WO2023215104A1 - Optical network unit comprising means to communicate with a hub via a coaxial cable or a twisted pair electrical conductor - Google Patents

Abstract

An ONT that includes means to select a first electrical port interconnected to a coaxial cable or a second electrical port interconnected to a twisted pair electrical conductor. Also disclosed is an ONT comprising a first electrical port configured to be detachably connected to a first module for communication via a coaxial cable or to a second module for communication via a twisted pair. The ONT is configured to receive electrical power via the electrical ports.

Description

OPTICAL NETWORK UNIT COMPRISING MEANS TO COMMUNICATE WITH A HUB VIA A COAXIAL CABLE OR A TWISTED PAIR ELECTRICAL CONDUCTOR

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial Number 63/338,785 filed May 5, 2022.

BACKGROUND

[0002] The subject matter of this application relates to an optical network terminal.

[0003] A passive optical network (PON) is often employed as an access network, or a portion of a larger communication network. The communication network typically has a high-capacity core portion where data or other information associated with telephone calls, digital television, and Internet communications is carried substantial distances. The core portion may have the capability to interact with other networks to complete the transmission of telephone calls, digital television, and Internet communications. In this manner, the core portion in combination with the passive optical network enables communications to and communications from subscribers (or otherwise devices associated with a subscriber, customer, business, or otherwise).

[0004] The access network of the communication network extends from the core portion of the network to individual subscribers, such as those associated with a particular residence location (e g., business location). The access network may be wireless access, such as a cellular network, or a fixed access, such as a passive optical network or a cable network.

[0005] Referring to FIG. 1, in a PON 10, a set of optical fibres and passive interconnecting devices are used for most or all of the communications through the extent of the access network. A set of one or more optical network terminals (ONTs) 11 are devices that are typically positioned at a subscriber’s residence location (e.g., or business location). The term “ONT” includes what is also referred to as an optical network unit (ONU). There may be any number of ONTs associated with a single optical splitter 12. By way of example, 32 or 64 ONTs are often associated with the single network optical splitter 12. The optical splitter 12 is interconnected with the respective ONTs 11 by a respective optical fiber 13, or otherwise a respective fiber within an optical fiber cable. Selected ONTs may be removed and/or added to the access network associated with the optical splitter 12, as desired. There may be multiple optical splitters 12 that are arranged in a cascaded arrangement.

[0006] The optical fibers 13 interconnecting the optical splitter 12 and the ONTs 11 act as access (or “drop”) fibers. The optical splitter 12 is typically located in a street cabinet or other structure where one or more optical splitters 12 are located, each of which are serving their respective set of ONTs. In some cases, an ONT may service a plurality of subscribers, such as those within a multiple dwelling unit (e.g., apartment building). In this manner, the PON may be considered a point to multipoint topology in which a single optical fiber serves multiple endpoints by using passive fiber optic splitters to divide the fiber bandwidth among the endpoints.

[0007] An optical line terminal (OLT) 14 is located at the central office where it interfaces directly or indirectly with a core network 15. An interface 16 between the OLT 14 and the core network 15 may be one or more optical fibers, or any other type of communication medium. The OLT 14 forms optical signals for transmission downstream to the ONTs 11 through a feeder optical fiber 17, and receives optical signals from the ONTs 11 through the feeder optical fiber 17. The optical splitter 12 is typically a passive device that distributes the signal received from the OLT 14 to the ONTs 11. Similarly, the optical splitter 12 receives optical signals from the ONTs 11 and provides the optical signals though the feeder optical fiber 17 to the OLT 14. In this manner, the PON includes an OLT with a plurality of ONTs, which reduces the amount of fiber necessary as compared with a point-to-point architecture. [0008] As it may be observed, an optical signal is provided to the feeder fiber 17 that includes all of the data for the ONTs 11. Accordingly, all the data being provided to each of the ONTs is provided to all the ONTs through the optical splitter 12. Each of the ONTs selects the portions of the received optical signals that are intended for that particular ONT and passes the data along to the subscriber, while discarding the remaining data. Typically, the data to the ONTs are broadcast to the feeder fiber 17and provided to each of the ONTs.

[0009] Upstream transmissions from the ONTs 11 through the respective optical fibers 13 are typically transmitted in bursts according to a schedule provided to each ONT by the OLT. In this way, each of the ONTs 11 will transmit upstream optical data at different times. In some embodiments, the upstream and downstream transmissions are transmitted using different wavelengths of light so that they do not interfere with one another. In this manner, the PON may take advantage of wavelength-division multiplexing, using one wavelength for downstream traffic and another wavelength for upstream traffic on a single mode fiber.

