WO2002084912A2 - Arrangement for managing multiple telephone lines terminating at a single location - Google Patents
Arrangement for managing multiple telephone lines terminating at a single location Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO2002084912A2 WO2002084912A2 PCT/US2001/012552 US0112552W WO02084912A2 WO 2002084912 A2 WO2002084912 A2 WO 2002084912A2 US 0112552 W US0112552 W US 0112552W WO 02084912 A2 WO02084912 A2 WO 02084912A2
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- WO
- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- arrangement
- telecommunication
- devices
- signals
- ringing
- Prior art date
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Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/60—Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client
- H04N21/61—Network physical structure; Signal processing
- H04N21/6106—Network physical structure; Signal processing specially adapted to the downstream path of the transmission network
- H04N21/6118—Network physical structure; Signal processing specially adapted to the downstream path of the transmission network involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04J—MULTIPLEX COMMUNICATION
- H04J3/00—Time-division multiplex systems
- H04J3/16—Time-division multiplex systems in which the time allocation to individual channels within a transmission cycle is variable, e.g. to accommodate varying complexity of signals, to vary number of channels transmitted
- H04J3/1694—Allocation of channels in TDM/TDMA networks, e.g. distributed multiplexers
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L12/00—Data switching networks
- H04L12/28—Data switching networks characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks]
- H04L12/2801—Broadband local area networks
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
- H04N21/462—Content or additional data management, e.g. creating a master electronic program guide from data received from the Internet and a Head-end, controlling the complexity of a video stream by scaling the resolution or bit-rate based on the client capabilities
- H04N21/4622—Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/47—End-user applications
- H04N21/478—Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
- H04N21/4782—Web browsing, e.g. WebTV
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/47—End-user applications
- H04N21/478—Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
- H04N21/4786—Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application e-mailing
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/47—End-user applications
- H04N21/478—Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
- H04N21/4788—Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application communicating with other users, e.g. chatting
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/60—Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client
- H04N21/61—Network physical structure; Signal processing
- H04N21/6156—Network physical structure; Signal processing specially adapted to the upstream path of the transmission network
- H04N21/6168—Network physical structure; Signal processing specially adapted to the upstream path of the transmission network involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N7/00—Television systems
- H04N7/16—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
- H04N7/173—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal
Definitions
- the present invention relates to an arrangement for managing multiple telephone lines terminating at a single location and, more particularly, to a multiplexing/demultiplexing scheme useful with digital data to control the management of the multiple telephone lines.
- Hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) networks are rapidly evolving to support a variety of telecommunications services in addition to traditional broadcast-type video services.
- HFC networks are being utilized to provide data services, including high speed Internet access.
- Cable network operators are expected to be providing medium- to high- penetration rate telephony services in the near future.
- Telecommunications services such as plain old telephone service (POTS) can be provided tlirough the use of a unit located on the side of a home, or in a centralized location in the residence (or business).
- This unit which forms the interface between the HFC network and the telephone-based customer premise equipment (CPE) is often referred to in the art as a "communications gateway", or CG.
- the CG contains various line cards that provide an interface between the HFC network and the traditional telephones, for example, using a "POTS card” located in the CG.
- the CG transmits and receives data over the HFC network using aparticular protocol, which in a preferred embodiment is the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS), using the Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) as the signaling protocol for telephony applications.
- DOCSIS Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification
- MGCP Media Gateway Control Protocol
- POTS card With a POTS card in place, an interface to a twisted-wire pair is provided and telephones in the residence can be used in a conventional manner, with all of the phones connected to a single twisted- wire pair connected in a bus configuration to the phone outlets throughout the building.
- "home run" wiring may be utilized, with point-to- point connections being established between a centralized location and aparticular telephone outlet or set of outlets.
- the advantage of home run wiring is that several phone lines can easily be supported in the home, and phones in one area can be assigned one telephone number, distinct from other numbers used for phones in other areas.
- Multiple POTS cards are typically used to support multiple telephone lines. There are occasions in which a customer has multiple phone lines and in-home wiring which is in a point-to-point ("home run") configuration.
