System and method for communicating optical signals between a data service provider and subscribers

Abstract

An optical fiber network can include an outdoor laser transceiver node that can be positioned in close proximity to the subscribers of an optical fiber network. The outdoor laser transceiver node does not require active cooling and heating devices that control the temperature surrounding the laser transceiver node. The laser transceiver node can adjust a subscriber's bandwidth on a subscription basis or on an as-needed basis. The laser transceiver node can also offer data bandwidth to the subscriber in preassigned increments. Additionally, the laser transceiver node lends itself to efficient upgrading that can be performed entirely on the network side. The laser transceiver node can also provide high speed symmetrical data transmission. Further, the laser transceiver node can utilize off-the-shelf hardware to generate optical signals such as Fabry-Perot (F-P) laser transmitters, distributed feed back lasers (DFB), or vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs).

Description

PRIORITY CLAIM TO PROVISIONAL APPLICATIONS [0001] The present application claims priority to provisional patent application entitled, “Systems to Provide Video, Voice and Data Services via Fiber Optic Cable,” filed on Oct. 4, 2000 and assigned U.S. Application Ser. No. 60 / 237,894; provisional patent application entitled, “Systems to Provide Video, Voice and Data services via Fiber Optic Cable—Part 2,” filed on Oct. 26, 2000 and assigned U.S. Application Ser. No. 60 / 244,052; provisional patent application entitled, “Systems to Provide Video, Voice and Data services via Fiber Optic Cable—Part 3,” filed on Dec. 28, 2000 and assigned U.S. Application Ser. No. 60 / 258,837; provisional patent application entitled, “Protocol to Provide Voice and Data Services via Fiber Optic Cable,” filed on Oct. 27, 2000 and assigned U.S. Application Ser. No. 60 / 243,978; and provisional patent application entitled, “Protocol to Provide Voice and Data Services via Fiber Optic Cable—Part 2,” filed on May 7, ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention is a system and method for efficiently propagating data and broadcast signals over an optical fiber network. The invention includes an outdoor laser transceiver that can be positioned close to the subscribers of the network, eliminating the need for active cooling and heating devices to control its temperature. The laser transceiver can offer high-speed symmetrical data transmission and can provide efficient upgrading and upgrading of the hardware on the network side. The invention also includes an optical tap routing device that can manage the interface with the data service hub and route or divide the signals according to individual tap multiplexers. The optical tap routing device can also format data and implement the protocol required to send and receive data from each individual subscriber. The invention also includes an efficient coupler, or optical tap, that can divide optical signals between multiple subscribers and can be designed in a simple way. Overall, the invention offers a flexible and diversified solution for efficient data transmission and bandwidth allocation in optical fiber networks."

Problems solved by technology

However, in the past, the cost of FTTH and FTTB architectures have been considered prohibitive.

While the PON architecture does provide an all fiber network, it has many drawbacks that make such a system impractical to implement.

One drawback of the PON architecture is that too many optical cables must originate at the head end or data service hub due to limitations in the number of times an optical signal can be divided before the signal becomes too weak to use.

Another drawback can be attributed to the passive nature of a PON network.

Another significant drawback of the PON architecture is the high cost of the equipment needed at the data service hub.

To support this protocol, rather complex and expensive equipment is needed.

In addition to the high data service hub costs, conventional PON architectures do not lend themselves to efficient upgrades.

The data speeds in the downstream and upstream directions is another drawback of the PON architecture.

Such unbalanced communication speeds between the upstream and downstream communication directions is undesirable and is often referred to as asymmetrical bandwidth.

The assymetrical bandwidth is a result of the high cost of optical components required.

The connectivity between data ports and optical fibers with this conventional FTTH / HFC architecture yields a very fiber intensive last mile.

The use of coaxial cables in the FTTHIHFC architecture adds to the overall cost of the system because two separate and distinct networks are present in such an architecture.

In other words, the FTTH / HFC architecture has high maintenance costs because of the completely different waveguides (coaxial cable in combination with optical fiber) in addition to the electrical and optical equipment needed to support such two distinct systems.

Another drawback of the FTTH / HFC architecture is that the active signal source between the data service hub and subscriber, usually referred to as the router, requires a protected environment that occupies a significant amount of space.

Another drawback of the conventional HFC architecture exists at the data service hub where numerous communication devices are needed to support the data signals propagating along the optical fibers between the active signal source and the data service hub.

Another drawback of the conventional HFC architecture flows from the use of the CMTS.

Similar to the passive optical network (PON) discussed above, the CMTS cannot support symmetrical bandwidth.

The nature of the DOCSIS standard is that it limits the upstream bandwidth available to subscribers.

This can be a direct result of the limited upstream bandwidth available in an HFC plant.

Such a property is undesirable for subscribers who need to transmit more complex data for bandwidth intensive services such as home servers or the exchange of audio files over the Internet.

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