Commercial network based on point to point radios

• US 6,366,584 B1
• Filed: 02/06/1999
• Issued: 04/02/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: CarrierComm, Inc. (Moseley Wireless Solutions Group)
• Original Assignee: Triton Network Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Andrew, Brian J., Gulliford, Philip C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ton, Dang
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sam, Phirin
• Application Number:
  US09/245,701
• Time in Patent Office: 1,151 Days
• Field of Search: 370/403, 370/256, 370/257, 370/258, 370/270, 370/277, 370/278, 370/279, 370/280, 370/282, 370/293, 370/294, 370/327, 370/328, 370/329, 370/336, 370/337, 370/338, 370/340, 370/341, 370/345, 370/359, 370/360, 370/396, 370/400, 370/401, 370/404, 370/405, 370/406, 370/419, 370/420, 370/421
• US Class Current: 370/403
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/085 for ring networks, e.g. SDH/SONET rings, self-healing rings, meashed SDH/SONET networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/10 Small scale networks; Flat hierarchical networks

Abstract

The present invention is a wireless network designed to deliver information communication services, such as telephony and data services, from a service provider, such as an ISP or LEC to metropolitan commercial customer locations. The network of a preferred embodiment of the present invention incorporates all system components necessary to connect customers, application equipment (e.g., phones, PBX'"'"'s, computers) to the service provider'"'"'s equipment, (e.g., C.O. switch, Tandem switch, point of presence (POP) gateway, ISP server, etc.). The preferred embodiment of the present invention integrates all the various functional tasks at the component level, to build a comprehensive, cohesive network solution. The network architecture of the present invention includes a distributed set of non-hierarchal nodes, connected together via wireless links. Nodes of the network can act both as termination points (i.e., connecting to the customer'"'"'s or service provider'"'"'s equipment) and/or as tandems, (i.e., routing traffic on to other nodes). Links between nodes can be point-to-point or point-to-multipoint.

Claims

1. An urban area information network system comprising:

a plurality of data interfaces coupling termination equipment to said network system, wherein each interface of said plurality of data interfaces includes a first, second, and third port operational under control of control logic to selectively provide portions of data presented at one of said first, second, and third ports to a selected different one of said first, second, and third ports; and

a plurality of wireless communication links each having a first end coupled to a data interface of said plurality of interfaces and a second end coupled to a data interface of said plurality of interfaces and providing at least 100 megabit per second information communication between said first and second ends, wherein said links are disposed in said urban area to allow information communicated over a one link of said plurality of links to be subsequently communicated over another link of said plurality of links thereby providing information communication over a distance larger than any single link of said plurality of links.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein selective provision of portions of data presented at said one of said first, second, and third ports to a different one of said first, second, and third ports is at least in part determined by address information associated with said portions of data.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said address information is an unique address of termination equipment coupled to said network through said one of said first, second, and third ports said portion of data is selectively provided.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said unique address is a physical address of said termination equipment.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein said unique address is a logical address of said termination equipment.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein said unique address is an Internet protocol address.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said control logic is adapted to operate an associated said data interface to combine portions of data presented to said first port with data presented to said second port to form a combined data signal and present the combined data signal to said third port.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein interfaces of said plurality of data interfaces also include a forth port, and wherein operation of said control logic selectively provides portions of data present at one of said first, second, and third ports to said forth port.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said wireless communication links of said plurality of wireless communication links are established utilizing microwave radio communication equipment.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said microwave radio communication equipment comprise radio transceivers operating in the 38 GHz spectrum of frequencies.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein said microwave radio communication equipment provides reliable data grade information communication links of approximately 1.5 miles each.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein a second end of a link of said plurality of links is in time division multiple access communication with a plurality of pieces of termination equipment.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said time division multiple access communication is provided by wireless links of a point-to-multipoint radio communication system.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein said time division multiple access communication is provided by a cable modem communication system.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least 100 megabit per second information communication comprises a 100 megabit per second Ethernet data packet.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least 100 megabit per second information communication comprises a SONET data stream.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein said disposition of said links in said urban area forms a ring network topology.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein said ring network topology comprises multiple coupled network rings of said links.

19. An urban area information network system comprising:

a plurality of data interfaces coupling termination equipment to said network system; and

a plurality of wireless communication links each having;

a first end coupled to a data interface of said plurality of interfaces; and

a second end coupled to a data interface of said plurality of interfaces, wherein each interface of said plurality of data interfaces includes a first, second, and third port operational under control of control logic to selectively provide portions of data presented at one of said first, second, and third ports to a selected different one of said first, second, and third ports, and wherein said control logic is adapted to operate an associated said data interface to combine portions of data presented to said first port with data presented to said second port to form a combined data signal and present the combined data signal to said third port; and

providing at least 100 megabit per second information communication between said first and second ends, wherein said links are disposed in said urban area to allow information communicated over a one link of said plurality of links to be subsequently communicated over another link of said plurality of links thereby providing information communication over a distance larger than any single link of said plurality of links; and

wherein a data signal is provided to said one of said first, second, and third ports including a data frame having a predefined wireless network overhead portion and a payload portion, wherein said wireless network overhead portion of said data signal is provided exclusively to said forth port.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein said payload portion comprises a 100 megabit per second Ethernet data packet.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein said payload portion comprises data formatted according to the SONET protocol.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein said wireless network overhead portion comprises wireless link control instructions.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein said wireless network overhead portion comprises wireless link interrogation requests.