Multi-drop digital telephone loop
AssigneeCharles Industries, Ltd.
InventorsAvinash K. Vaidya, Jay Biondo, Song Kue
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A multi-drop digital telephone loop uses point-to-point digital communication between a series of Add/drop units and a central office terminal to route telephone traffic to customers. The loop automatically detects and signals subscriber channel conflicts and also function in an auto-assign mode for automatically assigning subscriber channels. The loop may also be deployed in conjunction with a remote terminal located at a subscriber's residence or business.
Claims19
A multi-drop, multi-channel phone link for a telephone system comprising:
- a set of remote terminals, each remote terminal including a first processing unit associated with a first memory, the first memory containing instructions executable by the cu first processing unit to issue a request for a channel;
- a central office terminal having a second processing unit associated with a second memory, the second memory containing instructions executable by the second processing unit to determine the availability of a channel based upon the request from a remote terminal from the set of remote terminals and to issue a message indicating a request conflict in the event that the channel is unavailable for assignment to the remote terminal;
- and
- a communication path communicatively linking the central office terminal to the set of remote terminals.
A multi-drop phone link comprising:
- a remote terminal having a first controller associated with a first memory, the first memory containing instructions executable by the first controller to transmit a status message comprising a request for a channel;
- a central office terminal having a second controller associated with a second memory, the second memory containing instructions executable by the second controller to transmit a command message indicating whether or not the request can be fulfilled;
- and
- a telephone link communicatively coupling the remote terminal and the central office terminal to facilitate transmitting the status message and the command message between the central office terminal and the remote terminal wherein the second memory contains instructions executable by the second controller to facilitate broadcasting a subscriber channel conflict message.
In a telephone service delivery system having a central office terminal and a set of remote terminals linked to the central office terminal via a communication network, a method of assigning identifications to individual ones of the set of remote terminals comprising the steps of:
- generating, by the central office terminal, a node identification and transmitting the node identification to a first remote terminal;
- receiving, by the first remote terminal, the node identification and in response storing the node number in a data structure associating the node number with the remote terminal,
- detecting, by the first remote terminal, the presence of a second remote terminal in the set of remote terminals, and in response transmitting a distinct node identification to the second remote terminal;
- determining, by a last remote terminal, that each one of the set of remote terminals has been assigned an identification and in response sending a signal to the central office terminal indicating that the last remote terminal is an end unit;
- wherein the node identifications associate, during normal operation of the telephone service delivery system, a message to a particular remote terminal in the telephone delivery system.
In a telephone service delivery system having a central office terminal and a set of remote terminals linked to the central office terminal via a communication network, a method for assigning a unique channel identification to a requesting remote terminal comprising the steps of:
- sending, by the requesting remote terminal via the communication network, a request to the central office terminal for a desired channel;
- determining, by the central office terminal in response to receiving the request, the availability of the desired channel for assignment to the requesting remote terminal, and if the desired channel is available, then assigning the desired channel to the requesting remote terminal;
- receiving, by the requesting remote terminal via the communication network, notification of the assigning of the desired channel to the requesting remote channel, and thereafter directing signals received within the desired channel to a connector on the requesting remote terminal, the connector being adapted to connect to a telephone device, and visually indicating, by the requesting remote terminal that the desired channel has been assigned to the requesting remote terminal.
In a telephone service delivery system having a central office terminal and a set of remote terminals linked to the central office terminal via a communication network, a method of preventing a channel conflict comprising the steps of:
- sending, by the requesting remote terminal via the communication network, a request to the central office terminal for a desired channel;
- determining, by the central office terminal in response to receiving the request, the availability of the desired channel for assignment to the requesting remote terminal, and if the desired channel has been assigned, then issuing a request denial message to the requesting remote terminal;
- and
- visually indicating, by the requesting remote terminal, that the desired channel is not available.
A central office terminal for use in a telephone communication system, the communication system capable of supporting a set of remotely connected termination units that communicate with the central office terminal via assigned channels, the central office terminal comprising:
- a processing unit;
- a modifiable memory defining assignment status for a set of channels for communicating with remotely connected termination units;
- a set of instructions executable by the processor to perform steps comprising:
- receiving requests from each of the remotely connected termination units, assigning a channel to at least one of the remotely connected termination units, and determining whether there is a conflict related to the channel assignment;
- and
- an electronic signal transmission interface coupled to the processor unit facilitating notifying the remotely connected termination unit of the channel assignment and of any conflicts.
A remote termination device for use in telephone communication system, the communication system capable of supporting a set of remotely connected termination devices that communicate with a central office terminal via assigned channels, the remote termination device comprising:
- a possessing unit;
- a modifiable memory defining channel assignment status for communication between the remote termination device and the central office on a link supporting multiple channels;
- a set of instruction executable by the processor to set a channel on which the remote termination device communicates with the central office terminal;
- an electronic signal transmission interface coupled to the processor unit facilitating requesting assignment of one of the set of channels from the central office terminal and a visual indicator coupled to the processing unit and indicating to a user whether a requested channel assignment has been acknowledged by the central office terminal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.