Method and apparatus for facilitating intra-premises voice and data distribution using existing in-place POTS telephone lines

• US 6,580,710 B1
• Filed: 11/19/1999
• Issued: 06/17/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Miller, Robert Raymond II, Bowen, Donald John, Russell, Jesse Eugene, Rice, Christopher W., Erving, Richard Henry, Murray, John F.
• Primary Examiner(s): VINCENT, DAVID ROBERT
• Application Number:
  US09/444,183
• Time in Patent Office: 1,306 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 370/353, 370/354, 370/357-60, 370/386, 370/389, 370/400-402, 370/431, 370/445, 370/480, 370/482, 370/489, 370/490, 370/493, 370/496, 379/90.01, 379/142.18, 379/250, 379/399.01, 379/413.02, 379/413.03, 379/449
• US Class Current: 370/353
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/062 using different frequency bands for speech and other data

Abstract

Broadband services are provided to customer premises, whose existing premise wiring does not have broadband capability, by disaggregating the various signals, including broadband services, supplied to the premise from a broadband communication link at the customer premise'"'"'s edge, so that the existing POTS wires, within the customer premises, may function as separate channels for varied broadband and narrow band services. Intra premises broad band services are disaggregated so that POTS service responds normally to the network while internal LAN networks operate independently of the outside system network.

Claims

1. A method of providing broadband services, supplied by a broadband network, within a customer premise over existing in-place POTS telephony wiring normally providing only narrowband services, comprising the steps of:

dividing a frequency spectrum providing various services to the customer premise into three distinct bands;

including;

dedicating a first band of frequency to narrowband telephony providing primary voice service;

dedicating a second band of frequency to in-premise local area network service, and also to secondary voice service; and

dedicating a third band of frequency to high speed data service; and

accepting all incoming varied telephone signals at the customer premise with a Broadband Communications Interface (BCI) that disaggregates the incoming signals into the varied services defined by the three distinct bands and coupling the incoming signals to the in-place POTS telephony wiring;

connecting all CPE equipment including telephones to the in-place POTS telephony wiring through a Network Interface Device (NID);

permitting each CPE devoted to voice telephony to voluntarily switch to a new secondary voice telephone line by switching processes within the NID and registering the request in the BCI, which in turn transfers the request to the network for provisioning; and

providing the secondary voice telephone line within the second band of frequency.

2. The method of claim 1, further including a step of:

providing low power alerting responsive to lifeline power provided by a public communication network for alerting all within customer in-premise POTS telephones of incoming calls.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of dividing the frequency spectrum includes:

bracketing the first band within 1 to 40 kHz.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of dividing the frequency spectrum includes:

bracketing the second band within 100 kHz to 1.1 MHz.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of dividing the frequency spectrum includes:

bracketing the third band within 2 MHz to 30 MHz.

6. A method of providing broadband services, supplied by a public broadband network, within a customer premise over existing in-place POTS telephony wiring normally providing only narrow band services, comprising the steps of:

dividing a frequency spectrum providing various services to the customer premise into two distinct bands;

including;

dedicating a first band of frequency to narrowband telephony providing primary voice service;

dedicating a second band of frequency to in-premise local area network service, secondary voice service and high speed data service;

accepting all incoming varied telephone signals at the customer premise with a Broadband Communications Interface (BCI) that disaggregates the incoming signals into the varied services defined by the two distinct bands and coupling the incoming signals to the in-place POTS telephony wiring;

controlling signals in the second band of frequency with signal exchange protocol controls applicable in all applications;

connecting all CPE equipment including telephones to the in-place POTS telephony wiring through a Network Interface Device (NID);

permitting each CPE devoted to voice telephony to voluntarily switch to a new secondary voice telephone line by switching processes within the NID and registering the request in the BCI, which in turn transfers the request to the network for provisioning; and

providing the secondary voice telephone line within the second band of frequency.

7. The method of claim 6, further including a step of:

providing low power alerting responsive to lifeline power provided by a public communication network for alerting all within customer in-premise POTS telephones of incoming calls.

8. An in-premise network for accepting multi-band services and distributing them in-premise using in-place narrowband POTS wire-lines;

comprising;

a Broadband Communications Interface (BCI) connected for accepting all incoming varied telephone signals at the customer premise and desegregating the incoming signals into varied services defined by three distinct frequency bands and coupling the incoming signals to the in-place POTS telephony wiring;

with the first frequency band providing narrowband POTS telephony, the second frequency band providing local area network service and the third frequency band providing high speed data service;

Network Interface Devices (NID) connecting all CPE equipment including telephones to the in-place POTS telephony wiring;

each NID providing processing in combination with the BCI for provisioning new telephone lines;

with a first telephone served as a POTS telephone in the first frequency band and secondary telephones serviced within the second frequency band.