Telephonic communications – Concentrator or trunk selector
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-30
2004-11-23
Nguyen, Duc (Department: 2643)
Telephonic communications
Concentrator or trunk selector
C379S334000, C379S336000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06823064
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to communications equipment and, more specifically, to hardware for providing wired communications connections between customers and service providers.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Presently-existing telecommunications infrastructure has been inherited from an era where customers were not offered a choice of landline service providers. Each geographic region of the United States was served by a corresponding service provider commonly referred to as a Regional Bell Operating Company, or RBOC. Accordingly, telecommunications interconnection hardware was originally designed with the assumption that all landline customers in a given geographic area would be served by the same telecommunications service provider.
More recently, the Federal Communications Commission has opened up the wired telecommunication services marketplace to free competition. This policy shift was not without its practical ramifications, the most significant of which relates to the adaptability of presently-existing interconnection hardware for use in environments where customers are offered a selection of two or more service providers. Although existing hardware may perform adequately in the operational environment of a single landline service provider, it is oftentimes woefully inadequate to meet the needs of multiple service providers. Another factor serving to further complicate interconnections between customers and multiple service providers is the current proliferation of ancillary customer premises equipment. This equipment permits the tip/ring wire pair entering the customer premises to be utilized for implementing one or more ancillary functions in addition to providing access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) via a service provider. These ancillary functions are provided via a local service loop, and the ancillary equipment may therefore be equipped with a switching mechanism for selecting either the local loop or the PSTN loop. The local loop may be utilized for a doorbell answering system, a mass announcement system, an emergency notification system, a fire alarm notification system, a security system, or for various other purposes. Since the ancillary equipment must be placed in series (or, less commonly, in parallel) with the tip/ring lines running to the customer premises, the use of such ancillary equipment necessitates additional interconnections.
Refer to
FIG. 1
, which is an electrical schematic diagram showing the manner in which customers may be connected to single service providers and ancillary equipment using prior art devices and techniques. Terminal block
100
includes a set of respective first terminals
102
,
104
,
106
,
108
, each of which is connected to a corresponding second terminal
118
,
120
,
122
,
124
, through a corresponding normally-closed contact
134
,
136
,
138
,
140
. During normal operation, contacts
134
,
146
,
138
, and
140
remain closed. However, for testing and diagnostic purposes, one or more of these contacts may be temporarily opened, for example, by introducing an insulating plug between the electrical conductors of a contact. These insulating plugs do not remain in the contacts, and are removed after testing is completed.
A service provider provides incoming telephone lines in the form of tip/ring wire pairs. A tip wire
130
of a first phone line from the service provider is connected to terminal
102
of terminal block
100
, and a ring wire
132
of this first phone line is connected to terminal
104
. Terminal
102
is connected to terminal
118
through a normally closed contact
134
. Terminal
118
is connected to a tip wire
138
which is routed to an input port of ancillary equipment such as a doorbell answering system
170
. Terminal
104
is connected to terminal
120
through a normally closed contact
136
. Terminal
120
is connected to a ring wire
140
which is routed to the input port of doorbell answering system
170
. A tip wire
142
and a ring wire
144
are connected to an output port of the doorbell answering system
170
.
Tip wire
142
is connected to terminal
122
of terminal block
100
, and ring wire
144
is connected to terminal
124
of terminal block
100
. Terminal
122
is connected to terminal
106
via a normally-closed contact
138
, and terminal
124
is connected to terminal
108
via a normally-closed contact. Terminal
106
is connected to a tip wire
134
routed to a customer premises, and terminal
108
is connected to a ring wire
136
routed to this customer premises.
The doorbell answering system provides a mechanism for selectively coupling tip wire
138
to tip wire
142
and ring wire
140
to ring wire
144
when access from the customer premises to the PSTN is desired. However, when it is desired to furnish a local loop to the customer premises, doorbell answering system
170
disables coupling between tip wire
138
and tip wire
142
, and also between ring wire
140
and ring wire
144
.
Although the interconnection topology of
FIG. 1
is adequate in the operational environment of a single service provider, difficulties arise when such a topology is utilized in an environment of multiple service providers. For example, assume that a given customer uses Ameritech for PSTN access, but resides in an area where PSTN access is also offered by Bell Atlantic. The customer decides that he will discontinues his Ameritech service in favor of Bell Atlantic. To implement this change, tip wire
130
and ring wire
132
, connected to an Ameritech switching office, must be physically removed from terminals
102
and
104
. New tip and ring wires from a Bell Atlantic switching office must then be attached to terminals
102
and
104
.
Physically removing and reconnecting wires to terminal block
100
in order to change service providers is disadvantageous. First of all, most presently available terminal blocks are not designed for repeated wire removals and reconnections. Mechanically, the terminals are designed for applications such that, once a wire is connected, it will usually remain so connected for the entire lifetime of the terminal block. With repeated wire removals and reconnections, some or all of the terminals will experience mechanical degradations over time, resulting in poor contact and imminent failure of the electrical connection. Moreover, as the quality of the connection deteriorates, its resistance to the flow of electrical current increases. This added resistance generates heat and, under some circumstances, may cause a fire. Even if a fire does not occur, repairing a broken or intermittent connection is a very arduous, labor-intensive, and time-consuming process.
Another disadvantage of physically removing and reattaching wires is that it creates the possibility of confusion. Technicians may inadvertently remove a wire from the wrong terminal, inconveniencing a customer who does not expect a disruption of service. Similarly, a technician may inadvertently connect the wrong wire to a terminal, which, depending upon what this wire is actually connected to, may totally deprives the customer of all wired telecommunications service. Moreover, as a practical matter, wiring errors are very time consuming to trace and correct in the field.
With the current and expected proliferation of telecommunication service providers, it is likely that customers will be changing service providers more frequently than in years past. Such changes will cause ever-increasing amounts of terminal block wear-and-tear. Moreover, the opportunities for wiring errors will also increase. What is needed is an improved hardware topology specifically adapted to environments where service providers may be changed on an ongoing basis.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing deficiencies of the prior art, it is an object of the invention to provide a hardware mechanism for readily changing a customer's landline telecommunications service provider.
It is a further object of the invention to provide interconnection techniques which
Korman John J.
Smith Russell J.
Nguyen Duc
Rader Fishman & Grauer
Suchyta, Esq. Leonard C.
Verizon Services Corp.
Wall, Esq. Joel
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