Coaxial cable/twisted pair fed, integrated residence gateway controlled, set-top box

• US 6,510,152 B1
• Filed: 12/31/1998
• Issued: 01/21/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gerszberg, Irwin, Treventi, Philip Andrew, Walker, Hopeton S., Martin, Jeffrey S., Oplinger, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Kizou, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Spafford, Tim
• Application Number:
  US09/224,281
• Time in Patent Office: 1,482 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 370/353, 370/480, 370/485, 370/486, 370/487, 370/493, 370/913, 370/463, 370/222, 725/109, 725/110, 725/111, 725/151
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2478 Telephone terminals specially adapted for non-voice services, e.g. email, internet access centralized arrangements where telephones services are combined H04M7/0024; for recording text messages H04M3/5322; for accessing Internet H04M3/4938
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/57 Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set at the operator set in a manual exchange H04M5/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6505 storing speech in digital form
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2221 being a cable television head-end CATV in broadcast systems H04H20/78
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4143 embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4185 for payment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43632 involving a wired protocol, e.g. IEEE 1394 high-speed IEEE 1394 serial bus H04L12/40052
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/141 between two video terminals, e.g. videophone telephonic communication systems combined with television receiver for reception of entertainment or information matter H04M11/085
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/148 Interfacing a video terminal to a particular transmission medium, e.g. ISDN
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/04 for time-division multiplexing H04Q11/0001 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13039 Asymmetrical two-way transmission, e.g. ADSL, HDSL
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13076 Distributing frame, MDF, cross-connect switch
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1309 Apparatus individually associated with a subscriber line, line circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13091 CLI, identification of calling line
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13093 Personal computer, PC
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13096 Digital apparatus individually associated with a subscriber line, digital line circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13103 Memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13176 Common channel signaling, CCS7
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1319 Amplifier, attenuation circuit, echo suppressor
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13202 : Network termination [NT]
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13204 : Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13209 : ISDN
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13216 : Code signals, frame structure
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1329 : Asynchronous transfer mode, ATM
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13292 : Time division multiplexing, TDM
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13332 : Broadband, CATV, dynamic bandwidth allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13337 : Picturephone, videotelephony
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13367 : Hierarchical multiplexing, add-drop multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13377 : Recorded announcement
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13389 : LAN, internet

Abstract

A twisted pair and/or coaxial cable fed, integrated residence gateway controlled set-top device provides a plurality of services. One service is lifeline service which may be provided over the coaxial cable via a cable modem of the integrated residence gateway or over the twisted pair facility. An integrated residence gateway is coupled to either or both of the coaxial cable or twisted pair and distributes the bandwidth facilities available over either service vehicle to customer devices including a set top box.

Claims

1. System apparatus for coupling to a serving coaxial cable and providing at least one tap to an associated terminal device via a coaxial line including at least one twisted pair line for providing power to said terminal device, the system apparatus for telecommunications services over a twisted pair, cable television services over a coaxial cable and data services over one of the twisted pair or the coaxial cable, the system apparatus comprising:

an asynchronous digital subscriber line modem;

a cable modem;

an Ethernet interface;

a radio frequency audio/video interface; and

a processor, responsive to said asynchronous digital subscriber line modem and said cable modem, for controlling communications via said Ethernet interface and said radio frequency audio/video interface.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein a plurality of taps to associated terminal devices are provided for an associated plurality of subscribers to one of cable television services, telecommunications services and data services.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising an Internet protocol bridger/router and memory for utilization of user preference data to obtain access to Internet sites which match said user preference data.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein each subscriber has a unique address and said system apparatus periodically reports user preference data to a central location.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said processor collects and stores service usage data from associated terminal devices.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said service usage data comprises utility meter data.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein said service usage data comprises pay-per-use data.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said tap passes power to said terminal device and further passes power and radio frequency signals to a subscriber downstream, and wherein further said tap is coupled to said serving coaxial cable.

9. The system of claim 1 further including a wireless interface to a cordless telecommunications handset.