- the customer may not want to have individual and distinct phone lines, but may want the lines grouped together. It would be advantageous to perform this grouping without requiring the house to be rewired, either by the owner or a telecommunications service company employee.
- a customer may desire to have additional lines supplied by the HFC network operator. This necessitates other arrangements for providing multiple telephone line services into the home.
- a need remains in the prior art for a relatively simple arrangement for implementing multiple telephone lines in a single residence that allows for dynamic reconfiguration of the in-home arrangement of the telephone lines.
- a multiplexing element (referred to as a "digital phone line eliminator”) is embedded within a communications gateway and is used to multiplex a plurality of separate incoming telephone lines onto a single line into the residence.
- a plurality of demultiplexers (referred to as “telephone adaptors") are coupled to separate ones of the telephones in the residence and used to capture the telephone signal destined for that particular phone line.
- an exemplary multiplexed frame defined by the communications gateway, includes an initial sync pulse as the preamble portion of each frame, followed by a plurality of separate time slots associated with each telephone device.
- an "upstream” and a "downstream” time slot is associated with each device.
- the time slot assignments are modified by the communications gateway. If less than the full number of lines are utilized within the home, more than one time slot will be associated with a particular device.
- FIG. 1 illustrates a simplified portion of an exemplary HFC network that is capable of utilizing the line multiplexing arrangement of the present invention
- FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary phone line eliminator (within a communications gateway) and plurality of telephone adaptors (and associated telephone devices) as deployed in accordance with the present invention
- FIG. 3 contains an exemplary time frame, defining time slot locations within the frame
- FIG.4 illustrates an arrangement for combining an "unusable" telephone line within a residence with another telephone line coupled to the telecommunications net work
- FIG. 5 contains a diagram illustrating the use of staggered ringing with multiple telephone lines in accordance with the present invention.
- FIG. 1 contains a diagram of a simplified portion of an exemplary prior art communication system 10 that can support the delivery of telephony services to a home.
- the service is based on the use of a communications gateway (CG) 12 located at or near a residence 14.
- CG 12 is in communication with a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) 16 via an HFC network 18.
- CMTS 16 is also in communication with a Call Management System (CMS) 20 that can communicate with both apublic switched telephone network (PSTN) 22 and an IP network 24.
- PSTN public switched telephone network
- CG 12 includes multiple terminations 26 l5 26 2 , ..., 26 N within residence 14, each termination coupled to a separate telephone line 28,, 28 2 , • • ⁇ , 28 N connected to various, separate telephone devices 30 l5 30 2 , ..., 30 N .
- any attempt to re-configure the in-home network of devices and telephone lines requires additional terminations and lines to be added to CG 12.
- the re-configuration necessitates re-wiring to be done by either the subscriber or a telecommunications employee.
- this requirement is eliminated by including a multiplexing/demultiplexing ("mux/demux") arrangement within the in-home network.
- FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary mux/demux architecture 30 for implementing the present invention.
- a communications gateway (CG) 32 is modified to incorporate a multiplexer 34, where multiplexer 34 receives multiple downstream digital telecommunication signals destined for different telephone lines within a residence 36 and multiplexes the separate digital signals onto a single telephone line 38.
- a plurality of separate telephone devices (or endpoints), denoted 40 j - 40 4 are shown in FIG.2 as located within residence 36 (in general, any desired number of devices (N) can be accommodated with the mux/demux arrangement of the present invention).
- N any desired number of devices
- each demultiplexer is programmed to recognize the particular incoming digital telephone signal destined for its associated telephone device 40.
- Demultiplexer 42 can operate from either a wall-mounted AC adaptor or, alternatively, can draw power from the telecommunications network. For the arrangement illustrated in FIG. 2, therefore, a set of four separate telephone signals (i.e., four separate telephone numbers) can be received within residence 36 using only a single incoming telephone line 38.
- the set of four demultiplexers 42 j - 42 4 are disposed in series along telephone line 38, with a separate endpoint 40 j - 40 4 used to attach each demultiplexer 42 to telephone line 38. Changes in the number and/or location of the multiple endpoints 40i - 40 4 can easily be modified, in accordance with the present invention, by altering the multiplexing/demultiplexing scheme, as will be discussed below.
