System and method for providing packetized video over an optical network

• US 20050265386A1
• Filed: 10/27/2004
• Published: 12/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Ghoddoussi, Amir, Remein, Duane Richard, Smith, Joseph Lee
• Granted Patent: US 9,413,487 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0226 Fixed carrier allocation, e.g. according to service
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0227 Operation, administration, maintenance or provisioning [OAMP] of WDM networks, e.g. media access, routing or wavelength allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0238 Wavelength allocation for communications one-to-many, e.g. multicasting wavelengths
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0247 Sharing one wavelength for at least a group of ONUs
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0252 Sharing one wavelength for at least a group of ONUs, e.g. for transmissions from-ONU-to-OLT or from-ONU-to-ONU
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0282 WDM tree architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0067 Provisions for optical access or distribution networks, e.g. Gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Network (GE-PON), ATM-based Passive Optical Network (A-PON), PON-Ring
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0016 using wavelength multiplexing or demultiplexing

Abstract

System and method for distributing IP video are described. One embodiment is a method for distributing IP video comprising transmitting an optical data stream in a designated optical band to an optical network terminal (“ONT”), wherein the optical data stream comprises a broadcast IP video signal provided as a packetized video overlay; converting the optical data stream to an electrical data stream at the ONT; and transmitting the electrical data stream to a subscriber.

Claims

1. A method for distributing IP video comprising:

transmitting an optical data stream in a designated optical band to an optical network terminal (“

ONT”

), wherein the optical data stream comprises a broadcast IP video signal provided as a packetized video overlay;

converting the optical data stream to an electrical data stream at the ONT; and

transmitting the electrical data stream to a subscriber.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the transmitting is performed by an IP video switch transmitting the optical data stream in a promiscuous mode.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the IP video switch is located in a video head end apparatus.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein each packet of the broadcast IP video signal comprises a header, the method further comprising, for each header, replacing an Ethernet MAC destination address (“

DA”

) with a video channel identification (“

CH_ID”

).

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the transmission of an optical data stream in a designated optical band is performed over a passive optical network (“

PON”

).

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, prior to the transmitting an optical data stream in a designated optical band:

receiving a broadcast IP video signal at a switching device;

combining the broadcast IP video signal with an additional IP video signal; and

converting the combined IP video signal to an optical data stream in a designated optical band.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the additional IP video signal is an interactive video signal.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the additional IP video signal is a locally-generated video signal.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising, prior to the transmitting the optical data stream to an ONT, amplifying the optical data stream.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the transmitting the optical data stream to an ONT further comprises splitting the optical data stream into a plurality of optical data streams each for delivery to an ONT.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving Internet voice and data at an optical line terminal (“

OLT”

);

converting the received Internet voice and data to an additional optical data stream portion in a different optical band; and

combining the additional optical data stream portion into the optical data stream prior to the transmitting the optical data stream to an optical network terminal (“

ONT”

).

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising, prior to transmitting the electrical data stream to a subscriber:

separating and recovering the additional optical data stream portion from the optical data stream;

converting the additional optical data stream portion back to an electrical signal comprising the IP voice and data signals;

converting the IP voice signals into analog voice signals and providing the analog voice signals to a POTS device; and

providing the IP data signals to a data device.

13. A system for distributing IP video comprising:

means for transmitting an optical data stream in a designated optical band to an optical network terminal (“

ONT”

), the optical data stream comprising a broadcast IP video signal provided as a packetized video overlay;

means for converting the optical data stream to an electrical data stream at the ONT; and

means for transmitting the electrical data stream to a subscriber.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the means for transmitting an optical data stream in a designated optical band comprises an IP video switch that transmits the optical data stream in a promiscuous mode.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the IP video switch is located in a video head end apparatus.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the means for transmitting the electrical data stream to a subscriber comprises a passive optical network (“

PON”

).

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

means for receiving the broadcast IP video signal at a switching device;

means for combining the broadcast IP video signal with an additional IP video signal into a combined IP video signal; and

means for converting the combined IP video signal to the optical data stream in the designated optical band.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the additional IP video signal is an interactive video signal.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the additional IP video signal is a locally-generated video signal.

20. The system of claim 13 further comprising means for amplifying the optical data stream prior to transmission thereof to an ONT.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the means for amplifying the optical data stream comprises an erbium doped fiber amplifier (“

EDFA”

).

22. The system of claim 13 wherein the means for transmitting the optical data stream to an ONT further comprises means for splitting the optical data stream into a plurality of optical data streams each for delivery to an ONT.

23. The system of claim 13 further comprising:

means for receiving Internet voice and data at an optical line terminal (“

OLT”

);

means for converting the received Internet voice and data to an additional optical data stream portion in a different optical band; and

means for combining the additional optical data portion into the optical data stream prior to the transmitting the optical data stream to an optical network terminal (“

ONT”

).

24. The system of claim 23 further comprising:

means for separating and recovering the additional optical data stream portion from the optical data stream;

means for converting the additional optical data stream portion back to an electrical signal comprising the IP voice and data signals;

means for converting the IP voice signals into analog voice signals and providing the analog voice signals to a POTS device; and

means for providing the IP data signals to a data device.

25. A system for distributing video, the system comprising:

a video head end connected to receive a broadcast IP video data stream and convert the received data stream from an electrical signal to an optical signal in a first optical band;

an optical amplifier (“

OA”

) for amplifying optical signals received from the video head end;

a wave division multiplexer (“

WDM”

) for combining the amplified broadcast IP video data stream from the OA with IP data and voice signals in a second optical band; and

a distributive optical network for transmitting the combined optical signal to an optical network terminal (“

ONT”

) at a subscriber premises, wherein at the ONT, the broadcast IP video data signals are recovered from the combined optical signal, converted back to an electrical signal, and transmitted to subscriber equipment.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein the video head end comprises an IP video switch for transmitting an IP video data stream in a promiscuous mode.

27. The system of claim 25 wherein the OA is an erbium doped fiber amplifier (“

EDFA”

).

28. The system of claim 25 wherein the ONT is located at a subscriber premises.

29. The system of claim 25 wherein the subscriber equipment comprises a set top box (“

STB”

).

30. The system of claim 25 further comprising an optical line terminal (“

OLT”

) for converting the IP data and voice signals from electrical signals to optical signals in a 1490 nm optical band.

31. The system of claim 25 wherein the distributive optical network is implemented as a PON using a splitter operable to split the combined optical signal into a plurality of optical signal streams.

32. The system of claim 25 wherein the ONT comprises a triplexer for converting the optical signals into electrical signals.

33. The system of claim 32 wherein the ONT comprises an Ethernet switch configured as a static bridge connected to receive the IP video data stream from the triplexer.

34. An optical network terminal comprising:

a triplexer for converting optical signals received on three wavelengths into electrical signals;

an Ethernet physical layer (“

PHY”

) module for receiving digital signals from the triplexer; and

an Ethernet switch connected for receiving digital signals from the PHY module and passing selected video streams therethrough.

35. The ONT of claim 34 wherein the Ethernet switch is configured as a static bridge.

36. The ONT of claim 34 wherein video streams are passed through the Ethernet switch per an IEEE standard.

37. The ONT of claim 36 wherein the IEEE standard is IEEE 802.8D.

38. The ONT of claim 34 wherein the triplexer comprises an avalanche photodiode (“

APD”

) for detecting an optical signal comprising an IP video data stream.