluation of service provider facility paired conductors.

75. The subscriber premise NID of claim 74 wherein facilitating said functional operability includes terminating at least one pair of said service provider facility paired conductors.

76. The subscriber premise NID of claim 75 wherein terminating said at least one pair of service provider facility paired conductors is performed after an NID supply voltage is removed from said at least one pair of service provider facility paired conductors.

77. The subscriber premise NID of claim 74 wherein facilitating said functional operability evaluation of said service provider facility paired conductors includes automatically terminating at least one pair of said service provider facility paired conductors in response to an NID supply voltage being removed from said at least one pair of service provider facility paired conductors.

78. The subscriber premise NID of claim 74, further comprising a voltage control circuit capable of automatically coordinating removal of a NID supply voltage upon initiation of said functional operability evaluation of service provider facility paired conductors.

79. The subscriber premise NID of claim 59, further comprising:

a test circuit capable of facilitating functional operability evaluation of a subscriber premise transmission facility.

80. The subscriber premise NID of claim 79 wherein facilitating said functional operability evaluation includes facilitating testing of paired conductors of the subscriber premise transmission facility.

81. The subscriber premise NID of claim 80 wherein facilitating functional operability evaluation of said subscriber premise facility paired conductors includes implementing at least a portion of a subscriber premise transmission facility test sequence.

82. The subscriber premise NID of claim 81 wherein:

the test circuit facilitates transmission of at least one upstream transmission unit conveying test results after the subscriber premise transmission facility test sequence is performed; and

said at least one upstream transmission unit is transmitted for reception by a central office voice gateway.

83. The subscriber premise NID of claim 59, further comprising:

a test circuit capable of facilitating functional operability evaluation of NID circuitry.

84. The subscriber premise NID of claim 83 wherein facilitating functional operability evaluation of said NID circuitry includes responding to test conditions governed by a Pair Gain Test Controller.

85. The subscriber premise NID of claim 83 wherein facilitating functional operability evaluation of said NID circuitry includes testing functional operability of NID Subscriber Line Interface Circuitry (SLIC) associated with at least one subscriber interface port.

86. The subscriber premise NID of claim 59 wherein:

the voice signal conversion circuit is further capable of facilitating conversion of an upstream analog voice signal to corresponding voice signal upstream transmission units;

the transmission unit processing circuit is further capable of facilitating channel identifier association for said voice signal upstream transmission units; and

the DSL data stream processing circuit is further capable of facilitating transmission of said voice signal upstream transmission units, wherein said voice signal upstream transmission units are transmitted in accordance with the DSL protocol.

87. The subscriber premise NID of claim 86 wherein the voice signal conversion circuit is further capable of facilitating subscriber interface identifier association for associating at least one subscriber interface identifier with each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units.

88. The subscriber premise NID of claim 86 wherein facilitating channel identifier association includes associating a channel identifier with each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units.

89. The subscriber premise NID of claim 86 wherein the channel identifier associated with each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units is a virtual channel identifier.

90. A subscriber premise Network Interface Device (NID), comprising:

means for facilitating reception of a downstream DSL data stream including voice signal downstream transmission units;

means for facilitating channel identifier assessment for identifying said voice signal downstream transmission units; and

means for facilitating analog conversion of said voice signal downstream transmission units, wherein said voice signal downstream transmission units are converted to a corresponding downstream analog voice signal.

91. The subscriber premise NID of claim 90 wherein:

each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units includes a virtual channel identifier; and

said means for facilitating channel identifier assessment is capable of determining virtual channel identifiers, thus enabling channel identifier assessment of said voice signal downstream transmission units.

92. The subscriber premise NID of claim 90, further comprising:

means for facilitating removal of data transport protocol overhead from said voice signal downstream transmission units.

93. The subscriber premise NID of claim 92 wherein:

each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units is received by said means for facilitating removal of data transport protocol overhead as an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cell; and

said data transport protocol overhead is ATM overhead.

94. The subscriber premise NID of claim 90, further comprising:

means for facilitating removal of data transport protocol overhead and data transport protocol headers from said voice signal downstream transmission emits.

