Telephone communication system over a single telephone line
View Patent ↗An improved telephone system over a single telephone line within a residence or other building is disclosed, supporting exchange features and enabling easy expansion for multiple external lines. The existing telephone wiring is used as the medium for a local data communication network carrying multiple voice channels. In each outlet, one or more voice channels are converted into a standard telephone-line interface. Life-line functionality is facilitated by using the lower band of the spectrum isolated from the data communication network, and a dedicated connector in the outlet provides access to this band. External telephone feeders are converted to digital form for interfacing to the in-home data communication network.
1. A network for coupling a plurality of analog telephone sets to a plurality of digitized telephone channels, said network comprising:
a first wire pair at least in part outside of a building and comprising at least two conductors, said first wire pair being connected to concurrently carry a first analog service signal in a first analog service signal frequency band and a first serial digital data signal using frequency domain multiplexing, wherein the first digital data signal is carried bi-directionally in a first digital data signal frequency band distinct from the first analog service signal frequency band, the first digital data signal carrying first and second time-domain multiplexed digitized telephone channels;
a second wire pair at least in part in a wall of the building and comprising at least two conductors, said second wire pair concurrently carrying a second analog service signal in a second analog service signal frequency band and a second serial digital data signal using frequency domain multiplexing, wherein the second digital data signal is carried bi-directionally in a second digital data frequency band distinct from the second analog service frequency band, the second digital data signal carrying the second digitized telephone channel;
a first device coupled between said first and second wire pairs and constructed to pass the second digitized telephone channel between said first and second wire pairs, said first device being further connectable to a first analog telephone device for coupling the first digitized telephone channel, converted to analog telephony form, to the first analog telephone device; and
a second device coupled to said second wire pair, said second device being further connectable to a second telephone device for coupling the second digitized telephone channel, converted to analog telephony form, to the second analog telephone device.
2. The network according to claim 1 , wherein said first wire pair is a telephone local loop wire pair, the first digital data signal is ADSL based, and the first analog service signal is an analog telephone signal.
3. The network according to claim 1 , wherein said first wire pair is cable television wiring, the first analog service signal is a cable television signal, and said first device is one of a set top box and a cable modem.
4. The network according to claim 1 , wherein said second wire pair is a telephone wire pair and the second analog service signal is an analog telephone signal.
5. The network according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of said first and second devices is attached to a wall of a building, or is at least in part housed within an outlet, or is mechanically and electrically attached to an outlet.
6. The network according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of said first and second digitized telephone channels is pulse code modulated (PCM).
7. The network according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second digitized telephone channels are provided by respective, distinct first and second telephone service providers.
8. The network according to claim 1 , wherein said first device is further connectable to an analog service unit for coupling the first analog service signal to the analog service unit.
9. The network according to claim 1 , wherein said second device is further connectable to an analog service unit for coupling the second analog service signal to the analog service unit.
10. The network according to claim 1 , wherein said first device is constructed to couple the first and second analog service signals.
11. The network according to claim 1 , wherein said first device is constructed to convert the first analog service signal to the second analog service signal.
12. A device for coupling a digitized telephone channel to an analog telephone set, for use with first and second wire pairs,
wherein the first wire pair is at least in part outside of a building and comprises at least two conductors, and the first wire pair concurrently carries a first analog service signal in a first analog service signal frequency band and a first serial digital data signal using frequency domain multiplexing,
wherein the first digital data signal is carried bi-directionally in a first digital data signal frequency band distinct from the first analog service signal frequency band, and the first digital data signal carries first and second time-domain multiplexed digitized telephone channels,
wherein the second wire pair is at least in part in a wall in the building and comprises at least two conductors, and the second wire pair concurrently carries a second analog service signal in a second analog service signal frequency band and a second serial digital data signal using frequency domain multiplexing, and
wherein the second digital data signal is carried bi-directionally in a second digital data signal frequency band distinct from the second analog service signal frequency band, and the second digital data signal carries the second digitized telephone channel, said device comprising:
a first connector connectable to the first wire pair;
a first data filter coupled to said first connector for passing only the first digital data signal;
a first modem coupled to said first data filter and constructed to conduct serial digital data bi-directionally over the first wire pair;
a second connector connectable to said second wire pair;
a second data filter coupled to said second connector for passing only the second digital data signal;
a second modem coupled to said second data filter and constructed to conduct serial digital data bi-directionally over the second wire pair;
a telephone connector connectable to an analog telephone set;
a subscriber line interface coupled to said telephone connector and constructed to conduct a telephone signal to and from the analog telephone set;
a multiplexer having a first port coupled to said first modem, a second port coupled to said second modem and a third port coupled to said subscriber line interface, said multiplexer being constructed to pass the first digitized telephone channel between said first and third ports, and to pass the second digitized telephone channel between said first and second ports; and
a single enclosure housing said connectors, said data filters, said modems, said interface and said multiplexer.
13. The device according to claim 12 , wherein the first wire pair is a telephone local loop wire pair, the first digital data signal is ADSL based, the first analog service signal is an analog telephone signal, said first data filter is a high pass filter, and said first modem is a DSL modem.
14. The device according to claim 12 , wherein the first wire pair is cable television wiring, the first analog service signal is a cable television signal, said first modem is a television cable modem and said first device is part of one of a set top box and a cable modem.
15. The device according to claim 12 , wherein the second wire pair is a telephone wire pair, the second analog service signal is an analog telephone signal, said second data filter is a high pass filter and said second modem is a telephone wiring modem.
16. The device according to claim 12 , wherein said device is attachable to a wall of a building, or is at least in part housed within an outlet, or is mechanically and electrically attached to an outlet.
17. The device according to claim 12 , wherein at least one of the first and second digitized telephone channels uses pulse code modulation and said multiplexer is a PCM multiplexer.
18. The device according to claim 12 , wherein said device is further constructed for coupling the analog service signals to an analog service unit, said device further comprising:
an analog service connector connectable to an analog service unit,
a service filter coupled between said analog service connector and one of said first and second connectors for passing only the respective one of the first and second analog service signals.
19. The device according to claim 12 , wherein said first device is constructed to couple the first and second analog service signals.
20. The network according to claim 12 , wherein said device is constructed to convert the first analog service signal to the second analog service signal.