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Interactive cable television system

  • US 4,290,142 A
  • Filed: 02/22/1979
  • Issued: 09/15/1981
  • Est. Priority Date: 02/22/1978
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. In an interactive cable television system for serving a plurality of user locations in a service area divided into a plurality of service regions, including a central office and a service network having a portion composed of parallel cables arranged in a tree pattern possessing a plurality of nodes connected to said central office and remote from the user locations and, in the vicinity of the users, a further portion composed of transmission cables connected to groups of user locations, which transmission cables being connected to each group in a star pattern, the system presenting a plurality of transmission paths and means permitting multiple utilization of the paths, the improvement wherein:

  • in each said service region said service parallel cables of said first mentioned portion of said network are connected in a tree structure extending from one of said node toward said user locations and are constituted by two parallel autonomous sets of cables thus representing network planes B, C and D;

    said service network further comprises, in each said service region, a plurality of junction devices each connected to said parallel cables of network plane D at the outer end of a respective branch of said tree structure and to said transmission cables which represent a network plane E of a respective group of user locations; and

    said service network further comprises a first connecting cable which is common to all of said nodes and connected in a tree structure between said central office and all of said nodes, said first cable being connected at said nodes to one of said sets of cables, and second connecting cables connected in a star structure to said central office independently of one another and of said first connecting cable, each said second connecting cable being connected at a respective node to the other set of said parallel cables associated with a respective service region, thus representing a network plane A.

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