[0010] The schedule from the OLT allocates upstream bandwidth to the ONTs. Since the optical distribution network is shared, the ONT upstream transmission would likely collide if they were transmitted at random times. The ONTs typically lie at varying distances from the OLT and/or the optical splitter, resulting in a different transmission delay from each ONT. The OLT measures the delay and sets a register in each ONT to equalize its delay with respect to the other ONTs associated with the OLT. Once the delays have been accounted for, the OLT transmits so-called grants in the form of grant maps to the individual ONTs. A grant map is a permission to use a defined interval of time for upstream transmission. The grant map is dynamically recalculated periodically, such as for each frame. The grant map allocates bandwidth to all the ONTs, such that each ONT receives timely bandwidth allocation for its service needs. Much of the data traffic, such as browsing websites, tends to have bursts and tends to be highly variable over time. By way of a dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) among the different ONTs, a PON can be oversubscribed for upstream traffic.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] For a better understanding of the invention, and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0012] FIG. 1 illustrates a network that includes a passive optical network.

[0013] FIG. 2 illustrates a passive optical network with a plurality of ONTs and hubs.

[0014] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary ONT.

[0015] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary hub.

[0016] FIG. 5 illustrates and exemplary combination of an ONT and a hub.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] When a service provider considers providing data connectivity using PON to a neighborhood, there is a substantial upfront expense and time involved in the installation of the fiber optical cables and other components of the network to each of the residences (or otherwise businesses). By way of example, the fiber needs to be routed from a central office to the neighborhood, together with a set of splitters and/or other components, to provide fiber to each of the residences. The fiber is often routed by being suspended from adj cent telephone poles or otherwise buried in a conduit within the ground. For each subscriber, an optical fiber needs to be routed in some manner from the subscriber’s residence to a tap at the telephone pole or otherwise, generally referred to as a drop. This fiber drop tends to be expensive and burdensome to install, especially in the case of a multi dwelling unit (e.g., apartment complex, high rise set of condos, or otherwise). [0018] Referring to FIG. 2, with the substantial expense and time involved with running an optical fiber drop to the residence, it was determined that the respective ONT 200 is preferably relocated to a location outside the respective residence 210. The location that the ONT 200 is relocated to is preferably co-located with the location of the tap for the residence, such as on the telephone pole or pedestal. The ONT 200 is preferably enclosed within a weatherproof housing to protect the ONT 200 against the weather. With the ONT 200 located at a position exterior to the residence 210, it is desirable to leverage existing infrastructure to the residence 210.

[0019] As illustrated by ONT 200A and residence 210A, in the case that an existing coaxial cable 220 exists between the ONT 200A and the residence 210A the residence facing connections of the ONT 200A may include a coaxial interconnection interconnected to the coaxial cable 220 to provide data to devices within the residence 210A and to receive data from devices within the residence 210A. The data provided to the residence 210A and received from the residence 210A using the coaxial cable 220 may use any suitable transmission protocol, such as for example, multimedia over coax alliance (MoCA) or G.hn. MoCA is a protocol that provides a link layer in the 7-layer OSI model, including definitions within the data link layer (layer 2) and the physical layer (layer 1). The coaxial cable provides a shared-medium, half-duplex link between the ONT 200A and the residence 210A using time-division multiplexing; within each timeslot, any pair of nodes communicates directly with each other. MOCA is described in MoCA 1.0, MoCA 1.1, MoCA 2.0, MoCA 2.5, and MoCA 3.0, each of which are incorporated by reference herein. The residence 210A would include a corresponding hub 212A interconnected to the coaxial cable 220, which is then interconnected with the various devices within the residence.

[0020] As illustrated by ONT 200B and residence 210B, in the case that an existing twisted pair of wires 230 exists between the ONT 200B and the residence 210B the residence facing connections of the ONT 200B may include a twisted pair interconnection interconnected to the twisted pair 220 to provide data to devices within the residence 21 OB and to receive data from devices within the residence 21 OB. The twisted pair may be, for example, 2 or 4 or more strand telephone wires which traditionally carries one or two or more separate phone lines, respectively. The twisted pair 230 is commonly terminated with a modular plug, such as RJ-11 and RJ-14. The data provided to the residence 210A and received from the residence 210A using the twisted pair 230 may use any suitable transmission protocol, such as for example, G.hn. The residence 21 OB would include a corresponding hub 212B interconnected to the twisted pair 230, which is then interconnected with the various devices within the residence.

