COMMUNICATIONS GATEWAY WITH INTEGRATED HOME PHONELINE DIGITAL NETWORKING INTERFACE

PASSERELLE DE COMMUNICATIONS A INTERFACE INTEGREE DE MISE EN RESEAU NUMERIQUE DE LIGNES TELEPHONIQUES DOMESTIQUES

English Abstract

A hybrid-fiber coax IP telephony device supports multiple phone lines without
requiring new telephone wires to be installed. One embodiment adapts an
integrated HomePNA interface in a Communications Gateway to support a standard
connector, such as an RJ11 connector, for connecting to existing home phone
wire. The first telephone line can be with traditional analog signals
compliant with today's telephones. The second, third and higher lines can be
achieved by sending digital voice packets over the HomePNA network to HomePNA
receivers plugged into wall jacks. Those receivers translate the HomePNA
signals to traditional telephone signals to support traditional phones.

French Abstract

Un dispositif de téléphonie PI hybride fibres-coax prend en charge des lignes téléphoniques multiples sans nécessiter l'installation de nouveaux câbles téléphoniques. Un mode de réalisation adapte une interface HomePNA intégrée dans une passerelle de communication afin d'accepter un connecteur normalisé, tel qu'un connecteur RJ11, pour la connexion à un câble téléphonique domestique existant. La première ligne téléphonique peut avoir des signaux analogiques classiques compatibles avec les téléphones actuels. Les seconde, troisième lignes et au-delà peuvent être obtenues par envoi de paquets vocaux numériques par le réseau HomePNA à des récepteurs HomePNA branchés dans des prises murales. Ces récepteurs traduisent les signaux HomePNA en signaux téléphoniques classiques afin d'accepter des téléphones classiques.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:
1. A system providing communications interconnectivity, the system
comprising:
an analog communication line;
a communications gateway coupled to the analog communication line,
wherein the communications gateway converts between analog signals and digital
signals;
one or more digital communication lines coupled to the communications
gateway; and
one or more user interfaces coupled to the digital communication lines.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications lines are lines
in a telephone system, wherein the user interfaces are telephone
receivers/transmitters.
3. A system as substantially described herein.
5

Description

CA 02369635 2001-10-09
WO 00/62522 PCT/US00/09207
COMMUNICATIONS GATEWAY WITH INTEGRATED HOME
PHONELINE DIGITAL NETWORKING INTERFACE
CLAIM OF PRIORITY
This application claims priority from co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent
Application No. 60/128,602 filed 4/8/99 entitled COMMUNICATIONS GATEWAY
WITH INTEGRATED HOME PHONELINE NETWORKING ALLIANCE
COMPLIANT INTERFACE, which is hereby incorporated by reference, as if set
forth in
full in this document, for all purposes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates in general to communications systems and
more specifically to a communications system using hybrid-fiber coax networks.
Digital communications are becoming increasingly important and
prevalent in all aspects of life. Currently there is an effort to bring
digital networks to
homes, both to allow hardware devices within the homes to communicate and also
to
allow devices in the homes to communicate with external devices. Examples
include
telephone communication, Internet access, personal computer (PC) communication
with
local peripherals such as printers, scanners, other PCs, etc.
One approach to an in-home network uses much of a home's existing
telephone wiring to permit an ethernet-type network over the existing wiring.
Connections to the wiring by devices within the home can be made via the
existing
telephone jacks (e.g., RJ11 connectors). One popular standardized approach is
known as
the Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (HomePNA). See, for example,
www.homepna.org for more information. HomePNA has the advantages that the
wiring
is often already in place s~ that multiple connectors are present in different
rooms. Also,
telephone devices and connectors are standardized - a single connector type is
used for
almost all devices and connections. The existing wiring can also be used to
support fairly
high local data rates.
However, some problems exist with the HomePNA approach. One
problem is that many homes are not adequately wired. There may be only a
single
telephone line at one or two connectors in the house. If networking is to be
available in

CA 02369635 2001-10-09
WO 00/62522 PCT/US00/09207
more rooms, then additional wiring must be run through the walls at a
relatively high
expense to the user. Also, The data rate, or bandwidth, to the home from a
telephone
switch, Internet or other communication systems "backbone" may be limited. The
data
rate over traditional hard-wired lines is generally much lower than the rates
that can be
achieved over other physical links such as fiber-optic, coaxial, radio-
frequency
transmissions, etc. Another problem is that it may be difficult to support
multiple phones,
computers, peripherals and other equipment on the limited amount of hard
wiring that
exists in a large number of homes.
Thus, it is desirable to provide an invention that overcomes one or more of
the shortcomings in the prior art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an efficient and flexible interface for
adding new lines and services to a home phoneline network by using the limited
existing
hardwire lines in a home. In a preferred embodiment, the home phoneline
network is
adapted to a hybrid-fiber coax link to an external communications network such
as the
Internet. A telephony device is provided that allows multiple devices to
connect to a
single standard telephone jack. Digital data communication is multiplexed over
existing
wiring and demultiplexed at a receiving unit. This provides for easy addition
of virtual
telephone "wires" to customer premises as the customers order additional
services, lines
or features.
A preferred embodiment of the invention provides a hybrid-fiber coax
Internet Protocol (IP) telephony device that supports multiple phone lines
without
requiring new telephone wires to be installed. One embodiment adapts an
integrated
HomePNA interface in a communications gateway to support a standard connector,
such
as an RJ11 connector, for connecting to existing home phone wire. The first
telephone
line can be with traditional analog signals compliant with today's telephones.
The
second, third and higher lines can be achieved by sending digital voice
packets over the
HomePNA network to HomePNA receivers plugged into wall jacks. Those receivers
translate the HomePNA signals to traditional telephone signals to support
traditional
phones.
Another embodiment is a system providing communications
interconnectivity. The system includes an analog communication line; a
communications
gateway coupled to the analog communication line, wherein the communications
gateway
2

