Method for sharing optical fiber for cloud-based wired and wireless access network, and system and apparatus for same

• US 9,596,048 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2012
• Issued: 03/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HFR, Inc., SK Telecom Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: HFR, Inc., SK Telecom Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Cho, Beum-Geun, Song, Myung-Hun, Byun, Sungjin, Lee, Sun-Ik, Kim, Sang-Woo, Sung, Jinsoo, Lim, Jong-Yeong, Park, Chan, Lee, Eun-Ho
• Primary Examiner(s): Vanderpuye, Ken N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Alagheband, Abbas H
• Application Number:
  US14/347,111
• Publication Number:
  US 20140233591A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,630 Days
• Field of Search: 398/79, 398/116, 370/254, 370/329, 370/330
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/27 Arrangements for networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0227 Operation, administration, maintenance or provisioning [OAMP] of WDM networks, e.g. media access, routing or wavelength allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0241 Wavelength allocation for communications one-to-one, e.g. unicasting wavelengths
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0254 Optical medium access
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0267 Optical signaling or routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/02764 Multiplex arrangements for radio-frequency networks access; policies therefor radio over fibre arrangement H04B10/2575
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0283 WDM ring architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0287 Protection in WDM systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0305 in end terminals

Abstract

A system for sharing an optical fiber for a cloud-based wired and wireless access network, includes: a centralization device to generate summing signals by respectively summing multi-channel optical signals input from a wireless donor unit group and by summing multi-channel wired signals input from a wired donor unit group or generate wavelength-converted signals by wavelength-converting the multi-channel optical signals or the multi-channel wired signals, multiplex the summing signals or the wavelength-converted signals, and distribute the summing signals or the wavelength-converted signals to a plurality of devices connected to the centralization device via a shared optical fiber; and a distribution device group to generate corresponding optical signals by demultiplexing the summing signals or the wavelength-converted signals in units of wavelengths, and transmit the corresponding optical signals or the multi-channel wired signals to a wireless remote unit group and/or a wired remote unit group via a preset optical fiber.

Claims

1. A system for delivering uplink signals and downlink signals between a plurality of donor units and a plurality of remote units in cloud-based radio access network (C-RAN), the system comprising:

a centralization device connected to the plurality of donor units; and

a plurality of distribution devices, each distribution device connected to a respective subset of the plurality of remote units,

wherein the centralization device and the plurality of distribution devices are interconnected through optical fibers forming an optical ring network,

wherein the centralization device is configured to

receive a plurality of downlink signals from the plurality of donor units and

optically transmit the plurality of downlink signals to the plurality of distribution devices at respective wavelengths assigned to the each distribution devices, and

said each distribution device is configured to

receive a plurality of uplink signals from the respective subset of the plurality of remote units and

optically transmit the plurality of uplink signals to the centralization device at the assigned wavelengths, and

wherein the plurality of donor units includes a plurality of wireless donor units and a plurality of wired donor units, and

the plurality of remote units include a plurality of wireless remote units and a plurality of wired remote units,

wherein the centralization device comprises

a first transmission rate converter configured to

receive downlink signals from a part of the plurality of donor units at low transmission rate,

process the received downlink signals to generate summing signals, each summing signal carrying at least two downlink signals, and

convert summing signals at different wavelengths to generate optical summing signals at high transmission rate,

wherein the first transmission rate converter comprises

a first wireless transmission rate converter configured to

receive downlink signals from a part of the plurality of wireless donor units, and

process the received downlink signals to generate summing signals, and

convert the summing signals at different wavelengths to generate optical summing signals, and

a first wired transmission rate converter configured to

receive downlink signals from a part of the plurality of wired donor units,

process the received downlink signals to generate summing signals, and

convert the summing signals at different wavelengths to generate optical summing signals.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the centralization device comprises

a first wavelength division multiplexer, which is coupled to the first transmission rate converter and the first wavelength converter, configured to

multiplex, using wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), the optical summing signals and the optical wavelength-converted signals to generate a multiplexed optical signal, and

