The present invention relates to a serial transmission path switching system for selectively switching and connecting communication devices having a plurality of transfer rates.
Along with the recent advance in the digital technology, digitalization of HDTV signals is realized as well as that of conventional standard TV signals. Digitalization of video signals is also prompting development of video compression techniques such as MPEG or JPEG. For example, a broadcasting station uses video signals with various transfer rates. Examples of the video signals with different transfer rates are an HDTV baseband signal (1.5 Gbps), a standard TV signal (143 Mbps, 177 Mbps, 270 Mbps, 360 Mbps, 540 Mbps, or the like), and a compressed video signal (MPEG, JPEG, or the like). In this specification, a “video signal” means a signal containing not only image information but also an audio component and sync signals.
In this case, a serial transmission path switching apparatus for concentrating a plurality of serial transmission paths with a plurality of transfer rates to one portion and selectively switching and connecting one of the serial transmission paths is used. This switching apparatus has, in the input and output sections, interface sections (equalizing sections using buffers) corresponding to the various transfer rates. The apparatus demodulates the waveform degradation of an input signal in the input section and switches the signal (signal switching). The waveform degradation in the signal selected by the switch section is demodulated by the output section and output to the output transmission path.
However, in such a conventional serial transmission path switching apparatus, the maximum number of channels for each transfer rate is predetermined, resulting in poor expandability. For example, this apparatus cannot flexibly cope with addition of serial transmission paths due to an increase in number of studios or equipment or addition of a serial transmission path with a new transfer rate.
More specifically, since the maximum number of lines for each transfer rate is predetermined, serial transmission paths with new transfer rates cannot be connected beyond the number of free lines of the matrix switch section. To solve this, the design of the interface configurations of the input and output sections must be changed, resulting in a large increase in cost.
Besides, in the conventional matrix switch section, a jitter is generated in the output signal due to a variation in delay in a processing circuit, and some influence of the band width of a passing frequency. To reduce this jitter and facilitate signal reconstruction at the receiving section, the matrix switch section has a re-timing section including a clock signal extraction circuit and a D-flip-flop (D-FF) circuit for each switch. The clock signal extraction circuit can cope with only a signal with a fixed transfer rate. To process signals having different transfer rates (multi-rate), switches dedicated for the respective signals must be provided.
In addition, conventionally, when a large-scale matrix switch section is to be formed to process both a low- and high-speed digital signals, the numbers of switches, distributors, and selectors or the circuit scale increases to result in an increase in the apparatus scale or power consumption.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a serial transmission path switching system capable of flexibly coping with addition or change in a communication device having an existing transfer rate or addition of a communication device having a new transfer rate.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a compact and reliable serial transmission path switching system with low power consumption which can decrease the number of switches in a large matrix switch section and also reduce the circuit scales of a distributor and selector.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a serial transmission path switching system comprising:
A receiving section may be inserted between the first serial transmission paths and the input lines to receive the transmission signals from the first serial transmission paths and supply the signals to the input lines. A transmitting section may be inserted between the output lines and the second serial transmission paths to receive the transmission signals from the output lines and supply the signals to the second serial transmission paths.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the system of the first aspect, the switch section comprises
According to the third aspect of the present invention, in the system of the first aspect, the switch section comprises
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the system of the first aspect,
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate presently preferred embodiments of the invention, and together with the general description given above and the detailed description of the preferred embodiments given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
In the switching apparatus 11, an optical receiving section 17 is arranged to receive optical signals from N transmission paths at maximum, convert them into electrical signals, and supply the signals to corresponding input lines of the matrix switch section 16. In the switching apparatus 11, an optical transmitting section 18 is also arranged to convert electrical signals, from output lines of the matrix switch section 16, into optical signals, and send the signals to corresponding ones of the M optical transmission paths at maximum. To connect the matrix switch section 16 to the optical receiving section 17 and optical transmitting section 18, wideband coaxial cables (about 1 to 2 m) are used.
This system uses, as serial transmission paths 14 and 15, optical transmission paths (about 2 km at maximum) using optical fibers. The terminal of each optical transmission path 14 on the input side has an input buffer 12 which is connected to an input-side communication device IA (IA1 to IAn) to equalize (demodulate) the transmission signal from the input-side communication device, convert the signal from an electrical signal to an optical signal, and then send the optical signal to the transmission path 14. The terminal of each optical transmission path 15 on the input side has an output buffer 13 which is connected to an output-side communication device OB (OB1 to OBm) to convert the transmission signal from the transmission path 15 from an optical signal to an electrical signal, equalize (demodulate) the signal, and then send the signal to the output-side communication device.
