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:
Oct. 16, 2007
Filed:
Jun. 06, 2006
Charles D. Combs, Buffalo, MO (US);
Thomas Edward Darcie, Fairhaven, NJ (US);
Bhavesh N. Desai, Livingston, NJ (US);
Alan H. Gnauck, Middletown, NJ (US);
Xiaolin LU, Highlands Ranch, NJ (US);
Esteban Sandino, Highlands Ranch, CO (US);
Oleh J. Sniezko, Littleton, CO (US);
Anthony G. Werner, Highlands Ranch, CO (US);
Sheryl Leigh Woodward, Holmdel, NJ (US);
Charles D. Combs, Buffalo, MO (US);
Thomas Edward Darcie, Fairhaven, NJ (US);
Bhavesh N. Desai, Livingston, NJ (US);
Alan H. Gnauck, Middletown, NJ (US);
Xiaolin Lu, Highlands Ranch, NJ (US);
Esteban Sandino, Highlands Ranch, CO (US);
Oleh J. Sniezko, Littleton, CO (US);
Anthony G. Werner, Highlands Ranch, CO (US);
Sheryl Leigh Woodward, Holmdel, NJ (US);
AT&T Corp., New York, NY (US);
Abstract
This invention provides a new architecture for a communication system between head-ends and end-users which expands bandwidth and reliability of the communication system. A mux-node receives communication signals from a head-end and forwards the received communication signals to one or more mini-fiber nodes. The connection to the head-end is via a small number of optical fibers and the connections to each of the mini-fiber nodes may be via one or more optical fibers that may provide full duplex communication. The head-end may communicate with the mux-node using digital or digital and analog signals. The mini-fiber nodes may combine the signals received from the head-end with loop-back signals used for local media access control prior to forwarding the signals to the end-users. Upstream data are received by the mini-fiber nodes and transmitted to the mux-node. The mux-node may route upstream communication signals received from the mini-fiber nodes as downstream signals to other mini-fiber nodes also connected to the mux-node without head-end interaction.