Bell Atlantic Network Services, Inc.

Amos Lucas

William R Burton

Dave Little

Larry Williams

Lisa M Conoscenti

Bahman Amin-Salehi

John W Darr, Jr

David M Little

Henry Trogden

Kathy Daley

Lisa M Sprangel

Frank Klopfer

Carmen Hossain

An advanced optical fiber communications network comprises a multimode optical fiber connection (one fiber or two) from a central office to an intelligent interface device in the subscriber's premises. The central office includes at least a narrowband switch and a broadband switch. The narrowband switch provides voice grade telephone service routing. The broadband switch provides routing for video services and may comprise an ATM switch, an optical switch or the like. The intelligent interface device provides a connection to the optical fiber and performs two-way wavelength division multiplexing and demultiplexing as well as any necessary signal format conversions. The network has media access control functionality and utilizes a dynamic media access control procedure. The optical fiber loop to the subscriber's premises has the capacity to carry at least three different wavelengths. Bandwidth on the optical fiber loop is dynamically allocated to individual services on demand, and the allocation of bandwidth includes wavelength selection as well as bit rate allocation.

Advanced optical fiber communications network

A fiber optic network comprises an optical fiber connection (one fiber or two) from a central office to an intelligent interface device in the subscriber's premises. The central office includes a serving node transceiver providing communication links to/from at least a narrowband switch and a broadband switch for providing narrowband and broadband service routing. The network includes at least one passive power splitter/combiner for passing all wavelengths on the optical fiber connection between the serving node transceiver and the intelligent interface devices. All wavelengths are provided to each customer and bandwidth on the optical fiber loop is dynamically allocated for individual services on demand through two-way wavelength division multiplexing and demultiplexing as well as any necessary signal format conversions. The network has media access control functionality and utilizes a dynamic media access control procedure for allocation of the bandwidth.

Fiber optic network with wavelength-division-multiplexed transmission to

A digital communications system efficiently transports communications data in ATM format from a plurality of information providers to a plurality of users, maximizing transport of the supply of ATM streams to distribution paths in a network. A video tone dial network arrangement synchronizes the timing among various VIP source multiplexers and super trunk transmitters. ATM streams are transported through an ATM backbone network and a local loop distribution network. A serving node, or host digital terminal, of the local loop distribution network, supplies the bit stream carrying ATM cells for a video program to the user terminal and provides information necessary to permit the terminal to decode the data from the ATM cells carrying the program information.

Video dial tone network synchronization

In a network utilizing asynchronous transport mode (ATM) transport and/or switching, the VPI/VCI values have meaning beyond the boundaries of each individual ATM processing element. At the very least, the VPI represents a source identifier related to the provider of the particular program or service carried through the cell stream. The VPI value is maintained constant throughout the network, without translation thereof by any ATM processing element. In the preferred embodiments, the VCI also is maintained constant and serves to identify a particular service or session. For example, for each broadcast service the VCI represents a channel identifier of the program offered by the service provider identified by the associated VPI value. For an interactive session, a VCI value is assigned to the session with a particular subscriber terminal on a dynamic basis. The VCI value for such a session remains valid throughout the network for the duration of that session, without translation or reassignment. The network administration systems rely on the VPI/VCI identification rules to operate and maintain the network and to accumulate various network usage statistics.

VPI/VCI administration

An arrangement for transporting digital broadband data output in Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cell streams from a plurality of video information service providers (VIPs) to a plurality of subscribers. A digital broadband network is adapted to receive a plurality of ATM streams from VIPs via optical fibers having a predetermined capacity. A plurality of receivers corresponding to the optical fibers output ATM cells from the optical fibers having active ATM cell streams to an ATM edge device having input ports corresponding to the predetermined capacity of the optical fibers. The ATM edge device grooms the ATM cells by rejecting unauthorized cells and idle cells that do not carry information, and maps the remaining ATM cells to output ports having a lower predetermined capacity than the plurality of optical fibers coupled to the receivers. The mapped ATM cells are assigned translated VPI/VCI identifers and are combined onto common signal paths for transport via optical fibers, thereby maximizing the capacity and efficiency of the network. The network also enables subscribers to set up fully interactive broadband sessions with selected VIPs via level 1 and level 2 gateways between the subscriber and the selected VIP.

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Baltimore, MD, United States of America

Amos Lucas