95. The subscriber premise NID of claim 90, further comprising:

means for reassembling voice signal content of said voice signal downstream transmission units, wherein each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units is received at said means for reassembling as an Asynchronous Transfer Mode cell, and wherein said means for reassembly facilitates reassembling a plurality of said voice signal downstream transmission units into a corresponding Internet Protocol packet.

96. The subscriber premise NID of claim 90, further comprising:

means for reassembling voice signal content of said voice signal downstream transmission units, wherein each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units is received at said means for reassembling as a transmission unit configured according to a first data transport protocol and wherein said means for reassembly facilitates reassembling voice signal content of a plurality of said voice signal downstream transmission units into a corresponding voice signal downstream transmission unit configured according to a second data transport protocol.

97. The subscriber premise NID of claim 90 wherein said means for facilitating analog conversion performs a transmission unit-to-analog conversion operation for converting said voice signal downstream transmission units to the corresponding downstream analog voice signal.

98. The subscriber premise NID of claim 97 wherein:

said voice signal downstream transmission units are received by said means for facilitating analog conversion as Internet Protocol (IP) packets; and

said means for facilitating analog conversion converts said IP packets to the corresponding downstream analog voice signal.

99. The subscriber premise NID of claim 90, further comprising:

means for facilitating functional operability evaluation of service provider facility paired conductors.

100. The subscriber premise NID of claim 90 wherein facilitating said functional operability includes terminating at least one pair of said service provider facility paired conductors.

101. The subscriber premise NID of claim 100 wherein terminating said at least one pair of service provider facility paired conductors is performed after an NID supply voltage is removed from said at least one pair of service provider facility paired conductors.

102. The subscriber premise NID of claim 99, further comprising:

means for automatically coordinating removal of a NID supply voltage upon initiation of said functional operability evaluation of service provider facility paired conductors.

103. The subscriber premise NID of claim 90 wherein facilitating said functional operability evaluation of said service provider facility paired conductors includes automatically terminating at least one pair of said service provider facility paired conductors in response to an NID supply voltage being removed from said at least one pair of service provider facility paired conductors.

104. The subscriber premise NID of claim 90, further comprising:

means for facilitating functional operability evaluation of a subscriber premise transmission facility.

105. The subscriber premise NID of claim 104 wherein facilitating said functional operability evaluation includes facilitating testing of paired conductors of the subscriber premise transmission facility.

106. The subscriber premise NID of claim 105 wherein facilitating functional operability evaluation of said subscriber premise facility paired conductors includes implementing at least a portion of a subscriber premise transmission facility test sequence.

107. The subscriber premise NID of claim 106 wherein the test circuit transmits a message conveying test results for reception by a central office voice gateway after the subscriber premise transmission facility test sequence is performed.

108. The subscriber premise NID of claim 90, further comprising:

means for facilitating functional operability evaluation of NID circuitry.

109. The subscriber premise NID of claim 108 wherein facilitating functional operability evaluation of said NID circuitry includes responding to test conditions governed by a Pair Gain Test Controller.

110. The subscriber premise NID of claim 108 wherein facilitating functional operability evaluation of said NID circuitry includes testing functional operability of NID Subscriber Line Interface Circuitry (SLIC) associated with at least one subscriber interface port.

111. The subscriber premise NID of claim 90, further comprising:

means for converting an upstream analog voice signal to corresponding voice signal upstream transmission units;

means for associating a channel identifier to each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units

means for transmitting said voice signal upstream transmission units, wherein said voice signal upstream transmission units are transmitted in accordance with the DSL protocol.

112. The subscriber premise NID of claim 111, further comprising:

means for associating a subscriber interface identifier to each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units.

113. A Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) subscriber premise Network Interface Device (NID), comprising:

means for facilitating functional operability evaluation of service provider facility paired conductors;

means for facilitating functional operability evaluation of a subscriber premise transmission facility; and

means for facilitating functional operability evaluation of NID circuitry.

114. The subscriber premise NID of claim 113 wherein facilitating functional operability of said service provider facility paired conductors includes terminating at least one pair of said service provider facility paired conductors.

115. The subscriber premise NID of claim 114 wherein terminating said at least one pair of service provider facility paired conductors is performed after an NID supply voltage is removed from said at least one pair of service provider facility paired conductors.

