Daisy Chainable ONU

• US 20110262132A1
• Filed: 04/18/2011
• Published: 10/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: HIRTH, Ryan Edgar, Dighe, Rajiv S., Grindley, Robin C., Subramanian, Thyagarajan T., Moezzi, Vafa Christopher, Boyd, Edward Wayne, Kramer, Glen
• Granted Patent: US 8,548,323 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 398/43
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/272 Star-type networks or tree-type networks
• 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

Abstract

Embodiments of a scalable optical network unit (ONU) architecture for multi-dwelling units (MDUs) that has a low initial cost (or first port cost) and a low maintenance cost are provided herein. The ONU architecture is scalable in that a growing number of end users can share a single drop fiber that couples the ONU to a passive optical network. The ONU architecture utilizes a multiplexer module to allow the ONU to be daisy chained with one or more additional ONUs.

Claims

1. A daisy chainable optical network unit (ONU) comprising:

ONU logic configured to provide an interface between end user data and a passive optical network (PON), the ONU logic comprising an ONU transmit output for transmitting end user data over the PON and an ONU receive input for receiving end user data over the PON;

an optical transceiver configured to convert optical signals received over the PON into electrical signals at a PON receive output and to convert electrical signals received at a PON transmit input to optical signals for transmitting over the PON; and

a multiplexer module comprising;

a transmit multiplexes configured to couple a transmit bus or the ONU transmit output to the PON transmit input based on a transmit multiplexer control signal; and

a receive multiplexer configured to couple a receive bus or the PON receive output to the ONU receive input based on a receive multiplexer control signal.

2. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 1, wherein the ONU logic is further configured to control the transmit multiplexer control signal and the receive multiplexer control signal.

3. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 2, wherein the ONU logic is configured to control the transmit multiplexer control signal such that the transmit multiplexer couples the ONU transmit output to the PON transmit input if the ONU logic is currently transmitting end user data over the PON.

4. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 2, wherein the ONU logic is configured to control the transmit multiplexer control signal such that the transmit multiplexer couples the transmit bus to the PON transmit input if the ONU logic is not currently transmitting end user data over the PON.

5. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 2, wherein the ONU logic is configured to control the receive multiplexer control signal such that the receive multiplexer couples the PON receive output to the ONU receive input if the optical transceiver is currently being used to transmit and receive optical signals over the PON.

6. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 2, wherein the ONU logic is configured to control the receive multiplexer control signal such that the receive multiplexer couples the receive bus to the ONU receive input if the optical transceiver is not currently being used to transmit and receive optical signals over the PON.

7. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 1, wherein the transmit bus is configured to provide end user data from a second daisy chainable ONU to the PON transmit input via the transmit multiplexer.

8. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 1, wherein the receive bus is configured to provide end user data received over the PON by a second daisy chainable ONU to the ONU receive input via the receive multiplexer.

9. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 1, wherein an output of the receive multiplexer is further coupled to a second daisy chainable ONU.

10. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 1, wherein an output of the transmit multiplexer is further coupled to a second daisy chainable ONU.

11. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 1, wherein the multiplexer module further comprises a demultiplexer configured to couple an output of the transmit multiplexer to the PON transmit input or a second daisy chainable ONU based on the receive multiplexer control signal.

12. A daisy chainable optical network unit (ONU) comprising:

ONU logic configured to provide an interface between end user data and a passive optical network (PON), the ONU logic comprising an ONU transmit output for transmitting end user data over the PON and an ONU receive input for receiving end user data over the PON; and

a multiplexer module comprising;

a transmit multiplexer configured to couple a transmit bus or the ONU transmit output to a PON transmit input of an optical transceiver based on a transmit multiplexer control signal, wherein the optical transceiver is configured to convert electrical signals received at the PON transmit input to optical signals for transmitting over the PON; and

a receive multiplexer configured to couple a receive bus or a PON receive output of the optical transceiver to the ONU receive input based on a receive multiplexer control signal, wherein the optical transceiver is configured to convert optical signals received over the PON into electrical signals at the PON receive output.

13. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 12, wherein the ONU logic is further configured to control the transmit multiplexer control signal and the receive multiplexer control signal.

14. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 13, wherein the ONU logic is configured to control the transmit multiplexer control signal such that the transmit multiplexer couples the ONU transmit output to the PON transmit input if the ONU logic is currently transmitting end user data over the PON.

15. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 13, wherein the ONU logic is configured to control the transmit multiplexer control signal such that the transmit multiplexer couples the transmit bus to the PON transmit input if the ONU logic is not currently transmitting end user data over the PON.

16. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 13, wherein the ONU logic is configured to control the receive multiplexer control signal such that the receive multiplexer couples the PON receive output to the ONU receive input if the optical transceiver is currently being used to transmit and receive optical signals over the PON.

17. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 13, wherein the ONU logic is configured to control the receive multiplexer control signal such that the receive multiplexer couples the receive bus to the ONU receive input if the optical transceiver is not currently being used to transmit and receive optical signals over the PON.

18. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 12, wherein the transmit bus is configured to provide end user data from a second daisy chainable ONU to the PON transmit input via the transmit multiplexer.

19. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 12, wherein the receive bus is configured to provide end user data received over the PON by a second daisy chainable ONU to the ONU receive input via the receive multiplexer.

20. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 12, wherein an output of the receive multiplexer is further coupled to a second daisy chainable ONU.

21. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 12, wherein an output of the transmit multiplexer is further coupled to a second daisy chainable ONU.

22. The daisy chainable ONU of claim 12, wherein the multiplexer module further comprises a demultiplexer configured to couple an output of the transmit multiplexer to the PON transmit input or a second daisy chainable ONU based on the receive multiplexer control signal.