Hybrid network.

This invention relates to a hybrid network and in particular to a multi-service hybrid ether access network.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a hybrid network characterized by providing a range of services for subscribers, which services are separated by appropriate frequency allocation, the network including a head end, an exchange, optical fibre transmission means between the head end and exchange and intermediate distribution points and coaxial cable between the intermediate distribution points and the subscribers' premises, which coaxial cable enters said premises, wherein one of said services comprises cordless telephony and wherein within said premises the cordless telephony signals can be transmitted as radio signals and two-way working is achievable.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a hybrid network characterized by including optical fibre, coaxial cable and radio transmission means and providing a range of services, including cordless telephony, which are separated by appropriate frequency allocation but which have a unified signal format in the fibre, coaxial and radio sections of the network.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none"><li>Fig. 1 illustrates, schematically, an embodiment of hybrid ether access network,</li><li>Fig. 2 illustrates typical business/residential subscriber facilities,</li><li>Fig. 3 illustrates a typical allocation of services.</li></ul>

There is currently interest in combined cable TV (CaTV) and telephony. CaTV conventionally involves coaxial cable running down a street with taps thereon for the subscribers. A large number of amplifiers in the line are required and this leads to performance degradation. To overcome this the CaTV operators are replacing some of the coaxial cable, that extending to the head end and including large numbers of amplifiers, with optical fibre, and thus only short chains of amplifiers, some 6 or 7, are now envisaged. Telephony currently involves twisted pair cable at the subscriber end and this cannot adequately handle wideband transmission, whereas the coaxial cable of CaTV can readily handle both wideband and telephony. Thus if a telephony operator is also to supply wideband transmission to a subscriber the twisted pair cable must be replaced. The optical fibre cables used or being installed elsewhere in telephony systems can, however, handle the wideband transmissions.

Costing estimates of adding telephone to CaTV or adding CaTV to telephony indicate that the former approach is the cheaper, basically since the telephony operator cannot make use of his existing twisted pairs and has to replace them with optical fibre or coaxial cable. Surprisingly we have found that even starting without an existing system it is cheaper to use a CaTV approach with fibre optics towards the head end, rather than a telephony approach, when designing a combined system.

An embodiment of combined system is shown in Fig 1. A CaTV head end 1 and a PTT exchange 2 are connected to a passive optical network 3 consisting of optical fibre 4 and optical couplers 5 which combine the CaTV and telephony facilities and distribute the services of both operators to so-called intermediate flexibility points (IFP) 6. At these intermediate flexibility points the optical signals are converted to electrical signals and carried to subscribers' premises over "street" coaxial cable 7, via distribution points DP 8, and over short lengths of coaxial cable 9, see also Fig. 2. At the IFP 6 there will be connections to an electricity source, plus standby batteries, as well as the necessary electro-optic conversion means, and there may be other equipment such as system management computer means. Amplifiers 10 are provided for launching the signal down the street cables 7. In the illustrated embodiment there is also shown a cordless telephone (CT2) public base station 11, such as a Telepoint, whereby CT2 handset owners can make outgoing calls when in range thereof as is conventional.

Typical residential/business subscriber facilities are illustrated in Fig. 2. The range of services that may be provided are shown in Fig. 3. These services may consist of: <ul id="ul0002" list-style="none"><li>(a) Broadcast CaTV services in AM-VSB format to a TV set 12 at its VHF or UHF antenna socket.</li><li>(b) Premium TV services requiring a means of descrambling or privileged by-pass of blocking filters at the distribution point DP.</li><li>(c) Hi-Fi sound services to a VHF tuner or carried digitally to a digital decoder as part of a TDMA (time division multiple access) multiplex.</li><li>(d) Distribution of Satellite TV services in FM-TV format as carried on the satellite.</li><li>(e) Cordless telephony 13 carried for instance in CT2 radio format.</li><li>(f) Conventional telephony via an interface 14 between CT2 FDMA or TDMA signals on the cable to a standard telephony socket.</li><li>(g) High speed or wideband data services via a TDMA format signal carried on the cable.</li></ul>

A subscriber might have access to all of these services. Alternatively, access can be blocked to services that he does not subscribe to by blocking filters incorporated at the distribution point 8, in view of the different frequencies associated with the various services (Fig. 3).

