Patent Application
20060193313
The methods and systems of this disclosure relate to adapting telephone infrastructures to carry both telephonic and non-telephonic communication signals.
The ability to interconnect computers and other intelligent devices is a common requirement wherever people live and work today. The electrical connection required to form many local area network (LAN) communication systems has traditionally been accomplished by installing dedicated data wiring both inside buildings and between clusters of buildings. A number of wireless (i.e. radio) methods have also been developed and deployed to address this need.
More recently, a power-wire based technology was developed to allow electric power wiring infrastructure to simultaneously transport electrical power and high-speed data. This technology, known as “Power Line Carrier” (PLC) technology, typically uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Modulated (OFDM) signals between 2 MHz and 30 MHz injected onto power wiring to transport data.
Power Line Carrier technology offers a number of significant practical advantage over available LAN-based technologies. For example, a PLC-based LAN can be installed in a house or other building without installing a single in-wall wire. Further, PLC-based LANS can cover a greater area than available wireless LANS. Unfortunately, existing PLC-based LANs have a limited data bandwidth and are subject to interference by every appliance and device drawing power from the LANs power lines. Accordingly, new methods and systems capable of providing in-building LANs are desirable.
In one aspect, a device for implementing a shared communication system over a wired telephone network installed in a building includes a communication gateway and a coupling device coupled to the communication gateway and configure to be coupled to at least a portion of the wired telephone network, wherein the communication gateway is configured to transmit and receive first communication signals to/from the wired telephony network via the coupling device, the first communication signals being in a frequency band above a frequency band containing telephony traffic on the wired network; and wherein the first communication signals use a LAN protocol.
In a second aspect, a device for implementing a shared communication system over a wired telephone network installed in a building includes a broadband communication device coupled to the wired network and configured to transmit and receive first communication signals to/from the wired telephony network via a coupling device, the first communication signals being in a frequency band above a frequency band containing telephony traffic on the wired network, wherein the first communication signals use a LAN protocol.
In a third aspect, a method for communicating over a wired telephony network includes transmitting a broadband communication signal having embedded information onto the wired-telephony network, the embedded information being derived from a signal provided by an Internet Service Provider (ISP), wherein the broadband communication signal is compliant with a local area network protocol.
In a fourth aspect, a Local Area Network (LAN) includes a plurality of high-frequency broadband communication devices, wherein each communication device is coupled to a twisted-wire-pair, wherein the twisted-wire-pair is capable of carrying a separate low-frequency telephonic signal; and wherein the broadband communication devices communicate using a local area network protocol without interfering with low-frequency telephonic signals.
In a fifth aspect, a communication system includes a first Local Area Network above telephony (LAN/T) network, and a coupling means for coupling the LAN/T to a second local area network.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, certain embodiments of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof herein may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional embodiments of the invention that will be described or referred to below and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of embodiments in addition to those described and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein, as well as the abstract, are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Current technologies available to homeowners to create Local Area Networks (LANs) include various wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth and 802.11b networks, and Power Line Communication (PLC) networks, such as those provided by the HomePlug® standards. Unfortunately, both technologies have limited bandwidth, which can prove problematic in high-density housing and office settings.
However, most buildings that have electrical wiring also have telephone wires installed that might also be used to provide LAN services. While the standards-making bodies of the International Telecommunications Union (the “ITU-T”) have promulgated a number of broadband standards, such as Asymmetric Digital Subscribe's Line above Plain Old Telephone Service (ADSL above POTS), these standards were developed for point-to-point communication/Wide Area Network (WAN) systems where that have traditionally been developed with sending and receiving data over long distances.
However, there is an existing broadband standard, known as HomePlug®, as well as a large number of viable variants, capable of providing LAN services over powerlines. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that such broadband LAN technology might be applied to creating LANs over telephony lines.
While
(A) Specific-frequency point-to-multipoint capability, which refers to the capability that a first device can simultaneously communicate with multiple other devices on a LAN using a each of one or more carrier frequencies. Contrast this capability with the various DSL standards, which generally allow only point-to-point communication. While some DSL standards are partially point-to-multipoint from the standpoint that an upstream device can simultaneously communicate with multiple downstream devices, such communication is limited in that the upstream device maintains communication with each downstream device using separate carrier frequencies in a Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT) environment.
(B) Digital encryption, such as the Digital Encryption Standard (DES) or triple Digital Encryption Standard (3DES or DES3). Presently, DSL and other known WAN standards do not use or need such capability.
(C) An Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) format, which helps to increase bandwidth while decreasing the effects of multi-path signal distortion. While various DSL protocols use a variant of OFDM, i.e., a DMT format, OFDM has a number of advantages over DMT, such as the need for but a single modem.
(D) A contention protocol, such as Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection (CSMA/CD), Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) and Token Passing. The CSMA/CD is a popular protocol that is both fast and commonly used. While the CSMA/CA protocol is not as fast as the CSMA/CD protocol, CSMA/CA has an advantage in that it provides for the “hidden node” problem. The hidden node problem occurs in a point-to-multipoint network and occurs in networks where at least three nodes, Node A, Node B and Node C, are present. It is possible that in certain cases Node B can hear Node A (and vice versa) and Node B can hear Node C (and vice versa) but Node C cannot hear Node A. That is, Nodes A and C are effectively hidden from one another. In such an environment both Node A and Node C could both properly transmit a packet simultaneously in a CSMA/CD environment since they cannot hear each other on a ‘listen’ phase, but the result is that Node B would get corrupted data. However, unlike a CSMA/CD protocol, a CSMA/CA protocol could prevent Nodes A and C from simultaneous transmission with resulting data corruption.