The input buffer 12 and output buffer 13, which convert an electrical signal to an optical signal and vice versa, have an equalizing function. Equalization means processing of repairing a degraded waveform. More specifically, a signal waveform W0 having an ideal shape as shown in
More specifically, in this embodiment, equalization includes three processing operations: re-shaping, re-generation, and re-clock. In re-shaping, the waveform Wd is amplified to the same intensity as that of the original waveform W0 to obtain a waveform W1 as shown in
The operation of the arrangement shown in
The switching apparatus 11 is installed in an appropriate switching control room. Serial transmission paths are constructed using optical cables from the switching control room to HDTV (High Definition TV) studios, SDTV (Standard Definition TV) studios, MPEG editorial room, DVC (Digital Video Camcoder) editorial room, and the like. The terminals of the optical cables are connected to the input buffers 12 and output buffers 13 corresponding to the transfer rates of connected devices necessary in each room.
For example, in an SDTV studio, an SDTV camera output is connected to the input buffer 12 compatible with SDTV. This input buffer 12 equalizes a signal in accordance with the camera output signal rate, converts the signal into an optical signal, and sends the signal to the switching apparatus 11 via the serial transmission path of an optical fiber. The switching apparatus 11 receives the optical signal from the SDTV studio at the optical receiving section 17, converts the optical signal into an electrical signal, and inputs the signal to the matrix switch section 16.
Conventionally, a matrix switch cannot be commonly used to supply an SDTV signal to an SDTV system, an HDTV signal to an HDTV system, and an MPEG signal to an MPEG system. According to the present invention, one matrix switch can be commonly used for signals having different transfer rates (formats).
Conventionally, when the SDTV studio is to be changed (updated) to an HDTV studio in the above environment, the switching apparatus itself must be modified. In this embodiment, only the input buffer 12 or output buffer 13 connected to the terminal of the serial transmission path need be exchanged with a buffer compatible with HDTV. The switching apparatus main body need not be altered.
The input/output lines of the switching apparatus are parallel under the same conditions. All input/output signals have the same transfer rate. For this reason, as long as free lines are present, this system can easily cope with an increase in the number of connected devices. Even when a communication device requiring a new transfer rate appears, only an input buffer or output buffer compatible with the transfer rate need be prepared and replaced.
The serial transmission path switching system shown in
It is versatile and convenient to make the input buffer 12 and output buffer 13 correspond to a plurality of transfer rates and allow to selectively set a transfer rate in accordance with a connected communication device.
As described above, according to the serial transmission path switching system shown in
The switch circuit shown in
Each of the jitter reducing circuits 61 to 6Y in the switch circuit shown in
With this arrangement, the high-frequency characteristics can be improved, and the jitter component contained in each signal can be suppressed. In addition, jitter reduction can be realized independently of a clock signal. Hence, the jitter in multi-rate signals can be suppressed independently of the bit rates of input signals.
According to the switch circuit shown in
When the switch circuit can cope with multi-rate signals, connection terminals can be freely selected in updating the existing facilities. In a conventional apparatus of this type known as a multi-rate compatible apparatus, signals of various rates can be input, though the terminals for outputting the signals are permanently set. More specifically, out of a plurality of input/output terminals, a terminal A is dedicated for, e.g., NTSC, and a terminal B is dedicated for, e.g., HDTV. However, the present invention can improve this point and is advantageous because the input/output terminals (not shown) usable for the respective bit rates are not limited.
A bias voltage Vth or a certain threshold value is supplied to one input terminal of each of the buffer amplifiers 71 to 7Y. This is because a single signal is processed and readily causes a variation in operating point on the receiving side. For this reason, the operating point in each channel must be stabilized using, e.g., a rheostat (not shown). An example for eliminating its necessity will be described in the following embodiment.
As shown in
In the switch circuit shown in
In the switch circuit shown in
The switch circuit shown in
An HDTV signal will be compared with an MPEG signal. The HDTV signal has a bit rate on the order of about 1,000 times that of the MPEG signal. When a matrix switch dedicated to an HDTV signal is used for an MPEG signal or a signal having a similar bit rate, the jitter poses no problem.
