EP0239908A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Wideband switching system
Assignee: AT&T Inc
•
Filing: 1987-03-24
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2007-03-24
Abstract
Abstract The subject wideband switching network provides inexpensive point-to-point wideband communication connections. Wideband source (S1-Sm) and destination (TV1-TVn) terminal equipment are either connected to modems (SM1-SMm, DM1-DMn) which encode the analog signals used by the wideband source terminal equipment (S1-Sm) into digital signals for transmission through the wideband switching network and decode the received digital signals into analog signals used by the wideband destination terminal equipment (TV1-TVn); or are directly connected to the wideband switching network (120) if source and destination terminal equipment transmit and receive digital signals. The modems are connected to the wideband switching network by optical fibers (SF1-SFm, DF1-DFm). The wideband switching network (120) is a point-to-point space division switch that is comprised of a matrix of high frequency semiconductor crosspoints. Wideband communication connections are originated by a subscriber transmitting connection control signals to the wideband switching network controller (110) on a dial-up basis from a telephone station set (T1), on a data link (112) from a computer (1B) or directly from a keyboard (111) associated with the wideband switching network controller (110). The wideband switching network can concurrently switch any combination of voice, audio, video, data.
Inventors
- 👤 Scott Eugene Farleigh
- 👤 John Steven Helton
- 👤 Allen Leonard Larson
- 👤 Frank Chih-Sing Liu
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-26 15:33
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N21/00; H04N21/20; H04N21/23; H04N21/236; H04N21/2365; H04M; H04M11/00; H04M11/06; H04M11/068; H04N21/40; H04N21/43; H04N21/434; H04N21/4347; H04Q; H04Q11/00; H04Q11/04
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 18
Claim 1
Independent Claim
212 words
A wideband switching system serving a plurality of communication circuits (S1-Sm, TV1-TVn), each of which transmit and receive wideband signals for logically interconnecting the wideband signals output by transmitting ones (S1-Sm) of said communication circuits with designated receiving ones (TV1-TVn) of said communication circuits CHARACTERIZED BY two or more point to point wideband communication media (SF1-SFm, DF1-DFn) each of which has a first end and a second end and each of which carries wideband signals from said first end of said wideband communication media to said second end of said wideband communication media and vice versa; means (SM1-SMm, DM1-DMn) for interfacing one of said transmitting ones of said communication circuits to said first end of an associated one of said wideband communication media; means (120) connected to said second ends of said wideband communication media for logically interconnecting said wideband signals transmitted by said one transmitting communication circuit via said associated wideband communication media to the second end of one or more of said wideband communication media; and wherein said interfacing means (SM1-SMm, DM1-DMn) are responsive to said logically interconnected signals carried by said one or more wideband communication media for applying said logically interconnected signals to the ones of said communication circuits associated with said one or more wideband communication media.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
212 words
A wideband switching system serving a plurality of communication circuits (S1-Sm, TV1-TVn), each of which transmit and receive wideband signals for logically interconnecting the wideband signals output by transmitting ones (S1-Sm) of said communication circuits with designated receiving ones (TV1-TVn) of said communication circuits CHARACTERIZED BY two or more point to point wideband communication media (SF1-SFm, DF1-DFn) each of which has a first end and a second end and each of which carries wideband signals from said first end of said wideband communication media to said second end of said wideband communication media and vice versa; means (SM1-SMm, DM1-DMn) for interfacing one of said transmitting ones of said communication circuits to said first end of an associated one of said wideband communication media; means (120) connected to said second ends of said wideband communication media for logically interconnecting said wideband signals transmitted by said one transmitting communication circuit via said associated wideband communication media to the second end of one or more of said wideband communication media; and wherein said interfacing means (SM1-SMm, DM1-DMn) are responsive to said logically interconnected signals carried by said one or more wideband communication media for applying said logically interconnected signals to the ones of said communication circuits associated with said one or more wideband communication media.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
84 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said interfacing means is CHARACTERIZED BY a plurality of coder means connected on a one to one basis to the transmitting ones of said communication circuits for converting the wideband signals output by said transmitting communication circuits to digitally encoded wideband signals; and a plurality of decoder means connected on a one to one basis to the receiving ones of said communication circuits for converting said digitally encoded wideband signals to wideband signals for said receiving communication circuits.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
22 words
The system of claim 1 or 2 wherein said point to point wideband communication media is CHARACTERIZED BY a fiber optic link.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
88 words
The system of claim 1 further CHARACTERIZED BY control means having one or more data entry ports and responsive to control signals entered into one of said data entry ports for designating said one or more wideband communication media to which said one transmitting communication circuit is to be connected; and wherein said logically interconnecting means are responsive to said control means for directly connecting said second end of said designated wideband communication media to second end of said communication media associated with said one transmitting communication circuit.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
42 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said logically interconnecting means is CHARACTERIZED BY means for directly connecting said second end of said communication media associated with said one transmitting communication circuit with said second end of said one or more communication media.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
23 words
The system of claim 5 wherein said directly connecting means is CHARACTERIZED BY a matrix type switch whose crosspoints carry said wideband signals.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
241 words
A wideband switching system connected to and serving a plurality of wideband source (S1-Sm) and destination (TV1-TVn) terminal devices and having one or more dial-up control ports (100,112,115) for interconnecting said wideband terminal devices (S1-Sn, TV1-TVn) CHARACTERIZED BY means (110) responsive to a subscriber at a telephone station set (T1) accessing one of said control ports (100) and dialing a wideband connect code identifying a desired wideband connection between an identified wideband source device (52) and an identified wideband destination device (TV2) for generating a wideband communication connection control message; a plurality of coder means (SM1-SMm) connected on a one-to-one basis to each of said wideband source devices (S1-Sm) for converting the output of said source device (S1-Sm) to digitally encoded signals: a plurality of decoder means (DM1-DMn) connected on a one-to-one basis to each of said wideband destination devices (TV1-TVn) for converting said digitally encoded signals to signals for said wideband destination devices (TV1-TVn); a plurality of wideband communication media means (SF1-SFm, DF1-DFn) connected on a one-to-one basis to each of said coder means (SM1-SMm) and said decoder means (DM1-DMn) for carrying said digitally encoded signals; and means (120) connected to said wideband communication media means (SF1-SFm, DF1-DFn) and responsive to said wideband communication connection control message for logically interconnecting said digitally encoded signals from said coder means (DM2) associated with said identified wideband source device (52) to said decoder (DM2) means associated with said identified wideband destination device (TV2).
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
241 words
A wideband switching system connected to and serving a plurality of wideband source (S1-Sm) and destination (TV1-TVn) terminal devices and having one or more dial-up control ports (100,112,115) for interconnecting said wideband terminal devices (S1-Sn, TV1-TVn) CHARACTERIZED BY means (110) responsive to a subscriber at a telephone station set (T1) accessing one of said control ports (100) and dialing a wideband connect code identifying a desired wideband connection between an identified wideband source device (52) and an identified wideband destination device (TV2) for generating a wideband communication connection control message; a plurality of coder means (SM1-SMm) connected on a one-to-one basis to each of said wideband source devices (S1-Sm) for converting the output of said source device (S1-Sm) to digitally encoded signals: a plurality of decoder means (DM1-DMn) connected on a one-to-one basis to each of said wideband destination devices (TV1-TVn) for converting said digitally encoded signals to signals for said wideband destination devices (TV1-TVn); a plurality of wideband communication media means (SF1-SFm, DF1-DFn) connected on a one-to-one basis to each of said coder means (SM1-SMm) and said decoder means (DM1-DMn) for carrying said digitally encoded signals; and means (120) connected to said wideband communication media means (SF1-SFm, DF1-DFn) and responsive to said wideband communication connection control message for logically interconnecting said digitally encoded signals from said coder means (DM2) associated with said identified wideband source device (52) to said decoder (DM2) means associated with said identified wideband destination device (TV2).
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
47 words
The system of claim 7 wherein said logically interconnecting means is CHARACTERIZED BY a wideband space division switching network for establishing connections between wideband communication media means associated with said identified wideband source device and said wideband communication media means associated with said identified wideband destination device.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
18 words
The system of claim 8 wherein said wideband communication media means is CHARACTERIZED BY a fiber optic link.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
25 words
The system of claim 8 wherein said wideband space division switching network is CHARACTERIZED BY a matrix type switch whose crosspoints carry said wideband signals.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
86 words
A method of operating a switching system that serves a plurality of devices, each of which produces high frequency wideband signals, CHARACTERIZED BY connecting each of said devices to a unique terminus of a selectively controllable switch having high frequency serving switching elements capable of transmitting signals of the frequencies generated by said devices; specifying selected ones of said devices for interconnection via said switch: and controlling said switch to interconnect said specified devices so that said devices may exchange high frequency signals via said switch.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
86 words
A method of operating a switching system that serves a plurality of devices, each of which produces high frequency wideband signals, CHARACTERIZED BY connecting each of said devices to a unique terminus of a selectively controllable switch having high frequency serving switching elements capable of transmitting signals of the frequencies generated by said devices; specifying selected ones of said devices for interconnection via said switch: and controlling said switch to interconnect said specified devices so that said devices may exchange high frequency signals via said switch.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 11 CHARACTERIZED IN THAT said devices exchange signals from baseband to 45MHZ through said switch.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of claim 12 CHARACTERIZED IN THAT said switch is a matrix type switch whose crosspoints carry said high frequency signals between said connected devices.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 11 CHARACTERIZED IN THAT said step of connecting includes the step of: coding the signals produced by said devices to a digital format for said switch.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method claim 11 CHARACTERIZED IN THAT said step of connecting includes the step of: decoding the digital format signals received from said switch to a format for said devices.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
Maintenance schedule is calculated for granted US utility patents.