Shared receiving systems utilizing telephone cables as video drops

• US 5,610,916 A
• Filed: 05/16/1995
• Issued: 03/11/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bell Atlantic Network Services, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Sistanizadeh, Kamran, Kostreski, Bruce
• Primary Examiner(s): Safourek, Benedict V.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Chau T.
• Application Number:
  US08/441,977
• Time in Patent Office: 665 Days
• Field of Search: 370/69.1, 370/71, 370/72, 370/73, 370/76, 370/77, 370/123, 455/6.1, 455/6.2, 455/6.3, 455/4.1, 455/4.2, 455/5.1, 379/93-96, 379/105, 348/7-10, 348/13, 348/16, 348/12
• US Class Current: 370/487
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/02 Arrangements for relaying broadcast information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/18 Arrangements for synchronising broadcast or distribution via plural systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/33 by plural channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/63 to plural spots in a confined site, e.g. MATV [Master Antenna Television]
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/67 Common-wave systems, i.e. using separate transmitters operating on substantially the same frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/81 combined with telephone network over which the broadcast is continuously available
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2801 Broadband local area networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2007/1739 the upstream communication being transmitted via a separate link, e.g. telephone line
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/40 Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/108 the cable being constituted by a pair of wires
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17309 Transmission or handling of upstream communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 Handling of requests in head-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/20 Adaptations for transmission via a GHz frequency band, e.g. via satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services

Abstract

Within a desired service area, multiple transmitters at separately located sites simultaneously broadcast the same multi-channel, multi-program signal. Broadcast waves from the transmitters propagate throughout substantially overlapping portions of the service area. At most receiving sites, the receiving antenna can receive a clear line-of-sight transmission from at least one and often two or more of the transmitters. Each broadcast channel carries a multiplexed digital data stream containing packets of information for a plurality of programs, e.g. television programs. A shared antenna system, typically including multiple receiving antennae aimed at a plurality of the transmitters, supplies received signals to terminals in a plurality of living units. The shared receiving system distributes selected channels of digitized data to terminals in different living units via the telephone wiring for those units. The shared system also provides an interface to a broadband landline network carrying broadcast channels with multiplexed transport streams formatted in essentially the same manner as the wireless broadcast information. The shared system can selectively supply RF broadcast streams from the landline network over the telephone wiring to the living units, in the same manner as for the wireless transmissions.

Claims

1. A communication system comprising:

a channel selector for selectively receiving one channel from a plurality of available channels, wherein a digital transport stream containing digitized information relating to a plurality of programs is modulated into each of the available channels, said channel selector outputting a modulated signal containing the digital transport stream for the selectively received channel;

a combiner for frequency division multiplexing the modulated signal together with telephone signals for transport over a telephone loop;

a splitter located at a living unit for demultiplexing signals received over the telephone loop to separate out the modulated signal and to supply the telephone signals to a telephone device in the living unit;

a terminal receiving the modulated signal from the splitter, said terminal comprising;

(a) a demodulator for demodulating the modulated signal to acquire the digital transport stream therefrom, and

(b) a digital signal processor for processing a portion of the acquired digital transport stream associated with a selected program to present information relating to the selected program; and

a processor responsive to signals from an upstream control channel on the telephone loop for controlling the selective reception by the channel selector.

2. A communication system as in claim 1, wherein said telephone loop comprises twisted pair wire.

3. A communication system as in claim 1, wherein said channel selector comprises a channel frequency tuner.

4. A communication system as in claim 3, wherein said demodulator comprises a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) demodulator.

5. A communication system as in claim 1, further comprising an output device responsive to information presented by said digital signal processor to output information relating to the selected program to a user in sensorially perceptible form.

6. A communication system as in claim 5, wherein said output device comprises a video display.

7. A communication system as in claim 1, further comprising a wireless signal processing system, said wireless signal processing system comprising at least one antenna for receiving wireless broadcast transmissions of the available channels, and signal processing circuitry for supplying a signal containing the available channels to the channel selector.

8. A communication system as in claim 1, further comprising means for connecting the channel selector to a landline broadband network to receive broadcast transmissions of the available channels from the landline broadband network.

9. A communication system as in claim 1, wherein the terminal further comprises means responsive to user inputs for transmitting control signals upstream over the telephone loop to the processor in a predetermined frequency range separate from a frequency range used for the telephone signals and a frequency range carrying the modulated signal.

