Data and telephone wiring terminal

Details Data and telephone wiring terminal Data and telephone wiring terminal

1998-11-13

2001-01-30

Chan, Wing F. (Department: 2743)

Telephonic communications

Telephone line or system combined with diverse electrical...

Having transmission of a digital message signal over a...

C379S090010

Reexamination Certificate

active

06181783

ABSTRACT:

INTRODUCTION
The present invention relates to a system for simultaneous two-way communication of video signals and other signals between multiple networks of telephone wiring whose twisted pairs converge together into a single bundle, wiring block, or other common point of access, and a high capacity communication line located at that point of access. Each network includes a set of interconnected, active telephone wires (i.e., a group of wires that create a conductive path for telephonic signals) internal to a house, an apartment unit, or a room in a commercial building. (Such wiring internal to houses, apartment units, or rooms in commercial buildings shall be referred to herein as “local networks.”) In the case of houses, the point of common access can be a telephone pole. In the case of apartment buildings, the point of access can be the “wiring closets” found in those buildings. In the case of commercial buildings, the point of access can be the electronic PBX, or “private branch exchange” common to those types of buildings. The high capacity line can be a coaxial cable or an optical fiber. In addition to communication between each network and the high capacity line, communication from one network to another is also provided.
This invention is partly an outgrowth of technology presented in the parent application, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,399 on Apr. 23, 1991, and two other continuations-in-part thereof, respectively entitled “RF Broadcast System Utilizing Internal Telephone Lines”, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,929,896 on Jul. 27, 1999, (hereinafter, the “first CIP application”) and “Cable TV Distribution and Communication System Utilizing Internal Telephone Wiring”, which was filed on Apr. 19, 1991 as application Ser. No. 07/803,135, (hereinafter, the “second CIP application”). The first and second CIP applications were filed on the same day as this application. The parent application and the first and second CIP applications are incorporated herein by reference.
The communication systems disclosed in the parent and first and second CIP applications are designed to simultaneously transmit telephone signals and non-telephonic signals (such as cable television signals, other video signals, audio signals, data signals, and control signals) across the active telephone wiring internal to (i.e., locally within) residences and other structures. The present invention adds to these techniques, providing distribution of all of these signals to a local network of active telephone wiring (i.e. the wiring internal to a house, apartment unit, or a room in a commercial building) from a distribution device that connects to the trunk line of a public or private telephone network. That device is located where the telephone lines for multiple local networks converge to meet the public network trunk (or PBX, in the case of office buildings), enabling the distribution device to perform communication functions for many local networks at once, including communication between one local network and another. The distribution system works just as well when the point of convergence is the center of a computer communications network with a “star” topology, and the wires are the twisted pair wires connecting each individual computer to this center.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The current method of providing cable TV signals to a house requires that a cable branch (typically a coaxial cable) connect from the main cable trunk to each subscriber. In addition, at the end of the subscriber branch, an additional segment of the coaxial cable must be installed for every extra TV “hookup” within the residence.
The challenge of providing cable TV to an apartment building is even more formidable. If coaxial cabling is not included at the time of construction, a coaxial cable leading through the entire building must be installed, and a branch must connect between each of the individual apartment units to a point on this cable. This is obviously an expensive procedure, even if easily accessible cabling conduits exist. Furthermore, each branch provides service at only one location within the unit it connects. Extra branches must be installed to provide cable TV service at other locations in the unit.
Providing a group of TV signals to various rooms in an office building currently requires a similar amount of coaxial cable installation. The demand for economical video distribution within office buildings is increasing, moreover, because of the increased popularity of video teleconferencing.
The method of distributing cable TV signals commonly used in the U.S. can be called a “one-way branched” system because signals transmitted at the head-end (i.e., at the root or entrance point to the network) spread across to each of the various subscribers by continually splitting into multiple downstream branches. Due to an increase in the popularity of video programming, however, demand for a new system has emerged. Under the new system, sometimes called “video on demand,” a subscriber can request a specific program from a library of programs stored at a central location on, for example, video tapes. The signal from this program is subsequently sent to the subscriber from the “head end” of the system. No other viewers can receive the same signal unless they make a similar request.
One method for providing video on demand is to install a high-capacity fiber optic transmission line from the library through a series of residential or commercial neighborhoods. At each neighborhood, all signals targeted for the local residences or businesses (hereinafter, the term “residence” is used to mean both types of buildings unless otherwise stated) are encoded (i.e. scrambled) and then “handed off” at different channels onto the coaxial cable branch that feeds those residences. Thus, each neighborhood has its own individual headend at the point of handoff.
To prevent all residences from receiving each of the signals handed off to their neighborhood, a control signal is sent over the fiber optic transmission line that includes the “address” of a converter box in the house of the subscriber who requests a particular signal. This control signal provides descrambling instructions that, because of the addressing, only the targeted converter box will recognize. Under this system, each subscriber receives all signals targeted for his or her neighborhood, but only the program (i.e., the specific video signal) actually requested by a subscriber becomes available to him or her in unscrambled form.
The concept of “video on demand” can be considered to be part of a broader communication concept. The broader concept is the widening of communication paths to the ordinary subscribers on the switched public communication network. This would enable subscribers to communicate video signals and other relatively wide bandwidth signals in the same way that they currently communicate voice signals.
The transmission medium that is best suited to provide wider communication paths is fiber optic cables. Indeed, many of the public telephone companies have converted most of their main communication trunks to fiber optics, and have upgraded their switching equipment to handle these signals and their attendant increase in data rates.
To bring the wider capacity to an individual site, however, requires one to install a new fiber optic branch from the main fiber optic trunk to each local network (i.e. a house, apartment unit, or a room in an office building), and to switch signals from the trunk onto the branches. Furthermore, conversion from light to electrical signals must take place at the point where the branch reaches the targeted residence. (Conversion is necessary because the communication devices currently found in typical residences and offices respond to electrical signals.) Finally, the electrical signals must be distributed through the house.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention described in the second CIP application eliminates the need for installation of multiple coaxial cable branches within a residence. Once a feed from the main cable tru

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