CA 02369635 2001-10-09
WO 00/62522 PCT/US00/09207
converts between analog signals and digital signals; one or more digital
communication
lines coupled to the communications gateway; and one or more user interfaces
coupled to
the digital communication lines.
The HomePNA interface could also be used to carry information other
than voice. It could carry video, audio, data, FAX information, control
information for
home automation, etc.
Details of the invention are provided below and in the accompanying
documents.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Fig. 1 shows a system-level block diagram using the present invention.
In Fig. 1, overall communications system 100 includes primary
communication networks IP network 110 and telephone network 108. These are,
for
example, the Internet and the standard public telephone network. Note that any
manner
of primary communication networks can be included in the overall system. For
example,
the cellular telephone network, radio-frequency, microwave, or other
communication
networks can be included.
IP Network 110 includes Call Management System 102 and Operation
Support System 104 to symbolically represent additional infrastructure to
handle, for
example, voice-over-IP telephone calls over the Internet, billing,
provisioning, etc., of
Internet resources. Gateway 106 allows the transfer of digital information
from the
Internet to the analog or digital telephone system so that telephone calls can
be made to
and from user telephones 114. Network Management System 116 handles other
Internet
functions.
Cable Modem Termination System 112 provides for transfer of
information from the Internet to a cable network, such as a cable television
network. In a
preferred embodiment, the cable network includes hybrid fiber-coax lines 120
that are
used to distribute digital information to homes, businesses or other
destinations (i.e.,
"end-points") and sources of information. Interface 118 is the subject of the
present
invention. In a preferred embodiment, interface 118 provides for the transfer
of
information between the hybrid fiber-coax network and devices at the end-point
such as
device 120. Device 120 can be a telephone, computer, peripheral, set-top box,
or any of
many other devices that send or receive information. In a preferred
embodiment, the
3

CA 02369635 2001-10-09
WO 00/62522 PCT/US00/09207
devices are either standard telephone handsets or devices which comply with
the
HomePNA standard for digital data transfer over a home network.
Fig. 2 shows subsystems of interface 118 of Fig. 1.
In Fig. 2, information modulated by an rf earner is transferred to and from
hybrid fiber-coax as indicated at 202. Tuner/Amplifier 206 can be a two-way
data
communication device. Cable modem 208 is used to send and receive digital data
to the
hybrid fiber-coax link. Bus 230 provides a communications path for cable modem
208,
random access memory (RAM) 210, non-volatile memory (NVMEM) 212, processor
214, subscriber line interface circuit 216, digital signal processors 220 and
other devices
(not shown), as desired. Transfer of information can be under the direction of
processor
214, any of the devices shown, by a bus master (not shown), or by other means.
Standard RJ11 telephone jacks are provided so that digital and analog
telephone equipment can be connected to the interface. A wide variety of other
devices
can be coupled to the interface via the jacks. In a preferred embodiment, any
device
supported by the HomePNA standard can be attached to the interface. The
interface can
also be designed to support other standards or custom communications and
devices.
A preferred embodiment of the invention is designed to handle a single
analog and multiple digital voice communication lines. An analog line can be
connected
via jack 226. SLIC 216 and other subsystems within interface 118 convert the
analog
voice information to digital information for transfer within the home network
or to the
external network. Digital devices, including telephones, can be connected via
jack 228 to
HPNA interface 224. Codecs 218 and 222 act to encode and decode digital
information.
DSPs 220 can process the digital information before transfer.
Thus, digital telephone devices, and other digital devices such as
computers, peripherals, consumer electronics, etc., can be connected to the
interface via
HPNA interface 224 and connectors 228. The original analog telephone line is
still
preserved via SLIC 216 and connectors 226. All of the benefits of HomePNA
networking can be achieved while still maintaining the original analog line
and providing
for additional digital telephone lines without requiring additional wiring at
the end-point
location.
Although the present invention has been discussed with respect to specific
embodiments, these embodiments are merely illustrative, and not restrictive,
of the
invention. The scope of the invention is to be determined solely by the
appended claims.
4

Representative Drawing