10. A communication system comprising:

a broadcast system transmitting a plurality of multiplexed channels, each of the multiplexed channels containing a modulated signal carrying a digital transport stream containing digitized information relating to a plurality of programs;

a shared receiving system comprising;

1) a network for distributing the multiplexed channels, and

2) a plurality of subscriber processing circuits, each subscriber processing circuit including

(a) a channel selector for selectively receiving one of the multiplexed channels from the network and outputting a selected modulated signal containing the digital transport stream for the selectively received channel,

(b) a processor responsive to signals from an upstream control channel for controlling the selective reception by the channel selector, and

(c) a splitter/combiner receiving and sending telephone signals to and from a telephone network for frequency division multiplexing the selected modulated signal together with downstream telephone signals from the telephone network for transport over a telephone loop and for frequency demultiplexing upstream signals received over the telephone loop to supply upstream telephone signals from the loop to the telephone network and to supply upstream control channel signals from the telephone loop to the processor;

a plurality of telephone loops, one telephone loop connecting each splitter/combiner to a living unit serviced by the shared receiving system;

a plurality of network interface devices, each network interface device providing a connection in one of the living units to one of the telephone loops, each network interface device comprising a telephone service splitter/combiner for demultiplexing signals received over the one telephone loop to separate out the selected modulated signal and to supply the downstream telephone signals to a telephone device in the one living unit and for frequency division multiplexing upstream telephone signals from the telephone device in the one living unit together with upstream control channel signals for transport over the one telephone loop;

a plurality of terminals, wherein at least one terminal connects to each network interface device, each terminal comprising;

(i) a demodulator for demodulating the selected modulated signal to acquire the digital transport stream therefrom,

(ii) a digital signal processor for processing a portion of the acquired digital transport stream associated with a selected one of the programs to present information relating to the selected program, and

(iii) means responsive to user inputs for supplying upstream control signals to a network interface device.

11. A communication system as in claim 10, wherein:

the broadcast system comprises a plurality of transmitters located at spaced apart sites transmitting a signal including the multiplexed channels so that areas of propagation from respective ones of the transmitters substantially overlap over each other in at least a major portion of a reception area; and

the shared receiving system further comprises at least one antenna receiving signals transmitted from one of the transmitters, and shared wireless signal processing circuitry processing the signal from the at least one antenna and supplying the multiplexed channels to the network for distribution as said available channels.

12. A communication system as in claim 11, wherein:

the at least one antenna comprises at least two directional receiving antennae, each directional receiving antenna being directed to receive said signal from a different one of the transmitters; and

the shared wireless signal processing circuitry receives a signal from each of the receiving antennae and in response thereto outputs a single optimized representation of said signal including multiplexed channels.

13. A communication system as in claim 12, wherein said shared wireless signal processing circuitry comprises means responsive to the level of signals from the at least two directional receiving antennae for selecting a signal from one of the receiving antennae as the single optimized representation of said signal including multiplexed channels.

14. A communication system as in claim 12, wherein said shared wireless signal processing circuitry comprises:

a plurality of channel processors, each of the channel processors processing signals from the at least two directional receiving antennae to output a single optimized representation of one of the multiplexed channels; and

a combiner for combining the optimized representations of the channels output by the channel processors to form the single optimized representation of said signal including multiplexed channels.

15. A communication system as in claim 14, wherein each channel processor comprises:

a plurality of filters, each filter receiving an output from a respective one of the at least two directional receiving antennae and selecting a predetermined one of the multiplexed channels; and

means responsive to signal level of the predetermined one of the multiplexed channels from each of the receiving antennae for selecting a signal representing the predetermined one of the multiplexed channels from one of the receiving antennae as the single optimized representation of the predetermined one of the multiplexed channels.

16. A system as in claim 10, wherein the broadcasting system comprises:

a headend comprising;

(1) a source of a first digital multiplexed data stream containing a plurality of packet streams, each packet stream carrying digitized data representing one of a first group of programs,

(2) a source of a second digital multiplexed data stream containing a plurality of packet streams, each packet stream carrying digitized data representing one of a second group of programs, and

(3) a modulation system modulating the first digital multiplexed data stream and the second digital multiplexed data stream into first and second channels, respectively.

17. A communication system as in claim 16, wherein the broadcast system further comprises a plurality of transmitters located at spaced apart sites transmitting a signal including the first and second channels so that areas of propagation from respective ones of the transmitters substantially overlap over each other in at least a major portion of a reception area which includes said shared receiving system.

18. A communication system as in claim 16, wherein at least one of the sources comprises:

a plurality of encoders responsive to analog audio and video information for producing packets of digitized, compressed audio and video data; and

a multiplexer multiplexing packets of digitized, compressed audio and video data from the plurality of encoders into one digital multiplexed data stream.

19. A communication system as in claim 16, wherein said modulation system comprises:

a first modulator for modulating the first digital multiplexed data stream into the first channel;

a second modulator for modulating the second digital multiplexed data stream into the second channel; and

a combiner combining output signals from the first and second modulators into a combined spectrum signal for broadcast.

20. A communication system as in claim 19, wherein each of the first and second modulators comprises a quadrature amplitude modulator.

21. A communication system as in claim 10, further comprising at least one additional receiving system, said additional receiving system comprising:

(i) a receiving antennae receiving wireless broadcasts of the multiplexed channels; and

(ii) a terminal comprising;

(a) an interface module processing a signal from the receiving antenna to select one of the multiplexed channels and acquire one digital multiplexed data stream from the channel selected by said interface module, and (b) another digital signal processor for processing digitized data from a selected packet stream contained in the one digital multiplexed data stream acquired by said interface module to present a selected program.

22. A communication system as in claim 10, wherein the broadcast system comprises a landline broadband network, and the shared receiving system further comprises means for connecting the network for distributing to the landline broadband network to receive broadcast transmissions of the multiplexed channels.

23. A communication system comprising:

a headend comprising;

(1) a source of a first digital multiplexed data stream containing a plurality of packet streams, each packet stream carrying digitized data representing one of a first group of video programs,

(2) a source of a second digital multiplexed data stream containing a plurality of packet streams, each packet stream carrying digitized data representing one of a second group of video programs,

(3) a modulation system modulating the first digital multiplexed data stream and the second digital multiplexed data stream into first and second channels, respectively;

a plurality of wireless transmitters located at respective different sites in a service area, the transmitters simultaneously transmitting a combined wireless signal containing the first and second channels into overlapping portions of the service area; and

a plurality of receiver systems within the service area, at least one of the receiver systems serving a plurality of living units, said at least one of the receiver systems comprising;

(i) at least two directional receiving antennae, each directional receiving antenna being directed to receive said combined wireless signal from a different one of the transmitters,

(ii) wireless signal processing circuitry receiving signals from the receiving antennae and in response thereto outputting a single optimized representation of a combined signal containing the first and second channels,

(iii) a plurality of subscriber processing circuits, each subscriber processing circuit including;

(a) a channel selector for selectively receiving one of the multiplexed channels from the single optimized representation and outputting a selected modulated signal containing the digital transport stream for the selectively received channel,

(b) a processor responsive to signals from an upstream control channel for controlling the selective reception by the channel selector, and

(c) a splitter/combiner receiving and sending telephone signals to and from a telephone network for frequency division multiplexing the selected modulated signal together with downstream telephone signals from the telephone network for transport over a telephone loop and for frequency division demultiplexing upstream signals received over the telephone loop to supply upstream telephone signals from the loop to the telephone network and to supply upstream control channel signals from the telephone loop to the processor;

(iv) a plurality of telephone loops, one telephone loop connecting each splitter/combiner to a living unit serviced by the shared receiving system;

(v) a plurality of network interface devices, each network interface device providing a connection in one of the living units to one of the telephone loops, each network interface device comprising a telephone service splitter/combiner for demultiplexing signals received over the one telephone loop to separate out the selected modulated signal and to supply the downstream telephone signals to a telephone device in the one living unit and for frequency division multiplexing upstream telephone signals from the telephone device in the one living unit together with upstream control channel signals for transport over the one telephone loop; and

(vi) a plurality of terminals, wherein at least one terminal connects to each network interface device, each terminal comprising;

(I) a demodulator for demodulating the selected modulated signal to acquire the digital transport stream therefrom,

(II) a digital signal processor for processing a portion of the acquired digital transport stream associated with a selected one of the programs to present information relating to the selected program, and

(III) means responsive to user inputs for supplying upstream control signals to a network interface device.

24. A communication system as in claim 23, wherein:

each of the at least two directional receiving antennae receives a plurality of differently time delayed representations of the combined wireless signal;

the single optimized representation includes a plurality of differently time delayed representations of the first and second channels; and

each terminal further comprises means for processing the plurality of time delayed representations of the selected one of the first and second channels to produce a single copy of the acquired digital multiplexed data stream for output to the digital signal processing section.

25. A communication system as in claim 24, wherein the means for processing comprises a digital time delay equalizer.

26. A communication system as in claim 23, wherein at least one of the sources comprises:

a plurality of encoders responsive to analog audio and video information for producing packets of digitized, compressed audio and video data; and

a multiplexer multiplexing packets of digitized, compressed audio and video data from the plurality of encoders into one digital multiplexed data stream.

27. A communication system as in claim 23, wherein said modulation system comprises:

a first modulator for modulating the first digital multiplexed data stream into a first frequency channel;

a second modulator for modulating the second digital multiplexed data stream into a second frequency channel; and

a combiner combining output signals from the first and second modulators into a combined spectrum signal and supplying the combined spectrum signal to each of the transmitters for transmission as said combined wireless signal.

28. A communication system as in claim 27, wherein each of the first and second modulators comprises a quadrature amplitude modulator, and each demodulator comprises a quadrature amplitude demodulator.

29. A communication system as in claim 23, further comprising a transmission network between the modulation system and the wireless transmitters for transmitting a first copy of the combined wireless signal through a first path to arrive at a broadcast antenna at a first one of the transmitters after a known time period, and for transmitting and delaying a second copy of the combined wireless signal through a second path to arrive at a broadcast antenna at a second one of the transmitters after said time period.

30. A communication system as in claim 29, wherein the transmission network comprises optical fibers connected between the transmitters and the modulation system.

31. A system as in claim 30, wherein at least one of the wireless transmitters includes a delay device for delaying the first channel such that first channel signals in the transmissions from the wireless transmitters are synchronized and in phase.

32. A system as in claim 31, wherein at least one of the wireless transmitters includes a delay device for delaying the second channel such that second channel signals in the transmissions from the wireless transmitters are synchronized and in phase.

33. A system as in claim 23, further comprising at least one additional receiving system, said additional receiving system comprising:

(i) a single directional receiving antennae directed to receive said combined wireless signal from one of the transmitters; and

(ii) a terminal comprising;

(a) an interface module processing a signal from the single directional receiving antennae to select one of the first and second channels and acquire one digital multiplexed data stream from the channel selected by said interface module, and (b) another digital signal processing section for processing digitized data from a selected packet stream contained in the one digital multiplexed data stream acquired by said interface module to present a selected program to a user.

34. A communication system as in claim 23, wherein the shared receiving system further comprises means for connecting the channel selectors in the plurality of subscriber processing circuits to a landline broadband network to receive broadcast transmissions of the multiplexed channels each containing modulated signals carrying a digital transport stream containing digitized information corresponding to a plurality of programs.

35. A method comprising:

a) simultaneously transmitting from multiple spaced transmitting sites the same signal so that areas of propagation from respective ones of the transmitting sites substantially overlap over each other in at least a major portion of a reception area, said signal transmitted from said transmitting sites including multiplexed channels, each channel containing a modulated signal carrying digitally multiplexed data representing a plurality of programs;

b) at one receiving site in the major portion of said reception area, directionally receiving a signal from each of the transmitting sites;

c) from the signals received from the transmitting sites, producing a single optimized representation of said signal including multiplexed channels;

d) supplying said single optimized representation of said signal including multiplexed channels to a plurality of subscriber processing circuits, and in one of the subscriber processing circuits;

(a) selectively receiving one of the multiplexed channels and outputting a selected modulated signal containing the digitally multiplexed data for the selectively received channel, and

(b) a receiving and sending telephone signals to and from a telephone network for frequency division multiplexing the selected modulated signal together with downstream telephone signals from the telephone network for transport over a telephone loop, for supplying upstream telephone signals from the loop to the telephone network and for supplying upstream control channel signals to a processor controlling the selective reception of one of the multiplexed channels;

e) at a living unit serviced through the telephone loop, demultiplexing signals received over the telephone loop to separate out the selected modulated signal and to supply the downstream telephone signals to a telephone device in the living unit and frequency division multiplexing upstream telephone signals from the telephone device together with upstream control channel signals representing user inputs for transport over the telephone loop;

f) demodulating the selected modulated signal to capture the digitally multiplexed data therefrom; and

g) processing a portion of the acquired digitally multiplexed data associated with a selected program to present information relating to the selected program.

36. A communication system as in claim 35, wherein the step of processing a portion of the acquired digitally multiplexed data comprises converting the portion of the acquired digitally multiplexed data to a signal for driving a video display device.