Communication system based on remote interrogation of terminal equipment
US5559624A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 3, 1994 |
| Grant date | Sep 24, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 3, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04J2014/0253
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A passive optical network architecture is disclosed for application in a local loop telephone environment. A local digital switch transmits an optical signal bearing information downstream over an optical fiber to the terminal equipment of a group of subscribers. This transmitted optical signal comprises light at a number of different wavelengths, i.e., it is a wavelength-division multiplexed signal, where each subscriber is associated with a particular wavelength of light. Each subscriber's terminal equipment detects that portion of the transmitted optical signal that exists at its assigned wavelength and thereby recovers the information sent by the local digital switch for that subscriber. However, a fraction of this detected optical signal is then remodulated by the subscriber's equipment with the subscriber's upstream information and returned to the local digital switch. As a result, no optical sources exist in the subscriber equipment in this optical network architecture.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.