- FIG. 3 contains an illustration of an exemplary multiplexing scheme that may be used by multiplexer 34 within CG 32 to generate the multiplexed digital telecommunications traffic of the present invention.
- the multiplexed signal is defined as consisting of a number of frames, generated in a time sequence.
- An exemplary frame 50 n+1 is further depicted as comprising an initial synchronization symbol 52 and a plurality of time slots 54 j - 54 8 which follow a synchronization (sync) symbol 52 in sequence.
- Sync symbol 52 is generated by multiplexer 34 and is used to define the beginning of each frame, allowing for the plurality of demultiplexers 42 to remain in synchronization with the digital line and "pick off the telephone signal destined for its associated device 40.
- time slots 54 j - 54 4 are defined as the downstream or “receive" time slots for demultiplexers 42 j - 42 4 .
- Time slots 54 5 - 54 8 are used for upstream "transmission" by the set of devices 40 ! — 40 4 back into the telecommunications network.
- time slot 54 5 is reserved for an upstream digital signal from device 40 l5
- time slot 54 6 is reserved for device 40 2
- time slot 56 7 is reserved for device 40 3
- time slot 56 g is reserved for device 40 4 .
- time slots 54 t and 54 2 can be associated with device 40 t time slots 54 3 and 54 4 with device 40 2 , etc.
- Each demultiplexer 42 therefore, is assigned particular time slots for reception and transmission of voice signals. That is, based on recognizing the sync symbol 52, and knowing the "distance" between the sync symbol 52 and the assigned time slots, each demultiplexer 42 can "pick off only that information destined for its coupled device 40
- Logical merging of telephone endpoints 40 j - 40 4 can be used when a house is wired to use all of the available telephone numbers supported by a communications gate 32 (in the above example, four such lines are available).
- the logical merging allows for combinations of the different telephone terminations without any rewiring.
- Telecommunication service providers can thus use the inventive mux/demux arrangement to provide multiple tiers of services and prices by remotely combining/separating different telephone line terminations. For example, all four telephone devices 40 ! - 40 4 can be combined into one line simply by designating each "downstream" time slot as associated with the same telephone number and each "upstream" time slot as emanating from the same telephone number. Such an alteration can easily be accomplished by the CG 32 re-programming the time slot assignments within its multiplexer 34.
- the Simple Network Management Protocol is used to configure the CG 32 to logically combine two or more of the separate telephone devices 40 j - 40 4 .
- element managers or back-office type programs can perform, on a dynamic basis, the configuration and re-configuration of the time slot assignments.
- a Web-based interface or software-defined network (SDN) type of interface maybe utilized by the subscriber to modify the configuration from the residence side of the network, h one particular arrangement, each physical telephone endpoint and drop-offline to the demultiplexer is provided with a logical endpoint identifier, and SNMP Management Information Bases (MIBs) are used to define the logical endpoint identifier for each telephone line.
- MIBs SNMP Management Information Bases
- the phone lines can then be combined by defining the same logical endpoint identifier for each separate physical device. Accordingly, telephone numbers can correspond to the logical endpoint IDs and ringing is performed on the logical endpoint, causing all phone lines associated with the logical endpoint to ring.
- an "unusable" telephone line can be merged into an operational line using, for example, the configuration illustrated in FIG. 4.
- This configuration is particularly well-suited for the situations where the CG 32 cannot support the number of separate telephone lines as wired within the residence.
- the CG 32 cannot support the number of separate telephone lines as wired within the residence.
- vocoders voice coders
- FIG. 4 illustrates a particular arrangement where an "unusable" telephone line 60 can be merged with an operational line 62 to allow for telephone communications to be established with both phones.
- upstream communication along path 64 from device 60 is converted into a digital voice signal by a PCM codec 66 using a logarithmic method such as the A-law or ⁇ -law G.711 voice coding algorithm.
- the 8-bit output from PCM codec 66 is the converted into a linear 16-bit PCM signal utilizing a G.711 decoder 68.