That is, when the operation speed of the switching element of each switch 21 is increased to about 1,000 times the bit rate of a signal to be processed, the margin for data identification increases, so data can be reliably identified independently of whether a jitter is present.
This will be described with reference to
In the switch circuit shown in
As is known, it is sufficient for practical use when the operation speed of the switch 21 is about 100 times the bit rate of a signal to be processed. For example, when the operation speed of the switch 21 is 1 Gbps for a signal having a bit rate of 2 Mbps, no problem for practical use is posed (in this case, the ratio between the operation speed and bit rate is 500). The operation speed of the switch 21 can be as high as possible with respect to the bit rate of the signal to be processed. This is because the number of types of signals that can be processed further increases. In the switch circuit shown in
For the embodiments described with reference to
The distributor YB comprises 256 distributors (YB1 to YB256) which distribute digital signals of 256 (Li: L1 is a natural number) channels to an operation group 1A to 256A and an bypass group 1B to 256B in units of a channel. The distributed digital signals 1A to 256A of the operation group and the digital signals 1B to 256B of the bypass group are input to the switches of the matrix switch section MSW, such that the signals of the operation and bypass groups of each channel are input to different switches. This matrix switch section MSW is formed by indirectly coupling a plurality of switches. The digital signals 1A to 256A of the operation group and the digital signals 1B to 256B of the bypass group, which are output from different switches of the matrix switch section MSW, are input to the selector SR having 256 (Lo: Lo is a natural number) selectors (SR1 to SR256) corresponding to the respective channels. One of the signals of the operation group and bypass group is selectively output. The bypass group is used as bypasses when a failure occurs.
The middle stage SW2 between the input stage SW1 and the output stage SW3 has 16 switches (2-1 to 2-16) of the 32×32 type (32×32 SW) each having 32 inputs equal in number to the switches of the input stage SW1 and 32 outputs equal in number to the switches of the output stage SW3, which are arranged in parallel. A 16×16 type switch selectively exchanges digital signals of 16 lines with digital signals of 16 lines. A 32×32 type switch selectively exchanges digital signals of 32 lines with digital signals of 32lines. The number of switches of the middle stage SW2 is P+Q (P and Q are natural numbers). The number of inputs for one group of one switch of the input stage SW1 is P (P is a natural number). The number of outputs for one group of one switch of the output stage SW3 is Q (Q is a natural number).
In the input stage SW1, operation group digital signals of eight channels are input to eight (N/2) lines of, e.g., one switch 1—1, and bypass group digital signals of eight channels which are different from those of the operation group are input to the eight (N/2) remaining lines of the switch 1—1. In the input stage SW1, the 16 output lines of one switch 1—1 are connected to the input lines of the switches 2-1 to 2-16 of the middle stage SW2, respectively. This also applied to the remaining switches 1-2 to 1-32 of the input stage SW1.
In the output stage SW3, the switches 2-1 to 2-16 of the middle stage SW2 are connected to the 16 input lines of one switch 3-1, respectively. This also applies to the remaining switches 3-2 to 3-32 of the output stage SW3.
The number of switches of each of the input stage SW1 and the output stage SW3 depends on the number of digital signals distributed by the distributors (YB1 to YB256) YB and the maximum numbers of inputs and outputs of one switch, and is therefore 32=(2×256/16).
The operation of the matrix switch section MSW shown in
Digital signals of eight channels are input to each of the switches 1—1 to 1-32 of the input stage SW1. Digital signals of eight channels are output from each of the switches 3-1 to 3-32 of the output stage SW3. When the number of inputs of one switch 1—1 of the input stage SW1 is eight, and the number of outputs of one switch 3-1 of the output stage SW3 is eight, the middle stage SW2 can construct 15 (8+8−1) non-blocking switches 2-1 to 2-15. The switch 2-16 of the middle stage SW2 operates as a spare switch for providing a bypass.
As a whole, the matrix switch section MSW has an indirectly coupled structure, as shown in
The operation of the above arrangement in case of a failure will be described next. Only a single failure will be examined.
When, e.g., the switch 1-3 of the input stage SW1 fails, eight inputs of each of the remaining normal switches 1—1, 1-2, and 1-4 to 1-32 must provide bypasses for one signal in addition to the eight original inputs of the operation group. In this case, the number of inputs of one switch of the input stage SW1 is nine, and the number of outputs of one switch of the output stage SW3 is eight. The middle stage SW2 need have 16 (9+8−1) switches. Hence, non-blocking switches are formed as a whole.