(E) Full spectral bi-directionality, which for the purpose of this disclosure means that almost any device coupled to a network can both receive and transmit information using all or substantially all of an available communication bandwidth. For example, the POTS, ISDN and SHDSL technologies shown in
Continuing to
In operation, the telephone network 510 can be used to transport telephony signals (or other baseband signals, such as SHDSL) between various telephones, facsimile machines, modems or telephony equipment located at the client access points 540-546 and the telephone service provider 530, or possibly used to transport telephony signals client access points 540-546. When a client access point 540-546 is in communication with the telephone service provider 530, the telephony signals would, of course, be relayed/transmitted/received via the external access equipment 532 and coupler 512
Simultaneously, the telephone network 510 can be used to transport various broadband signals, such as HomePlug compatible or other LAN signals both between client access points 540-546 and to/from individual between client access points 540-546 and an external device or system, e.g., a specific communication node on the ISP 520. When a client access point 540-546 is in communication with the ISP 520, the broadband signals would, of course, be relayed/transmitted/received via the gateway 522 and coupler 512.
As discussed above with reference to
The exemplary telephony network 510 consists of one or more pairs of twisted-wire-pairs commonly used for telephony purposes. However, it should be appreciated that the particular physical makeup of the telephone network 510 can take any combination of forms, such as electrically conducting wire-pairs, twisted-wire-pairs or cable, wireless forms, optical forms, sonic forms etc. It should also be appreciated that, when the telephone network 510 takes certain electrically conducting forms, such forms may consist a single length of twisted-wire-pair, a number of twisted-wire pairs connected together such that they have common TIP and RING nodes or may consist of numerous separate TIP/RING nodes capable of carrying separate telephony signals.
The external access equipment 532 of the present example of
The gateway 522 of the present example of
In operation, the low-pass-filter 610, which may be optional in certain situations (e.g., depending on telephony equipment used), can be used to block out high-frequency signals, but to otherwise leave the telephony signals typically found on Tip-Ring pairs (such as voice and POTS signaling) unaltered. Thus, the TIP-RING pair on both the right-hand and left-hand sides of
The data coupler 640, which complements the low-pass-filter 610, can essentially provide many of the same functions for higher-frequency signals, i.e., filters out undesirable low-frequency signals while coupling desirable signals. However, as mentioned above the data coupler 640 can also provide surge protection and provide impedance matching to improve system performance.
In operation, the telephonic device 740, which can be any combination of telephone-based devices such as telephones, facsimiles, modems etc, can transmit signals to and receive signals from a wired network, such as the telephone network shown in
Similarly, the client device 750, which can be almost any computer-based device capable of transmitting and receiving data, can transmit signals to and receive signals from a wired network, such as the telephone network shown in
The client coupler 710 of the present embodiment is similar to the coupler of
For example, if a particular client access point included a simple POTS telephone, a high-frequency data coupler would not be necessary. Similarly, a client access point having no telephone would require no low-pass filtering.
In step 808, the transmitted LAN signals are then received by a gateway, bridge or other suitable device. Next, in step 810, the LAN signals are converted to an appropriate format, e.g., 10baseT or Ethernet, so that they might be conveyed to a receiving device, e.g., an ISP or computer. Then, in step 812, the converted signals are transmitted to an intended recipient. Control then continues to step 850 where the process stops.
However, in certain circumstances where a substantial connectivity between two sub-networks is required, the isolation depicted in
In addition to working in tandem with standard LANs, the exemplary methods and systems can similarly work with PLCs.
For example, in certain situations where client access point 540 and client access point 1240 are not hidden from one another, client access point 540 can send a communication signal to client access point 1240 via the telephone network 510, coupler 512, coupler 1212 and power network 1210.
Return communication signals from client access point 1240 to client access point 540 can follow the reverse route of the power network 1210, coupler 1212, coupler 512 and the telephone network 510.
However, in situations where client access point 540 and client access point 1240 are hidden from one another or distant enough such that direct communication would be slow, gateway 522 may act as a repeater to facilitate communication.
In step 1708 wherein a first LAN signal is optionally provided to a repeater, e.g., an appropriately configured gateway, where it is essentially received and retransmitted by the repeater. Next, in step 1710, the first LAN signal (repeated or original) is coupled onto a second network via any number of coupling. As with the first LAN, the second LAN can be a LAN/T-based network, or can in other embodiments be from any other form of LAN, such as a PLC LAN, an Ethernet LAN and so on. Control continues to step 1712.
In step 1712, the first LAN signal is received by a computer-based device coupled to the second network. Control then continues to step 1750 where the process stops.
In various embodiments where the above-described systems and/or methods are implemented using a programmable device, such as a computer-based system or programmable logic, it should be appreciated that the above-described systems and methods can be implemented using any of various known or later developed programming languages, such as “C”, “C++”, “FORTRAN”, Pascal”, “VHDL” and the like.
Accordingly, various storage media, such as magnetic computer disks, optical disks, electronic memories and the like, can be prepared that can contain information that can direct a device, such as a computer, to implement the above-described systems and/or methods. Once an appropriate device has access to the information and programs contained on the storage media, the storage media can provide the information and programs to the device, thus enabling the device to perform the above-described systems and/or methods.
For example, if a computer disk containing appropriate materials, such as a source file, an object file, an executable file or the like, were provided to a computer, the computer could receive the information, appropriately configure itself and perform the functions of the various systems and methods outlined in the diagrams and flowcharts above to implement the various functions. That is, the computer could receive various portions of information from the disk relating to different elements of the above-described systems and/or methods, implement the individual systems and/or methods and coordinate the functions of the individual systems and/or methods related to communication services.
The foregoing disclosure has been set forth merely to illustrate the invention and is not intended to be limiting. Since modifications of the disclosed embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of the invention may occur to persons skilled in the art, the invention should be construed to include everything within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof
