Outlet with analog signal adapter, a method for use thereof and a network using said outlet
First Claim
1. A video network in a building for carrying a video signal from a video source to a video receiver, said network comprising:
- at least two outlets;
pre-existing wiring in at least one wall of the building, said wiring comprising at least two conductors and being connected to said at least two outlets, said at least two conductors comprising one of;
a twisted-wire pair;
a CATV coaxial cable;
a telephone wire pair; and
AC power wiring, and being connected to carry an analog service signal in an analog service signal frequency band, the analog service signal being one of;
DC power;
a CATV signal;
an analog telephone signal; and
an AC power signal, and being connected to concurrently carry a frequency multiplexed bi-directional serial packet-based digital data signal in a digital data signal frequency band distinct from the analog service signal frequency band, the digital data signal comprising at least one packetized and digitized video data signal; and
a first device connected to said wiring and connectable to an analog video source, said first device being operative to digitize and packetize the analog video signal from the analog video source and to couple the digitized and packetized analog video signal to the wiring; and
a second device connected to said wiring and connectable to an analog video receiver, said second device being operative to convert the digitized and packetized data received from the wiring back into the analog video signal for coupling to the analog video receiver.
13 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An outlet (70, 75, 76, 78, 79) for a Local Area Network (LAN), containing an integrated adapter (21, 25) that converts digital data to and from analog video signal. Such an outlet allows using analog video units in a digital data network (80), eliminating the need for a digital video units or external adapter. The outlet may include a hub (31, 41) that allows connecting both an analog video signal via an adapter, as well as retaining the data network connection, which may be accessed by a network jack (73). The invention may also be applied to a telephone line-based data networking system. In such an environment, the data networking circuitry as well as the analog video adapters are integrated into a telephone outlet, providing for regular telephone service, analog video connectivity, and data networking as well. In such a configuration, the outlet would have a standard telephone jack (71), an analog video jack (72) and at least one data networking jack (73). Outlets according to the invention can be used to retrofit existing LAN and in-building telephone wiring, as well as original equipment in new installation.
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Citations
44 Claims
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1. A video network in a building for carrying a video signal from a video source to a video receiver, said network comprising:
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at least two outlets; pre-existing wiring in at least one wall of the building, said wiring comprising at least two conductors and being connected to said at least two outlets, said at least two conductors comprising one of;
a twisted-wire pair;
a CATV coaxial cable;
a telephone wire pair; and
AC power wiring, and being connected to carry an analog service signal in an analog service signal frequency band, the analog service signal being one of;
DC power;
a CATV signal;
an analog telephone signal; and
an AC power signal, and being connected to concurrently carry a frequency multiplexed bi-directional serial packet-based digital data signal in a digital data signal frequency band distinct from the analog service signal frequency band, the digital data signal comprising at least one packetized and digitized video data signal; anda first device connected to said wiring and connectable to an analog video source, said first device being operative to digitize and packetize the analog video signal from the analog video source and to couple the digitized and packetized analog video signal to the wiring; and a second device connected to said wiring and connectable to an analog video receiver, said second device being operative to convert the digitized and packetized data received from the wiring back into the analog video signal for coupling to the analog video receiver. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A network for coupling first and second digitized video data carried as part of respective first and second bi-directional serial packet-based digital data streams external to a building to respective ones of first and second analog video units in the building, said network comprising:
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first wiring comprising two first conductors at least in part in walls of the building and at least in part external to the building, said first wiring being connected to carry the first and second bi-directional serial digital data streams in time-multiplexed form; second wiring comprising two conductors at least in part in walls of the building, said second wiring being connected to carry the second bi-directional serial packet-based digital data stream; a first outlet mounted in a wall opening or outlet opening and connected to said first wiring; a second outlet mounted in a wall opening or outlet opening and connected to said second wiring; a first device couplable to a first analog video unit and connected to said first outlet for connecting to said first wiring, said first device being connected to said second wiring and being operative to couple the first digitized video data to the first analog video unit and to pass only the second bi-directional serial digital data streams between said first and second wirings; and a second device couplable to a second analog video unit and connected to said second outlet for connecting to said second wiring, said second device being operative to couple the second digitized video data to the second analog video unit. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A device for coupling a digitized version of analog signals to one or more analog devices, for use with wiring installed in walls of a building and connected for carrying a bi-directional digital data signal and a power signal over the same wires, the digital data signal containing the digitized version of the analog signals, said device comprising:
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a wiring connector connectable to the wiring; a transceiver coupled to said wiring connector for transmitting and receiving the digital data signal carried over the wiring and containing both a digitized version of a first analog signal and a digitized version of a second analog signal; a first analog connector for receiving the first analog signal in analog form from an analog device; a second analog connector for transmitting the second analog signal in analog form to an analog device; an analog to digital converter coupled between said first analog connector and said transceiver and operative for converting the first analog signal from analog form to the digitized version; a digital to analog converter coupled between said second analog connector and said transceiver and operative for converting the second signal from the digital version to analog form; and a single enclosure housing said wiring connector, said transceiver, said converters and said first and second analog connectors, wherein said transceiver and said converters are coupled to the wiring in order to be powered by the power signal. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A device for coupling digitized versions of first and second analog signals to one or more analog devices, for use with a wire pair installed in walls in a building and connected for carrying a bi-directional digital data signal carried in a data signal frequency band and a power signal carried in a power signal frequency band using frequency division multiplexing, the data signal frequency band being distinct from the power signal frequency band, and the digital data signal containing the digitized versions of the analog signals, said device comprising:
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a wiring connector connectable to the wire pair; a filter coupled to said wiring connector for passing only the digital data signal; a wiring modem coupled to said filter for transmitting and receiving the digital data signal carried over the wire pair and containing both the digitized version of the first analog signal and the digitized version of the second analog signal; a first analog connector for receiving the first analog signal in analog form from an analog device; a second analog connector for transmitting the second analog signal in analog form to an analog device; an analog to digital converter coupled between said first analog connector and said wiring modem and operative for converting the first analog signal in analog form to the digitized version of the first analog signal; a digital to analog converter coupled between said second analog connector and said wiring modem and operative for converting the digitized version of the second analog signal to the second analog signal in analog form; and a single enclosure housing said wiring connector, said filter, said wiring modem, said first and second analog connector and said converters. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification