Upgrading ATM embedded networks to carry IP signals
AssigneeAT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
InventorBrad A. Medford
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) signal is phase modulated based on an Internet Protocol (IP) signal to form a combined ATM/IP signal. The ATM signal is phase modulated without exceeding a specified tolerance of symbol period of the ATM signal. The combined ATM/IP signal is communicated on a passive optical network to multiple receiving locations. An ATM stream specific to a receiving location can be extracted from the combined ATM/IP signal by an existing ATM-based optical network termination (ONT). An IP stream can be extracted at a receiving location by phase demodulating the combined ATM/IP signal.
Claims11
A method comprising:
- receiving, at a first input of a phase modulator, a plurality of pulses associated with an asynchronous transfer mode signal, wherein each pulse includes data associated with the asynchronous transfer mode signal, and wherein each pulse is in a symbol period;
- receiving, at a second input of the phase modulator, an internet protocol signal;
- phase modulating a first pulse of the plurality of pulses by a first shift amount based on a first plurality of bits associated with the internet protocol signal to produce a first combined asynchronous transfer mode/internet protocol signal, the first combined asynchronous transfer mode/internet protocol signal including the first pulse and the first plurality of bits associated with the internet protocol signal, wherein the first shift amount does not exceed a tolerance of the symbol period associated with the first pulse;
- and
- communicating the first combined asynchronous transfer mode/internet protocol signal via an optical medium.
An apparatus to communicate an asynchronous transfer mode signal and an internet protocol signal, the apparatus comprising:
- an optical line terminal comprising a phase modulator, the phase modulator configured to:
- receive, at a first input of the phase modulator, a plurality of pulses associated with an asynchronous transfer mode signal, wherein each pulse includes data associated with the asynchronous transfer mode signal, and wherein each pulse is in a symbol period;
- receive, at a second input of the phase modulator, an internet protocol signal;
- and
- phase modulate a first pulse of the plurality of pulses by a first shift amount based on a first plurality of bits associated with the internet protocol signal to produce a first combined asynchronous transfer mode/internet protocol signal, wherein the first combined asynchronous transfer mode/internet protocol signal includes the first pulse and the first plurality of bits associated with the internet protocol signal, and wherein the first shift amount does not exceed a tolerance of the symbol period associated with the first pulse,
- wherein the optical line terminal communicates the first combined asynchronous transfer mode/internet protocol signal via an optical medium.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.