Apparatus and method for broadband data communication

• US 6,434,123 B1
• Filed: 12/28/1998
• Issued: 08/13/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ericsson, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Original Assignee: Ericsson, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Park, Bret
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Wellington
• Assistant Examiner(s): PHAM, BRENDA H
• Application Number:
  US09/221,532
• Time in Patent Office: 1,324 Days
• Field of Search: 370/293, 370/420, 370/463, 370/465, 370/400, 370/402, 370/492, 370/494, 370/497, 370/501, 370/352, 370/353, 370/354, 370/355, 370/356, 370/358
• US Class Current: 370/293
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/64 Hybrid switching systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/062 using different frequency bands for speech and other data

Abstract

A device and method are disclosed for providing a phone LAN routing LAN traffic internally within Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) and for routing analog and digital traffic from a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to the CPE. A phone hub routes LAN traffic and incoming voice and ADSL to network elements having a network interface controller (NIC). Analog voice signals are transparently coupled through the phone hub. Inbound ADSL data is transported using the phone hub at LAN frequency to a NIC. Outbound ADSL data transported to the phone hub at the second frequency is frequency shifted by the phone hub back to the first frequency for transport over the PSTN. Broadband 10BASE-T Ethernet frequencies are accommodated using customer premise wiring.

Claims

1. A device for providing data communications within a customer premises between a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and a customer premises wiring plant, the customer premises wiring plant including a plurality of connectors and one or more network elements connected thereto, the device comprising:

a splitter including an ADSL Transmission Unit-Remote (ATU-R), connected to the PSTN, for receiving and separating a PSTN signal into a voice signal and a digital signal and coupling the voice signal through the customer premises wiring plant on a plurality of lines to said plurality of connectors at a first frequency, wherein said digital signal comprises an ADSL signal, said PSTN signal contains the ADSL signal and the voice signal; and

a router, coupled to said splitter and the customer premises wiring plant, for receiving the digital signal from the splitter and transmitting the digital signal through the customer premises wiring plant on a selected one of a plurality of lines that is also carrying the voice signal to a selected one of the same plurality of connectors at a second frequency.

2. The device as recited in claim 1, wherein said splitter further comprises an ADSL MODEM.

3. The device as recited in claim 1, wherein said one or more network elements further comprise a network interface for receiving the digital signal at the second frequency.

4. The device as recited in claim 3, wherein said network interface further comprises a Media Access Control (MAC) for receiving said digital signal at the second frequency and separating the digital signal at the second frequency into a first channel for transmitting the digital signal at the second frequency to at least one of the one or more network elements and a second channel for transmitting the digital signal at a third frequency to the at least one of the one or more network elements.

5. The device as recited in claim 1, wherein said router further comprises an 802.3 LAN router.

16. The device as recited in claim 1, wherein said router being further configured to frequency shift the digital signal received from the splitter from a third frequency to the second frequency.

6. A device for providing data communications within a customer premises between a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and a customer premises wiring plant, the customer premises wiring plant including a plurality of connectors and one or more network elements connected thereto, the device comprising:

a splitter, connected to the PSTN, for receiving and separating a PSTN signal into a voice signal and a digital signal and coupling the voice signal through the customer premises wiring plant on a plurality of lines to said plurality of connectors at a first frequency; and

an intelligent 802.3 LAN router, coupled to said splitter and the customer premises wiring plant, for receiving the digital signal from the splitter and transmitting the digital signal through the customer premises wiring plant on a selected one of the plurality of lines that is also carrying the voice signal to a selected one of the same plurality of connectors at a second frequency wherein the digital signal is an ADSL signal, said intelligent 802.3 LAN router being configured to transport the ADSL signal to at least one of the one or more network elements as a LAN signal at the second frequency.

7. The device as recited in claim 6, wherein said network interface comprises a Media Access Control (MAC) for receiving the LAN signal, and separating the LAN signal into an ADSL channel and a LAN channel.

8. A method for providing data communications within a customer premises between a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and a customer premises wiring plant, said customer, premises wiring plant including a plurality of connectors and one or more network elements connected thereto, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving, by a splitter, a PSTN signal containing a digital signal and a voice signal, wherein the digital signal comprises an ADSL signal;

separating, by the splitter, the PSTN signal into the voice signal and the digital signal;

coupling, by the splitter, said voice signal through the customer premises wiring plant on a plurality of lines to said plurality of connectors at a first frequency;

receiving, by a router, said data signal; and

transmitting, by the router, said digital signal through the customer premises wiring plant on a selected one of the plurality of lines that is also carrying the voice signal to a selected one of said same plurality of connectors to a second frequency.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein said one or more network elements further comprise a network interface, said method further comprising the step of:

receiving, at said network interface, the digital signal at the second frequency.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein said network interface further comprises a Media Access Control (MAC), said method further comprising the steps of:

receiving said digital signal at said second frequency; and

separating said digital signal at said second frequency into a first channel for transmitting the digital signal at the second frequency to at least one of the one or more network elements and a second channel for transmitting the digital signal at a third frequency to the at least one of the one or more network elements.

11. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the step of transmitting further comprises transmitting LAN 802.3 data.

12. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein said digital signal is an ADSL signal, and wherein the method further comprises the step of transporting the ADSL signal to at least one of the one or more network elements as a LAN signal.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein said network interface further comprises a Media Access Control (MAC), said method further comprising the steps of:

receiving said LAN signal, and

separating said LAN signal into an ADSL channel and a LAN channel.

14. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising, prior to said transmitting step, the step of:

frequency shifting the digital data signal received by the router from a third frequency to the second frequency.

15. A device for providing data communications within a customer premises between a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and a customer premises wiring plant, the customer premises wiring plant including a plurality of connectors and one or more network elements connected thereto, the device comprising:

a splitter, connected to the PSTN, for receiving and separating a PSTN signal into a voice signal and a digital signal and coupling the voice signal through the customer premises wiring plant on a plurality of lines to said plurality of connectors at a first frequency; and

a router, coupled to said splitter and the customer premises wiring plant, for receiving the digital signal from the splitter and transmitting the digital signal through the customer premises wiring plant on a selected one of the plurality of lines that is also carrying the voice signal to one of the same plurality of connectors at a second frequency wherein said router further being configured to route data signals between the one or more network elements via said customer premises wiring plant.

17. A device for providing data communications within a customer premises between a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and a customer premises wiring plant, the customer premises wiring plant including a plurality of connectors and at least one network element connected thereto, the device comprising:

an ADSL Transmission Unit-Remote (ATU-R) for separating a received PSTN signal into a voice signal and an ADSL signal, the voice signal being provided through the customer premises wiring plant on a plurality of lines to the plurality of connectors at a first frequency; and

a router, coupled to said ATU-R and the customer premises wiring plant, for receiving the ADSL signal from said ATU-R and transmitting a LAN signal containing the ADSL signal through the customer premises wiring plant on a selected one of the plurality of lines that is also carrying the voice signal to a selected one of the same plurality of connectors at a second frequency.

18. The device as recited in claim 17, wherein said at least one network element further comprise a network interface for receiving the LAN signal at the second frequency.

19. The device as recited in claim 18, wherein said network interface comprises a Media Access Control (MAC) for receiving the LAN signal, and separating the LAN signal into an ADSL channel and a LAN channel.

20. The device as recited in claim 18, wherein said network interface further comprises a Media Access Control (MAC) for receiving said LAN signal at the second frequency and separating the LAN signal at the second frequency into a first channel for transmitting the ADSL signal at a third frequency to the at least one network element and a second channel for transmitting the LAN signal at the second frequency to the at least one network element.

21. The device as recited in claim 17, wherein said router further comprises an 802.3 LAN router.

22. A system for providing communication in a customer premises wiring plant, said system comprising:

a splitter for receiving signals from a PSTN and separating the signals into voice signals at a first frequency and data signals at a second frequency;

the customer premises wiring plant coupling the voice signals at the first frequency to a plurality of connectors; and

a router for receiving the data signals at the second frequency from said splitter, frequency shifting the data signals from the second frequency to a third frequency and transmitting the data signals at the third frequency through the customer premises wiring plant to given ones of the same plurality of connectors.

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein said router being configured to route data signals at the third frequency between a plurality of network elements each connected to one of the plurality of connectors.

24. The system according to claim 22, further comprising a plurality of network elements each including a network interface card, said network interface card receiving the data signals from said router and providing the data signals to the respective one of said plurality of network elements.

25. The system according to claim 24, wherein said network interface card further comprises a Media Access Control (MAC) unit that generates a LAN signal and an ADSL signal from the data signal, said network interface card provides the LAN signal and the ADSL signal on separate channels.

26. The system according to claim 22, wherein said first frequency is a baseband frequency, wherein said second frequency is an ADSL frequency and wherein said third frequency is a LAN frequency.

27. A method for providing data communications within a customer premises, said method comprising the steps of:

separating PSTN signals into voice signals and digital data signals;

coupling the voice signals through a customer premises wiring plant to a plurality of connectors at a first frequency;

receiving, by a router, the digital data signals at a second frequency;

frequency shifting the digital data signals from the second frequency to a third frequency; and

transmitting the frequency shifted digital data signals through the customer premises wiring plant to given ones of the same plurality of connectors at the third frequency.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein said first frequency is a baseband frequency, wherein said second frequency is an ADSL frequency and wherein said third frequency is a LAN frequency.

29. The method according to claim 27, further comprising, after said step of transmitting, the steps of:

receiving the digital data signal at a network interface card within a network element connected to one of the plurality of connectors;

converting the digital data signal into a LAN signal and an ADSL signal; and

providing both the LAN signal and the ADSL signal to the network element.

30. A network element connected to one of a plurality of connectors within a customer premises wiring plant, said network element comprising:

a network interface controller (NIC) configured to receive digital signals from a router through the cusomter premises wiring plant, said digital signals are received at a first frequency irrespective of the presence of voice signals at the plurality of connectors at a second frequency;

wherein the customer premises wiring plant is a conventional two wire plant capable of simultaneously carrying both the digital signal and the voice signal; and

a media access control (MAC) comprising;

an ADSL module for decoding data contained within the digital signal received by the NIC and supplying the data to the network element at a third frequency; and

a LAN module for providing the digital signal to the network element at the first frequency.