[0021] If other electrical wiring and/or electrical cabling (i.e., electrical conductor) 240 exists between the respective ONT 200C and the respective residence 220C, it may likewise be used together with a suitable data communication protocol. The residence 210C would include a corresponding hub 212C interconnected to the electrical conductor 220, which is then interconnected with the various devices within the residence.

[0022] As illustrated by ONT 200D and residence 210D, in the case that no conductor or otherwise exists or is otherwise installed between the ONT 200D and the residence 210D the residence facing connections of the ONT 200D may include a wireless transceiver 214D to provide data to a wireless transceiver 212D, that preferably includes a corresponding hub, within the residence 210D and to receive data from devices within the residence 210D. Any suitable wireless protocol may be used, such as for examples, the 802.11 series of wireless protocols. The residence 210D includes the corresponding wireless transceiver and hub 212D wirelessly interconnected to the wireless transceiver 214D, which is also interconnected with the various devices within the residence.

[0023] The ONT 200 may further include an Ethernet port and capable of sending and/or receiving data using the Ethernet port interconnected to an Ethernet cable. Accordingly, the ONT 200 which has been relocated from its traditional location, is repurposed to provide interconnectivity to the residence 210 through an electrical conductor and/or a wireless transceiver depending upon what is available.

[0024] Referring to FIG. 3, the ONT 300 may include one or more interconnections for providing data to and from the respective residence. For example, the ONT 300 may include a plurality of ports, such as a coaxial connection port 310, a twisted pair connection port 312, an electrical conductor connection port 314, and/or a wireless transceiver connection port 316. A processor 320 included within the ONT 300 may be selectively programmed to provide data to a desired port using a desired protocol and receive data from the desired port using the desired protocol. In this manner, the single ONT 300 may be used to selectively provide data on a desired port based upon a selected one of a plurality of different protocols, each of which may be associated with a different port. In this manner, the core network may provide data through the respective ONT to the respective residence, and the respective residence may provide data through the respective ONT to the core network.

[0025] Referring to FIG 4, the ONT 300 includes a selected one of the ports 310, 312, 314, 316 interconnected to a respective hub 400, where the respective hub 400 may include a respective plurality of ports, such as a coaxial connection port 410, a twisted pair connection port 412, an electrical conductor connection port 414, and/or a wireless transceiver connection port 416. A processor 420 included within the hub 400 may be selectively programmed to provide data to a desired port using a desired protocol and receive data from the desired port using the desired protocol. In this manner, the hub 410 may receive data from the ONT 300 and provide data to the ONT 300 using the corresponding protocol using the corresponding port. As it may be observed, the ONT 300 and the hub 400 are designed in such a manner that there is a 1 to 1 interconnection between the two. Also, preferably the ONT 300 and/or the hub 400 are configured in such a manner that they are incapable of supporting multiple ports at the same time for such communication between themselves, such as the ONT being capable of simultaneously providing data to multiple hubs at the same time, or otherwise the hub being capable of simultaneously providing data to multiple ONTS at the same time. This limitation of a 1 to 1 relationship between the respective ONT and the respective hub otherwise limits their potential capability, while decreasing the amount of potential signal loss potentially resulting in the loss of data connectivity between the two devices that would otherwise likely occur with a 1 to many or a many to 1 interconnection capability. Also, in this manner the link between the ONT and the hub is segregated from the remaining links within the residence, which decreases the potential ingress opportunities thereby increasing the likely signal to noise ratio of the transmitted signals. Also, the ONT and/or the hub may automatically select the port which is interconnected between the two devices for data communication, which reduces complexities associated with their configuration.

[0026] In a typical installation at a telephone pole or pedestal the ONT may be provided with power for its operation from a surrounding power source, however, obtaining access to the power may require a cumbersome interconnection or otherwise obtaining permission from another entity or a government agency, which may be problematic in many circumstances. With the interconnection between the respective ONT and the respective hub being provided on an interconnection that is maintained in a 1 to 1 relationship, the electrical interconnection for providing the data may also be used to provide electrical power for operating the components of the ONT. In this manner, the hub through one of its ports provides electrical power to the respective ONT through the interconnection for the operation of the components of the ONT. While the ONT could include a separate power interconnection, by using the power from the hub alleviates the need for the ONT 300 to include interconnections and the complexities associated therewith to receive power from other sources.

