Alcatel Network Systems, Inc.

Larry W Burton

Richard Marion Czerwiec

Joseph E Sutherland

Todd D Poston

Paul M Matsumura

Michael R Slawson

Andrew L Withers

William C Meador

Martin F Jordy

Karen V Ball

Switched video broadband service and narrowband telecommunications service are integrated and provided directly to subscribers. A plurality of video channels are provided to a central office by a video service provider, and said video channels are transmitted to a remote terminal using standard FM video supertrunks. At the remote terminal, video channels selected by a group of subscribers are frequency-division multiplexed with baseband signals of narrowband telecommunications service and are transmitted over a single fiber to an optical network unit adjacent the living units of the group of subscribers. The subscriber selected channels are then demultiplexed and provided to the living units via coaxial drops, along with the narrowband telephone service provided on twisted pairs. Channel requests from the group of subscribers are combined and transmitted upstream in a single narrowband video control channel. The video control channels from a plurality of groups of subscribers are combined in a remote terminal to control the selection of channels to be transmitted to the subscriber groups. The standard overhead components of the narrowband system are utilized to provide alarm, maintenance and provisioning for the broadband service, thereby providing a truly integrated system.

Switched video architecture for an optical fiber-to-the-curb

A communication system is provided for the distribution of switched video, along with telephony and control information, over fiber from a central office to a subscriber premises. The system can dynamically allocate video channels to subscribers using a pool of switched channel selector units located at the central office, thus permitting increased sharing of video distribution resources and controlling access to all channels. The system can provide a multiplicity of simultaneously available switched channels at each subscriber premises from a selection of over a hundred channels available at the central office. Subscribers are connected to the switched video service through a switched video distribution system rack. Switched channels will travel over single-mode fiber in AM/VSB format compatible with subscriber video equipment.

Switched video distribution apparatus

In a telecommunications system providing switched video services, a video line card includes a switch arrangement for selecting a plurality of channels from a greater plurality of available channels and for providing said selected channels in a fixed bandwidth that may be received by a subscriber. A plurality of tuners are used to select the channels and to provide the channels on an intermediate frequency, which frequency is thereafter converted to a distribution channel frequency acceptable by the subscriber.

Video line card switch for use in a video line card shelf in a switched

In an optical fiber telecommunications network, an optical network unit is provided in the subscriber neighborhood for terminating the optical fiber transmission line and for providing electrical signals over metallic lines to the subscribers. The unit functions to convert the optical signal to an electrical signal and demultiplex the electrical signal to divide out baseband telephony signals from broadband video channels. The electrical signals are further demultiplexed and distributed to line cards serving each subscriber, while the broadband video channels are demultiplexed and provided to subscribers that have requested specific video channels. The system includes a test unit for performing metallic tests and also a means to gather subscriber channel requests to form a video control channel which is transmitted to a remote terminal via a baseband telephony channel.

Optical network unit

In an integrated telecommunications network adapted to provide narrowband telephony signals and broadband switched video signals, control signals for the broadband video signals are transmitted in the narrowband as baseband signals, which are frequency division multiplexed with the broadband switched video signals. The video control signals are transmitted over the same transmission lines as the broadband video signals and do not require the installation of additional transmission lines. Control signals from a plurality of subscribers are multiplexed together at a network unit and are transmitted as a channel on an optical fiber, after which the channels from a plurality of network units are further multiplexed together to form a frame of control channels which are transmitted to a video controller unit.

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Raleigh, NC, United States of America

Larry W Burton