The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 24, 1997
Filed:
Sep. 14, 1994
Alexander L Cheng, White Plains, NY (US);
Other;
Abstract
A method and apparatus is disclosed for two-way multi-media communications over two-way capable cable-TV networks. The cable-TV system is divided into small community hubs, each called a Multiple Service Hub (MSH), comprising a central controller, a plurality of subscriber units and interconnecting devices. The two-way telecommunication signals of the same information type are modulated in the same frequency band compatible with the sub-split cable-TV system; e.g., telephony signals are modulated in the 5 to 30 MHz band. In each MSH the frequency bands allocated for two-way multi-media communications are re-used. Three configurations are illustrated for two-way multi-media communications. In the simplest form the MSH covers one trunk of the cable-TV network. In a more complex arrangement, several branches of the cable-TV network are combined into an MSH. In the third configuration, a central controller is co-located with the information source, e.g., the switching office of the telephone network, and the communication signals of that information type are remoted to the MSH. A signal combiner is disclosed for implementing these configurations to realize the flexibility and extensibility afforded by the present invention.