Photonic home area network fiber/power insertion apparatus

Claim 2

A photonic distribution apparatus for a home area network having a plurality of subscribers, the apparatus comprising: an optical transmission medium having at least one transmit and one receive pathway, said optical transmission medium for conveying a communications data signal containing a plurality of distribution instruction segments; a microcontroller circuit having a photonic interface converting optical transmission to an electrical signal transmission, and an extractor for culling said distribution instruction segments from said electrical signal transmission; a communications routing circuit responsive to a distribution instruction from said microcontroller circuit, said routing circuit having a plurality of fiberoptic switches in fiberoptic communication with one another, wherein a first fiberoptic switch of said plurality of fiberoptic switches has an input terminal photonically connected to said one receive pathway, and a last fiberoptic switch of said plurality of fiberoptic switches has an output terminal photonically connected to said transmit pathway.

Claim 3

The photonic distribution apparatus of claim 1 further comprising: a second optical transmission medium having at least one transmit and one receive pathway, said second optical transmission medium for redundantly conveying said communications data signal containing a plurality of distribution instruction segments; and a second communications routing circuit responsive to said distribution instruction from said microcontroller circuit, said second routing circuit having a second plurality of fiberoptic switches in fiberoptic communication with one another, wherein a first fiberoptic switch of said second plurality of fiberoptic switches has an input terminal photonically connected to said one receive pathway, and a last fiberoptic switch of said plurality of fiberoptic switches has an output terminal photonically connected to said transmit pathway.

Claim 4

The photonic distribution apparatus of claim 1 wherein said first and said second optical transmission mediums are fiberoptic cable.

Claim 5

The photonic distribution apparatus of claim 1 wherein said first and said second optical transmission mediums are embedded in an electrical cable having a plurality of electrical power conductors.

Claim 6

The photonic distribution apparatus of claim 4 further comprising: a high-voltage enclosure; a low-voltage enclosure, said microcontroller circuit and said communications routing circuit contained in said low-voltage enclosure; and a high-voltage transformer contained within said high-voltage enclosure, said transformer electrically connected to said plurality of electrical power conductors of said electrical cable and said first and second optical transmission mediums photonically.

Claim 7

The photonic distribution apparatus of claim 5 further comprising: a second optical transmission medium having at least one transmit and one receive pathway, said second optical transmission medium for redundantly conveying said communications data signal containing a plurality of distribution instruction segments; and a second communications routing circuit responsive to said distribution instruction from said microcontroller circuit, said second routing circuit having a second plurality of fiberoptic switches in fiberoptic communication with one another, wherein a first fiberoptic switch of said second plurality of fiberoptic switches has an input terminal photonically connected to said one receive pathway, and a last fiberoptic switch of said plurality of fiberoptic switches has an output terminal photonically connected to said transmit pathway.

Claim 8

A subscriber area network for distributing data from an external communications data network, the subscriber area network comprising: a head-end communications circuit for formatting a plurality of communications network segment data into a multiplexed data signal transmittable through a photonic multi-access channel having a downstream channel and an upstream channel, said head-end communications circuit having a bi-directional interface electrically connectable to the external communications data network and to said photonic multi-access channel; at least one communications routing circuit in bilateral communication with said head-end communications circuit through said multi-access channel, each said routing circuit having a microcontroller circuit with a photonic interface for converting an optical transmission to a corresponding electrical signal transmission, and an extractor for culling a distribution instruction segment from said multiplexed data signal, said microcontroller circuit bi-directionally routing said multiplexed data signal through a plurality of subscriber terminals each having a downstream terminal and an upstream terminal; and at least one station module photonically connectable to said upstream terminal and said downstream terminal of a subscriber terminal of said plurality of subscriber terminals.

Claim 9

A subscriber area network for distributing data from an external communications data network, the subscriber area network comprising: a head-end communications circuit for formatting a plurality of communications network segment data into a multiplexed data signal transmittable through a photonic multi-access channel having a downstream channel and an upstream channel, said head-end communications circuit having a bi-directional interface electrically connectable to the external communications data network and to said photonic multi-access channel; at least one communications routing circuit in bilateral communication with said head-end communications circuit through said multi-access channel, each said routing circuit having a microcontroller circuit with a photonic interface for converting an optical transmission to a corresponding electrical signal transmission, and an extractor for culling a distribution instruction segment from said multiplexed data signal, said microcontroller circuit bi-directionally routing said multiplexed data signal through a plurality of subscriber terminals each having a downstream terminal and an upstream terminal; and at least one station module photonically connectable to said upstream terminal and said downstream terminal of a subscriber terminal of said plurality of subscriber terminals.

Claim 10

The subscriber area network of claim 7 wherein said at least one routing circuit has a plurality of fiberoptic switches in fiberoptic communication with one another, wherein a first fiberoptic switch of said plurality of fiberoptic switches has an input terminal photonically connected to said downstream channel, and a last fiberoptic switch of said plurality of fiberoptic switches has an output terminal photonically connected to said upstream channel.