[0027] Referring to FIG. 5, in another embodiment the ONT 500 and/or the hub 510 may include a respective single port 512, 514, such as a SFP compliant port. A respective module 522, 524 may include a respective interface that is detachably electrically interconnected with the respective port 512, 514. The respective module 522, 524 may include a media-specific transceiver in order to connect to a suitable interconnection, such as a coaxial cable, a twisted pair, an electrical conductor, or otherwise. Further, the respective module 522, 524 may support the transmission and receiving of the communication protocol for the particular interconnection provided by the respective module 522, 524. Preferably, the form factor and the electrical interface are compliant with the small form factor standard. In some cases, the ONT and/or the hub may include a dedicated Ethernet port 532, 534 in addition to the SFP interconnection.

[0028] Moreover, each functional block or various features in each of the aforementioned embodiments may be implemented or executed by a circuitry, which is typically an integrated circuit or a plurality of integrated circuits. The circuitry designed to execute the functions described in the present specification may comprise a general- purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific or general application integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gates or transistor logic, or a discrete hardware component, or a combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or alternatively, the processor may be a conventional processor, a controller, a microcontroller or a state machine. The general-purpose processor or each circuit described above may be configured by a digital circuit or may be configured by an analogue circuit. Further, when a technology of making into an integrated circuit superseding integrated circuits at the present time appears due to advancement of a semiconductor technology, the integrated circuit by this technology is also able to be used.

[0029] It will be appreciated that the invention is not restricted to the particular embodiment that has been described, and that variations may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims, as interpreted in accordance with principles of prevailing law, including the doctrine of equivalents or any other principle that enlarges the enforceable scope of a claim beyond its literal scope. Unless the context indicates otherwise, a reference in a claim to the number of instances of an element, be it a reference to one instance or more than one instance, requires at least the stated number of instances of the element but is not intended to exclude from the scope of the claim a structure or method having more instances of that element than stated. The word "comprise" or a derivative thereof, when used in a claim, is used in a nonexclusive sense that is not intended to exclude the presence of other elements or steps in a claimed structure or method.

Claims

1. An optical network unit including a processor comprising:

(a) said optical network unit capable of receiving optical digital data from an optical line terminal from a first optical fiber connection and provide optical digital data to said first optical fiber connection to said optical line terminal;

(b) said optical network unit including a first port suitable to be electrically interconnected to a coaxial cable and a second port suitable to be electrically interconnected to a twisted pair electrical conductor;

(c) said optical network unit receiving said first optical digital data from said optical line terminal and said optical network unit providing first digital data to a hub representative of said first optical digital data through a selected one of said first port and said second port;

(d) said optical network unit receives electrical power from said hub through said selected one of said first port and said second port to operate said processor;

(d) wherein said optical network unit is incapable of providing said first digital data simultaneously through said first port and said second port to said hub;

(e) wherein said optical network unit is incapable of receiving electrical power to operate said processor other than from said selected one of said first port and said second port.

2. The optical network unit of claim 1 wherein said first digital data provided through said first port is transmitted based upon a first protocol and said first digital data provided through said second port is transmitted based upon a second protocol different from said first protocol.

3. The optical network unit of claim 1 further including a third port suitable to be electrically interconnected to an Ethernet cable.

4. The optical network unit of claim 1 wherein said selected one of said first port and said second port is automatically selected by said processor.

5. An optical network unit including a processor comprising:

(a) said optical network unit capable of receiving optical digital data from an optical line terminal from a first optical fiber connection and provide optical digital data to said first optical fiber connection to said optical line terminal;

(b) said optical network unit including a first port that is suitable to be detachably electrically interconnected to a first module or a second module;

(c) said first module is suitable to be electrically interconnected to a coaxial cable and includes a first transceiver to receive data from said processor and in response provide data to said coaxial cable, and to receive data from said coaxial cable and in response provide data to said processor;

(d) said second module is suitable to be electrically interconnected to a twisted pair and includes a second transceiver to receive data from said processor and in response provide data to said twisted pair, and to receive data from said twisted pair and in response provide data to said processor;

(e) said optical network unit receiving said first optical digital data from said optical line terminal and said optical network unit providing first digital data to a hub representative of said first optical digital data through a selected one of said first module and said second module;

(d) said optical network unit receives electrical power from said hub through said selected one of said first module and said second module to operate said processor; (d) wherein said optical network unit is incapable of providing said first digital data simultaneously through said first module and said second port to said module;

(e) wherein said optical network unit is incapable of receiving electrical power to operate said processor other than from said selected one of said first module and said second module.