Cisco Technology, Inc.

Cisco Systems Inc.

Netspeed, Inc.

Jason F McCullough

Robert H Locklear, Jr

John Francis McHale

Ronald Edgar Ham

James R Sisk

Clifford L Hall, Iii

Gregory L Singleton

Andrew Morton Spooner

Ramona L Boyd

A system and method are provided for special signaling with customer premises equipment. The system includes loop termination equipment coupled to a local loop and comprising a signal generator. The system also includes customer premises equipment coupled to the local loop. The customer premises equipment and loop termination equipment are operable to communicate across a communication link established on the local loop. The loop termination equipment is further operable to control characteristics of a signal generated by the signal generator and to provide the signal to the customer premises equipment as special signaling where the signal has a frequency that does not substantially interfere with voice traffic on the local loop. The special signaling can be used to implement enhanced service to the customer premises including busy signal, queued data request processing, push data and telephony services.

System and method for special signaling with customer premises equipment

A communications system includes an xDSL communications device coupled to customer premises equipment via an xDSL link. The communications device trains the link, determines an available bandwidth for downstream communications, allocates a portion of the available bandwidth based on provisioned parameters of the link, and adjusts operational characteristics of a line driver to reduce the power consumption of the communications device.

Digital subscriber line power reduction

A communication server (,) includes a plurality of pairs of frequency agile modulators (,) and demodulators (,) each set to operate at a unique frequency and associated with a twisted pair data line (,). The communication server (,) also includes a plurality of pairs of demodulators (,) and modulators (,) that each have a designatable operation frequency and are associated with one of a plurality of XDSL modems (,). A mixer (,) operates to combine signals from the frequency agile modulators (,) and provide the combined signal to the demodulators (,). The mixer (,) further operates to combine signals from the modulators (,) and provide the combined signal to the frequency agile demodulators (,). A detector (,) operates to detect a need for data service on a selected twisted pair data line (,). The controller (,) then operates to couple the selected twisted pair data line (,) to the selected XDSL modem (,) by designating the demodulator (,) and modulator (,) pair associated with the selected XDSL modem (,) to operate at the unique frequency of the frequency agile modulator (,) and demodulator (,) associated with the selected twisted pair data line (,).

Communication server apparatus using frequency multiplexing and method

A communication server includes a modem pool (,) that comprises a plurality of XDSL modems (,). The communication server also includes a plurality of line interface modules (,). Each line interface module (,) has a plurality of inputs each coupled to a twisted pair data line and has a plurality of outputs each coupled to one of the XDSL modems (,). Each line interface module (,) operates to detect a need for data service on a requesting twisted pair data line and to couple the requesting twisted pair data line to an output associated with a selected XDSL modem (,). A controller (,) is coupled to the XDSL modems (,) and to the plurality of line interface modules (,). The controller (,) operates to select one of the XDSL modems (,) in response to a detected need for data service. The controller (,) further operates to direct the line interface module (,) to which a requesting twisted pair data line is coupled to couple the requesting twisted pair data line to the output associated with the selected XDSL modem (,).

Communication server apparatus having distributed switching and method

A communication server (58) is provided that includes a plurality of line interface units (500) each coupled to an associated twisted pair data line (54) and to an associated receive data pair (506) and transmit data pair (504). A plurality of XDSL modems (510) are coupled to associated modem receive data pairs (514) and transmit data pairs (512). A switch (502) operates to couple a selected subset of the receive data pairs (506) and transmit data pairs (504) of the line interface units (500) to the modem receive data pairs (514) and transmit data pairs (512) of the XDSL modems (510). A detector (508) operates to detect a need for data service on a receive data pair (506) of a selected line interface unit (500). A controller (80) operates to select one of the XDSL modems (510) in response to detecting the need for data service and to direct the switch (502) to couple the receive data pair (506) and transmit data pair (504) of the selected line interface unit (500) to the modem receive data pair (514) and transmit data pair (512) of the selected XDSL modem (510).

Communication server apparatus having four-wire switching interface and

A communication server (58) using digital signal switching is provided. A plurality of twisted pair subscriber lines are split into twisted pair data lines (54) and twisted pair phone lines (52). Analog signals received on the twisted pair data lines (54) are converted into incoming parallel digital words and outgoing parallel digital words are converted into analog signals for transmission on the twisted pair data lines (54) using first converters (614) coupled to each twisted pair data line (54). The incoming parallel digital words are converted into incoming serial bit streams and outgoing serial bit streams are converted into the outgoing parallel digital words using second converters (616) coupled to the first converters (614). A need for data service is detected on a selected twisted pair data line (54), and one of the XDSL modems (620) is selected in response to detecting the need for data service. The selected XDSL modem (620) is then coupled to a second converter (616) associated with the selected twisted pair data line (54) where the selected XDSL modem (620) receives the incoming serial bit stream from and provides the outgoing serial bit stream to the associated second converter (616).

Communication server apparatus using digital signal switching and method

A communication server includes a modem pool (652) that comprises a plurality of XDSL modems (660). The communication server also includes a plurality of line interface modules (650). Each line interface module (650) has a plurality of inputs each coupled to a twisted pair data line and has a plurality of outputs each coupled to one of the XDSL modems (660). Each line interface module (650) operates to detect a need for data service on a requesting twisted pair data line and to couple the requesting twisted pair data line to an output associated with a selected XDSL modem (660). A controller (653) is coupled to the XDSL modems (660) and to the plurality of line interface modules (650). The controller (653) operates to select one of the XDSL modems (660) in response to a detected need for data service. The controller (653) further operates to direct the line interface module (650) to which a requesting twisted pair data line is coupled to couple the requesting twisted pair data line to the output associated with the selected XDSL modem (660).

A communication server (58) includes a plurality of pairs of frequency agile modulators (638) and demodulators (640) each set to operate at a unique frequency and associated with a twisted pair data line (54). The communication server (58) also includes a plurality of pairs of demodulators (644) and modulators (646) that each have a designatable operation frequency and are associated with one of a plurality of XDSL modems (648). A mixer (642) operates to combine signals from the frequency agile modulators (638) and provide the combined signal to the demodulators (644). The mixer (642) further operates to combine signals from the modulators (646) and provide the combined signal to the frequency agile demodulators (640). A detector (634) operates to detect a need for data service on a selected twisted pair data line (54). The controller (636) then operates to couple the selected twisted pair data line (54) to the selected XDSL modem (648) by designating the demodulator (644) and modulator (646) pair associated with the selected XDSL modem (648) to operate at the unique frequency of the frequency agile modulator (638) and demodulator (640) associated with the selected twisted pair data line (54).

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Austin, TX, United States of America

Jason F McCullough