116. The subscriber premise NID of claim 113 wherein facilitating said functional operability evaluation of said service provider facility paired conductors includes enabling Mechanized Loop Test type sequences to be performed.

117. The subscriber premise NID of claim 113 wherein facilitating said functional operability evaluation of the subscriber premise transmission facility includes facilitating testing of paired conductors of the subscriber premise transmission facility.

118. The subscriber premise NID of claim 117 wherein facilitating functional operability evaluation of said subscriber premise facility paired conductors includes, enabling Mechanized Loop Test (MLT) type test sequence to be performed.

119. The subscriber premise NID of claim 118 wherein said means for facilitating functional operability evaluation of a subscriber premise transmission facility transmits a message conveying test results for reception by a central office voice gateway after performing said MLT type test sequence.

120. The subscriber premise NID of claim 113 wherein facilitating functional operability evaluation of said NID circuitry includes responding to test conditions governed by a Pair Gain Test Controller.

121. The subscriber premise NID of claim 120 wherein facilitating functional operability evaluation of said NID circuitry includes testing functional operability of NID Subscriber Line Interface Circuitry (SLIC) associated with at least one subscriber interface port.

122. The subscriber premise HID of claim 113, further comprising:

means for automatically coordinating removal of a NID supply voltage upon initiation of said functional operability evaluation of service provider facility paired conductors.

123. A method for testing Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) communication facilities, comprising:

facilitating functional operability evaluation of service provider facility paired conductors, wherein a subscriber premise Network Interface Device (NID) terminates at least one pair of said service provider facility paired conductors;

facilitating functional operability evaluation of a subscriber premise transmission facility, wherein the subscriber premise NID implements at least a portion of a subscriber premise transmission facility test sequence; and

means for facilitating functional operability evaluation of NID circuitry.

124. The method of claim 123 wherein terminating said at least one pair of service provider facility paired conductors is performed after an NID supply voltage is removed from said at least one pair of service provider facility paired conductors.

125. The method of claim 124 wherein a service provider facility paired conductor test sequence is implemented after terminating said at least one pair of service provider facility paired conductors.

126. The method of claim 125 wherein the service provider facility paired conductor test sequence includes Mechanized Loop Test type test operations.

127. The method of claim 123 wherein facilitating said functional operability evaluation of the subscriber premise transmission facility includes facilitating testing of at least one pair of subscriber premise facility paired conductors.

128. The method of claim 123 wherein facilitating functional operability evaluation of the subscriber premise transmission facility includes transmitting a message conveying test results from the subscriber premise NID for reception by a central office voice gateway after performing said at least a portion of the subscriber premise transmission facility test sequence.

129. The method of claim 123 wherein facilitating functional operability evaluation of said NID circuitry includes responding to test conditions governed by a Pair Gain Test Controller

130. The method of claim 123 wherein facilitating functional operability evaluation of said NID circuitry includes testing functional operability of NID Subscriber Line Interface Circuitry (SLIC) associated with at least one subscriber interface port.

131. The method of claim 123 wherein facilitating said functional operability evaluation of service provider facility paired conductors includes removing an NID supply voltage from said service provider facility paired conductors prior to terminating said at least one pair of said service provider facility paired conductors.

132. The method of claim 123 wherein facilitating said functional operability evaluation of service provider facility paired conductors includes removing an NID supply voltage from said service provider facility paired conductors in response to initiating a Mechanized Loop Test type test sequence.

133. A method for communicating voice signals, comprising:

receiving a downstream DSL data stream at a subscriber premise Network Interface Device (NID);

determining at least one of a channel identifier and a transmission layer protocol associated with each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units foridentifying voice signal downstream transmission units of the downstream DSL data stream;

performing a transmission unit-to-analog conversion operation for converting said voice signal downstream transmission units to a corresponding downstream analog voice signal;

transmitting each one of said data downstream transmission units for reception by at least one of a plurality of designated subscriber interface ports;

receiving an upstream analog voice signal at one of said designated subscriber interface ports, wherein receiving the upstream analog voice signal includes filtering a frequency component associated with a data component from an aggregate upstream signal for removing the data component; and

performing an analog-to-transmission unit conversion operation for converting the upstream analog voice signal to a plurality of voice signal upstream transmission units.