According to the matrix switch section MSW shown in
The operation group digital signals of 256 channels and bypass group digital signals of 256 channels, which are distributed by the distributors (YB1 to YB256) YB, are input to the switches 1—1 to 1-32 of the input stage SW1, such that the signals of the operation and bypass groups of each channel are input to different switches. These digital signals pass through the middle stage SW2 and are output from the switches 3-1 to 3-32 of the output stage SW3, such that the signals of the operation and bypass groups of each channel are output from different switches. After this, the operation group digital signals and bypass group digital signals are input to the corresponding selectors (SR1 to SR256) SR in units of a channel. One of the two groups is selectively output.
The matrix switch section MSW is designed to have a minimum circuit scale on the basis of the number of digital signals to be distributed and the type of switches to be used in each of the input stage SW1 and output stage SW3, and the number of switches can be minimized. In this embodiment, 16×16 type switches are used.
The circuit scale of a 16×16 type switch is about ¼ that of a 32×32 type switch. The matrix switch section MSW has a circuit scale corresponding to 32 switches of the 32×32 type, which is ½ or less the conventional scale corresponding to 72 switches. The distributors and selectors can also be 2:1. When a large apparatus is to be formed, the circuit scale can be much smaller, and a reliable apparatus with low power consumption can be realized. The operation group digital signals and bypass group digital signals are input to different switches of the matrix switch section MSW, respectively and output from different switches, respectively, such that the signals of the operation and bypass groups of each channel are input and output to and form different switches. For this reason, when the digital signal of a certain channel has an error or a switch fails, a bypass can be immediately provided, resulting in an increase in reliability.
In the matrix switch section MSW shown in
In the matrix switch section MSW, the plurality of output lines (16 lines) of one switch of the input stage SW1 are connected to the input lines of different switches of the middle stage SW2, respectively. In addition, the output lines of the different switches 2-1 to 2-16 of the middle stage SW2 are connected to the input lines (16 lines) of one switch of the output stage SW3, respectively. When operation group digital signals are input to eight lines of one switch of the input stage SW1, and bypass group digital signals are input to the eight remaining lines, a path for the operation group and a path for the bypass group can be independently formed in the middle stage SW2.
In the matrix switch section shown in
As the basic concept of formation of the switch modules 4-1 to 4-16 and 5-1 to 5-16, the maximum numbers of inputs and outputs of one switch of each of the input stage SW1 and output stage SW3 are made equal to those of one switch of the middle stage SW2. On the basis of this concept, a plurality of switches of the input stage SW1 are combined to form one switch module. A plurality of switches of the output stage SW3 are combined to form one switch module.
More specifically, as shown in
In the embodiments described with reference to
According to the embodiments described with reference to
Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
10-268418 | Sep 1998 | JP | national |
10-319569 | Nov 1998 | JP | national |
10-319571 | Nov 1998 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
3894177 | Howell et al. | Jul 1975 | A |
3970798 | Epenoy et al. | Jul 1976 | A |
5226012 | Amano et al. | Jul 1993 | A |
5361255 | Diaz et al. | Nov 1994 | A |
5455820 | Yamada | Oct 1995 | A |
5740468 | Hirose | Apr 1998 | A |
5754254 | Kobayashi et al. | May 1998 | A |
5757805 | Lee | May 1998 | A |
5768257 | Khacherian et al. | Jun 1998 | A |
5790522 | Fichou et al. | Aug 1998 | A |
6359883 | Lechleider | Mar 2002 | B1 |
6532234 | Yoshikawa et al. | Mar 2003 | B1 |
6643294 | Cooperman et al. | Nov 2003 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
50-17163 | Feb 1975 | JP |
62-70706 | Jun 1977 | JP |
55-5599 | Jan 1980 | JP |
61-146015 | Jul 1986 | JP |
62-123889 | Jun 1987 | JP |
62-237893 | Oct 1987 | JP |
2-164123 | Jun 1990 | JP |
3-18198 | Jan 1991 | JP |
4-160949 | Jun 1992 | JP |
4-286498 | Oct 1992 | JP |
5-63734 | Mar 1993 | JP |
5-308686 | Nov 1993 | JP |