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:
Sep. 16, 2003
Filed:
Aug. 25, 1999
Shaun N. Missett, Rohnert Park, CA (US);
Alcatel USA, Plano, TX (US);
Abstract
Protection switching method and apparatus in which a service (e.g. a call) which needs to be moved to a different communication channel can be moved without having to move other services being carried on the same channel. In a particular coaxial cable-based telephony system embodiment, a plurality of frequency division multiplexed communication channels are each sub-multiplexed (with DMT for example) to carry a plurality of sub-channels. Each larger channel is controlled by a different modem at the head end, and all channels are combined onto a single cable. If the quality of one of the sub-multiplexed channels in a first one of the larger channels degrades sufficiently, and no other sub-multiplexed channels within the same first channel of sufficient quality are available to carry the service, then that service is moved to a different second channel controlled by a different modem. Other services being carried in the first channel are not moved to other channels unless they, too, are experiencing unacceptable quality degradation.