The system is low in cost to implement because the services will for the most part be in the format which the subscribers' equipment is already designed to accept, be it VSB for TV, FM-TV for satellite stations or CT2 for cordless telephony, for example. It is estimated that a low loss coaxial cable 7 will be able to serve 6 to 10 DPs 8 connecting via shorter low loss coaxial subscriber cables 9 to a total of 60 to 100 subscribers from a single IFP without the use of coaxial cable repeater amplifiers.

It should be noted that in Fig. 3, the CT2 frequency band is illustrated at a lower frequency than that it generally occupies. Normally it is at 900 MHz and would be between the AM-TV and FM-TV bands ie at 15 There are advantages in using the lower frequency band shown since losses in the coaxial cable would be lower.

It may be more convenient to convert the format of some signals, such as CT2, to one more suitable for exchange or trunk transmission, at the IFP. The cost of doing so would, however, be shared over the segment of subscribers served by that IFP. The costs of the passive optical network 3 are also shared, this time over a number of IFP network segments.

The CaTV head end and PTT exchange can be operationally separate, whilst supported by the single hybrid network, in the following ways:- <ul id="ul0003" list-style="none"><li>(a) Frequency separation and the incorporation of blocking filters. This allows separated signal formats and control protocols to be used as may be most economic or reliable.</li><li>(b) Physical separation of the head end and exchange whereby a failure of either one need not affect the other.</li></ul>

The cordless telephony service "in-house" (as shown at 13) might be carried via an interface 16 that amplifies and changes frequency between the domestic antenna 17 and the coaxial cable 9. This will depend on the frequency allocations in the radio and cable media and the permissible power levels. The interface equipment (14 and 16) can be powered from the coaxial cable to make it more reliable than depending on power supply at the subscriber since otherwise a power failure at the subscriber could also render the telephone inoperative. Lower power levels than usual for a Telepoint would, however, be involved. The illustrated access into the subscriber's premises on cable before a cordless radio interface can overcome difficulties often encountered in modern buildings that contain steel reinforcing or even tinted glass which are impervious to radio waves. In some premises a leaky feeder may give a more uniform cordless coverage than an antenna.

Some aspects of services could also be integrated. For instance, the keypad on the CT2 handset could also be used for selecting TV programmes to be sent to the subscriber from the head end. This would involve sharing the signalling protocol for the telephony and TV systems. Whilst such sharing is not necessary, it might be seen as desirable in order to minimize the customer equipment and present him with a single interface.

As will be appreciated from Fig. 3 and the above it is envisaged that both CT2 and TDMA formats could be transmitted simultaneously over the network and that a wall socket that had a TDMA structure could be provided with the result that a business could make use of TDMA and/or cordless, whilst house residents might prefer to take cordless only. TDMA is likely to provide considerably more channels e.g. 240 (for a small TDMA system) than CT2 i.e. 40, and is particularly appropriate for data transmission such as downloading graphics.

Since CT2 involves a number of channels and a user is allocated a channel when necessary rather than always being associated with a particular one, then if a second CT2 handset is purchased for the house it will be able to pick up another channel and thus achieve two lines not just two handzets. It should be noted that within a residence/business the CT2 cordless telephony will involve two-way working, not the outgoing calls only arrangement associated with Telepoint.

Furthermore it will be appreciated that CT2 telephony involves digital techniques and this is advantageous at the exchange end, and that CT2 switching organization is compatible with the exchange. TDMA actually provides three times the capacity in the downstream broadcast direction to the subscriber as there is back to the exchange since guard bands must be left between return messages, whilst they are not needed for downstream messages. Thus for 500 telephony channel TDMA, in the downstream direction there are some 1000 spare channels which could be used for broadcasting hi-fi, data base information such as CEEFAX etc.

The hybrid optical fibre/coaxial network described above provides telephony, data, entertainment video and sound, together with a cordless telephone service. The services are integrated onto a common network whilst retaining separation through frequency division and there is a unified signal format in the fibre, coaxial and radio sections of the system. However, if there is a CT2 base station at the IFP the signal format may differ on the fibre network. Another option would be to place the CT2 base station at the exchange. The synergy of the optical/coaxial/radio transmission path minimises costs and enhances service. However, the operation of the CaTV and telephony services can be separate for reasons of operational reliability and administrative convenience. Since the fibre does not extend directly to the subscribers (homes) there are not the problems of providing power involved with fibre to home proposals. It is not necessary to provide all of the services initially. Services can be added incrementally without disturbing prior services. By taking the cable into a building and very close to the point of delivery, lower powers can be used for cordless telephone and the problems of steel in buildings and tinted glass can be overcome, and furthermore EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) difficulties can be overcome.