distribute the multiplexed optical signal to the optical ring network.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first wavelength division multiplexer comprises

a first dense wavelength division multiplexer configured to

multiplex, using dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM), a part of (i) the optical summing signals and (ii) the optical wavelength-converted signals to generate a first multiplexed optical signal, and

a first coarse wavelength division multiplexer configured to

multiplex, using coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM), the first multiplexed optical signal and a rest of (i) the optical summing signals and (ii) the optical wavelength-converted signals to generate a second multiplexed optical signal, and

distribute the second multiplexed optical signal to the optical fibers.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said each distribution device comprises:

a second wavelength division multiplexer configured to

receive the multiplexed optical signal from the optical ring network, and

demultiplex, using wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), the multiplexed optical signal to generate the optical summing signals and the optical wavelength-converted signals;

a second transmission rate converter, which is coupled to the second wavelength division multiplexer, configured to

process the optical summing signals to generate at least two downlink signals, and

transmit the generated downlink signals to the corresponding remote unit group; and

a second wavelength converter, which is coupled to the second wavelength division multiplexer, configured to

convert the optical wavelength-converted signals into optical signals at predefined wavelength, and

transmit the generated downlink signals to the corresponding remote unit group.

4. A system for delivering uplink signals and downlink signals between a plurality of donor units and a plurality of remote units in cloud-based radio access network (C-RAN), the system comprising:

a centralization device connected to the plurality of donor units; and

a plurality of distribution devices, each distribution device connected to a respective subset of the plurality of remote units,

wherein the centralization device and the plurality of distribution devices are interconnected through optical fibers forming an optical ring network,

wherein the centralization device is configured to

receive a plurality of downlink signals from the plurality of donor units and

optically transmit the plurality of downlink signals to the plurality of distribution devices at respective wavelengths assigned to the each distribution devices, and

said each distribution device is configured to

receive a plurality of uplink signals from the respective subset of the plurality of remote units and

optically transmit the plurality of uplink signals to the centralization device at the assigned wavelengths, and

wherein the plurality of donor units includes a plurality of wireless donor units and a plurality of wired donor units, and

the plurality of remote units include a plurality of wireless remote units and a plurality of wired remote units,

wherein the centralization device comprises

a first converter configured to;

receive downlink signals from a rest of the plurality of donor units; and

convert the received downlink signals at different wavelengths to generate optical wavelength-converted signals,

wherein the first converter comprises;

a first wavelength converter configured to

optically receive downlink signals from a rest of the plurality of wireless donor units, and

convert the received downlink signals at different wavelengths to generate optical wavelength-converted signals; and

a first electro-optical converter configured to

electrically receive downlink signals from a rest of the plurality of wired donor units, and

convert the received downlink signals at different wavelengths to generate optical wavelength-converted signals.

6. A method performed by the system for delivering uplink signals and downlink signals between a plurality of donor units and a plurality of remote units in cloud-based radio access network (C-RAN), the method comprising:

receiving, by the centralization device, a plurality of downlink signals from the plurality of donor units at low transmission rates;

processing, by the centralization device, a part of the plurality of downlink signals to generate a plurality of summing signals, each summing signal carrying at least two downlink signals;

converting, by the centralization device, the plurality of summing signals at different wavelengths to generate a plurality of converted optical signals of high transmission rates, and convert a rest of the plurality of downlink signals at different wavelengths to generate a plurality of converted optical signals;

multiplexing, by the centralization device, the plurality of converted optical signals to generate a multiplexed optical signal;

distributing, by the centralization device, the multiplexed optical signal into the optical ring network;

receiving, by each distribution device, the multiplexed optical signal from the optical ring network;

demultiplexing, by each distribution device, the multiplexed optical signal to generate the plurality of converted optical signals;

processing, by each distribution device, optical signal of the wavelength associated with the summing signal to generate at least two downlink signals; and

transmitting, by each distribution device, a plurality of downlink signals to the respective subset of the plurality of remote units.