- the upstream voice signal may be directly digitized and converted into the linear 16-bit PCM signal, i a similar fashion, the upstream communication from device 62 is supplied to a line 70 and then digitized within a PCM codec 72.
- the 8-bit output from PCM codec 72 is thereafter applied as an input to a G.711 decoder 74 to generate the linear
- the linear 16-bit upstream signals from decoders 68 and 74 are then supplied as separate inputs to a mixer 76 which functions to combine the two streams into a single digitized upstream signal.
- the output from mixer 76 is thereafter applied as an input to vocoder 78 within the communications gateway, and the mixed signal is transported in a conventional fashion.
- Vocoder 78 is used to encode the upstream signal to the required voice coding standard, such as G.711, G.728 or G.727.
- the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) layer 80 is used to transport the voice signal to a remote device 82, where RTP layer 80 encapsulates the output of vocoder 78 into RTP packets.
- RTP Real-time Transport Protocol
- voice data from remote device 82 is first converted into a linear 16-bit PCM signal by vocoder 78.
- vocoder 78 performs buffering and runs interpolation algorithms to remove the effects of network jitter and noise on the received signal.
- the digitized downstream voice data from vocoder 78 is then distributed to each of the "combined" devices (in this case, devices 60 and 62).
- a first mixer 84 combines the downstream digitized voice data along a first signal path 86 with the upstream voice signal coming from decoder 68 along a second signal path 88 and sends both signals along an output signal path 90 to a G.711 encoder 92.
- Encoder 92 processes the voice data signal output from first mixer 84 and PCM coder 72 is then used to convert the logarithmic 8-bit PCM output from encoder 92 into an analog signal for transmission to device 62.
- a second mixer 94 is responsive to both the downstream voice signal from vocoder 78 and the upstream output from decoder 74, sending both signals to a G.711 encoder 96 and thereafter tlirough PCM codec 66 for transmission as analog signals to device 60.
- FIG. 4 The particular arrangement as shown in FIG. 4 is useful when combining two separate phone lines into one.
- any number of separate phone lines can be so combined and indeed when combining all four lines (for the arrangement as depicted in the accompanying drawings) of the CG 32 to appear as a single line, the downstream output of any given line would therefore be the mix of all of the other local lines with the incoming signal from the remote device.
- a staggered ringing pattern can be used in a multiple phone line arrangement of the present invention, where the staggered ringing will aid in reducing the network powering cost. That is, by staggering the ringing associated with the different lines, the peak power consumption will be reduced by ringing the phone lines at different phases of the ring timing. Without utilizing any staggering, the ringing current can reach 50 mA AC if all lines are rung at the same time. Staggering the ringing pattern allows for dropping the peak ringing current to a value equivalent to the ringing current of a single phone line.
- the timing diagram for an exemplary staggered ringing plan that may be used in accordance with the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 5.
- the line associated with device A0 ⁇ is rung during the first two seconds, and is then "off for the remaining four seconds.
- the remaining lines can subsequently be rung, in turn, on each subsequent two second slot. That is, the line associated with device 40 2 is rung during the next two seconds and the line associated with device 40 3 is rung during the final two seconds.
- the 20Hz ring signals are applied to the devices in an out of phase format, as shown, to reduce the loading on each supply rail to the devices.
- a processor 60 can be included within CG 32 to establish and control the staggered ringing pattern, where the pattern may be modified by processor 60 as lines are added/dropped to the configuration.
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Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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PCT/US2001/012552 WO2002084912A2 (en) | 2001-04-17 | 2001-04-17 | Arrangement for managing multiple telephone lines terminating at a single location |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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PCT/US2001/012552 WO2002084912A2 (en) | 2001-04-17 | 2001-04-17 | Arrangement for managing multiple telephone lines terminating at a single location |
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WO2002084912A2 true WO2002084912A2 (en) | 2002-10-24 |
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PCT/US2001/012552 WO2002084912A2 (en) | 2001-04-17 | 2001-04-17 | Arrangement for managing multiple telephone lines terminating at a single location |
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2001
- 2001-04-17 WO PCT/US2001/012552 patent/WO2002084912A2/en active Application Filing
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