134. A subscriber premise Network Interface Device (NID), comprising:

a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) data stream processing circuit capable of facilitating reception of voice signal downstream transmission units, wherein said voice signal downstream transmission units are received in accordance with a DSL protocol;

a transmission unit processing circuit capable of facilitating channel identifier assessment of said voice signal downstream transmission units and facilitating reassembly of voice signal content of said voice signal downstream transmission units;

a voice signal conversion circuit capable of facilitating conversion of said voice signal downstream transmission units to a corresponding downstream analog voice signal;

a first test circuit capable of terminating at least one pair of said service provider facility paired conductors for facilitating functional operability evaluation of service provider facility paired conductors;

a second test circuit capable of facilitating functional operability evaluation of a subscriber premise transmission facility, wherein the second test circuit transmits a message conveying test results for reception by a central office voice gateway after a subscriber premise transmission facility test sequence is performed; and

a third test circuit capable of responding to test conditions governed by a Pair Gain Test Controller for facilitating functional operability evaluation of NID circuitry.

135. A subscriber premise Network Interface Device (NID), comprising:

means for facilitating reception of a downstream DSL data stream including voice signal downstream transmission units;

means for facilitating channel identifier assessment for identifying said voice signal downstream transmission units;

means for facilitating analog conversion of said voice signal downstream transmission units, wherein said voice signal downstream transmission units are converted to a corresponding downstream analog voice signal; and

means for facilitating removal of at least one of data transport protocol overhead and data transport protocol headers from said voice signal downstream transmission units;

means for reassembling voice signal content of said voice signal downstream transmission units, wherein each one of said voice signal downstream transmission units is received at said means for reassembling as a transmission unit configured according to a first data transport protocol.

136. The subscriber premise NID of claim 135, further comprising:

means for facilitating functional operability evaluation of service provider facility paired conductors;

means for facilitating functional operability evaluation of a subscriber premise transmission facility

means for facilitating functional operability evaluation of NID circuitry.

137. The subscriber premise NID of claim 135, further comprising:

means for converting an upstream analog voice signal to corresponding voice signal upstream transmission units;

means for associating a channel identifier to each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units

means for transmitting said voice signal upstream transmission units, wherein said voice signal upstream transmission units are transmitted in accordance with the DSL protocol.

138. A subscriber premise Network Interface Device (NID), comprising:

means for converting an upstream analog voice signal to corresponding voice signal upstream transmission units;

means for associating a channel identifier to each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units;

means for associating a subscriber interface identifier to each one of said voice signal upstream transmission units; and

means for transmitting said voice signal upstream transmission units, wherein said voice signal upstream transmission units are transmitted in accordance with the DSL protocol.

139. A Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) subscriber premise Network Interface Device (NID), comprising:

means for facilitating functional operability evaluation of service provider facility paired conductors, wherein facilitating functional operability of said service provider facility paired conductors includes terminating at least one pair of said service provider facility paired conductors in response to an NID supply voltage being removed from said at least one pair of service provider facility paired conductors;

means for facilitating functional operability evaluation of a subscriber premise transmission facility, wherein said means for facilitating functional operability evaluation of a subscriber premise transmission facility transmits a message conveying test results for reception by a central office voice gateway after performing a designated test sequence; and

means for facilitating functional operability evaluation of NID circuitry, wherein facilitating functional operability evaluation of said NID circuitry includes responding to test conditions governed by a Central Office test controller.

140. A method for testing Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) communication facilities, comprising:

facilitating functional operability evaluation of service provider facility paired conductors, wherein a subscriber premise Network Interface Device (NID) terminates at least one pair of said service provider facility paired conductors after an NID supply voltage is removed from said at least one pair of service provider facility paired conductors;

facilitating functional operability evaluation of a subscriber premise transmission facility, wherein the subscriber premise NID implements at least a portion of a subscriber premise transmission facility test sequence and transmits a message conveying test results from the subscriber premise NID for reception by a central office voice gateway after performing said at least a portion of a subscriber premise transmission facility test sequence; and

means for facilitating functional operability evaluation of NID Subscriber Line Interface Circuitry (SLIC) associated with at least one subscriber interface port of the subscriber premise NID.