British Telecommunications Public Limited Company

British Telecommunications Corporation

Ian Robert Cooper

Leslie Derek Humphrey

Ian Horsley

Nicholas Hector Edwards

Trevor Philip Linney

Trevor Morsman

A power distributor for a communications system for controlling delivery of electrical power drawn over a plurality of electrical communications connections allocated to respective customer premises equipment, to provide electrical power to network components within a network is arranged to control collection of electrical power to be drawn from each connection in accordance with power requirements of services operated by or for its respective customer premises equipment, independent of the identities of the electrical connections used to deliver those services. In particular when electrical connections are not being used by their respective customers they may instead be used by a beam-forming system to support improved service to a customer associated with a different connection, and the additional electrical power to power the beam-former is drawn from the connection associated with the customer receiving the enhanced service.

Reverse power sharing

A digital subscriber line transceiver for transmitting data over a twisted metallic pair using an orthogonal frequency division multiplex technique and employing a time division duplex mode of operation is operable to adopt a plurality of different framing structures including a first framing structure having a frame duration equal to a first predetermined frame duration period and including a downstream set of symbols and an upstream set of symbols, with gaps after each set of symbols summing to a total gap duration of one symbol duration. The different framing structures further include a second framing structure having a frame duration equal to the first predetermined frame duration period and including first and second downstream sets of symbols, first and second upstream sets of symbols and gaps after each of these sets of symbols summing to a total gap duration of an integer number of one or more symbol durations.

Digital subscriber line transceiver

A network distribution, point () for operation as a node in a telecommunications system intermediate between a remote access server () and a plurality of individual termination points () served from the remote access server () by respective digital subscriber loops (), in particular at an optical fibre/copper wire interface (), incorporates a dynamic line management system () for processing data relating to the capabilities of each of the digital subscriber loops (), and generating a pro file of each digital subscriber loop () for transmission to the remote access server () to allow control of the transmission of data to the individual termination points.

Management of telecommunications connections

A network node for use in a hybrid fiber-copper access network, wherein the node includes DSL and reverse-power feed functionality. The node has a substantially cylindrical shape such that it receives an input metallic cable at a first end, an output metallic cable at a second end and an optical fiber cable which is received at a point along the body of the node.

Network node

A communications connection comprises intermediate connection points () connected by a non-conducting communications link (), with conversion equipment in one or both intermediate points for converting communications between electrical and non-electrical carriers, and each being arranged to be powered from the respective ends (). If a metallic path () is present between the two intermediate points, the system can be arranged to use this for a limited connection service in the event of loss of electrical power to one or both of the intermediate points ().

Power distribution for telecommunications system

A system comprising customer premises equipment including a reverse power supply unit and an access node to which the customer premises equipment is connected for permitting telephony devices connected to the customer premises equipment to make and receive telephone calls via the customer premises equipment and the access node. The reverse power supply unit is suitable for supplying electrical power from the customer's premises to an access node via a twisted copper pair, the reverse power supply unit including a power consumption signature detector operable to detect if the power drawn from the reverse power supply unit corresponds to a signature power consumption pattern indicative of a telephony device being in or transitioning into an off-hook state when connected directly to the reverse power supply unit and not being connected via a current limiting interface.

Method and apparatus for use in supplying power over a telephone line

A the network-side distribution point in a telecommunications network includes an input measurement function which monitors the total power delivered to the power combiner from the various customer premises, and an output measurement function which monitors the total power requirements of the components of the distribution point. The data from these monitoring functions are used by a power extraction control unit to control the combiner/extraction unit to draw power from the forward power feed to makes up any shortfall in the power required to operate the components. This allows each customer premises system to deliver power to the distribution point at a rate determined only by the services it is itself using, and without any need for co-ordination between the distribution point and the customer premises systems.

Reverse power feed system

A power injection system () for delivering electrical power to one or more communications connections in a network, is responsive to a monitor () which measures the amplitude of signals present on the line to control an injector () such that it delivers a line voltage which, combined with the measured signal amplitude complies with a predetermined limit for the line.

Delivery of electrical power

To initiate the transmission of electrical power over a telecommunications connection from a power-collecting telecommunications interface unit such as a customer premises equipment, connectable to a power supply, to a power-receiving unit such as a curbside electrical/optical interface, when a connection is first established, or the collecting unit is first powered up, or in order to re-establish connection after a power outage, control signals are transmitted between low-power modems in the interface units using a low-power communications protocol. This allows the controlled initiation of a larger power output and a higher speed exchange of data once the full telecommunications connection has been established. A low-powered beacon signal is transmitted over the telecommunications connection by the power-collecting telecommunications interface unit on connection to a power supply, for detection by the power-receiving telecommunications interface unit. In the event of a loss of power at the input, the low power modem initiates power management control signals to cause the power-receiving telecommunications interface to shut down certain functions in order to preserve backup power for essential 'lifeline' services.

Reverse powering system for telecommunications node

A digital subscriber line modem comprises a first part operable to operate in accordance with a high bandwidth Digital Subscriber Line protocol and a second part operable to operate in accordance with a low bandwidth Digital Subscriber Line protocol, wherein the second part is arranged to operate continuously whilst the first part is arranged to transition into a low power mode, in which less or no data is transmitted or received by the first part, when the demand for bandwidth over the connection falls below a predetermined amount. The modem additionally includes a router which controls the sending of data via the first and second parts as appropriate and controls the aggregation of data received via the two parts. The modem also includes a service splitter for passing signals received from a copper twisted pair forming a communications link via which the modem communicates with another modem to either the first part or the second part as appropriate based on the frequencies of the received signals.

Method and apparatus for providing data and telephony services

An electrically powered node of a telecommunications system has a battery power backup associated with its power control unit. Under normal conditions it is maintained fully charged by means of trickle currents from the mains power feeds to each of a number of mains&#x2014;connected customer equipments, by way of the 'final drop' to the distribution point. These trickle currents are controlled by the respective power control units, to prevent overcharging. Using an electrical copper connection provided in parallel with the fibre connection, a battery backup can also be maintained in nodes further towards the exchange. The feeds are reversible, so that if a power outage removes the power supply from the customer premises, a 'lifeline' plain telephone service between the exchange and the telephone handset is maintained using the local battery backup in the remote nodes. By limiting the service to simple telephony, the battery power can be sufficient to maintain the service for a reasonable duration. The power management systems can be used to transfer charge from one battery to another over the network according to the usage, or remaining life, of each battery.

Growing community of inventors

Kesgrave, United Kingdom

Ian Robert Cooper