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Claims  |
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What is claimed is:
1. A communication network comprising:
a plurality of communication links;
wideband channel switching means coupled to the links and operable for
establishing switched wideband channels on the links;
narrowband channel switching means coupled to the links and operable for
establishing switched narrowband channels on the links;
control means, responsive to signaling messages received over the links for
effecting operation of the wideband and the narrowband switching means and
sending signaling messages over the links to effect establishment of
wideband and narrowband communication paths through the wideband and the
narrowband switching means over the channels;
control communication means, interconnecting the wideband and the
narrowband switching means with the control means, for communicating
control signals among the control means and the wideband and the
narrowband switching means, the signals for controlling establishment of
the channels; and
signal transfer means, responsive to receipt of signaling messages received
over the links through the narrowband switching means for communicating
these signaling messages to the control means over the control
communication means, and responsive to receipt of signaling messages
received from the control means over the control communication means for
communicating these signaling messages over the links through the
narrowband switching means.
2. A communication network for use in providing integrated voice, data, and
video services between a plurality of pieces of equipment connected
thereto by a plurality of channelized communication links, each piece of
equipment connected to the network by a set of links comprising at least
one link and providing a set of wideband communication channels comprising
at least one wideband channel and a set of narrowband communication
channels comprising at least one narrowband channel, a narrowband channel
of each link set for carrying signaling messages for establishing
communication connections over all channels of the link set, the network
comprising:
wideband digital channel switching means, coupled to links of the sets, for
interconnecting wideband channels to establish wideband communication
paths between pieces of equipment;
narrowband digital channel switcing means, coupled to links of the sets,
for interconnecting narrowband channels to establish narrowband
communication paths between pieces of equipment;
control means, responsive to signaling messages received from the pieces of
equipment for sending control communications to the wideband and the
narrowband switching means and sending signaling messages to the pieces of
equipment to control establishment on the wideband and narrowband channels
of wideband and narrowband communication paths between the pieces of
equipment;
control communication means, interconnecting the wideband and the
narrowband switching means with the control means, for carrying control
communications from the control means to the switching means; and
signaling message transfer means, connected to the control communication
means and having the signaling-message-carrying narrowband channels
coupled thereto by the narrowband switching means, for transferring
signaling messages incoming from the pieces of equipment on the coupled
channels to the control means over the control communication means and for
transferring signaling messages incoming from the control means over the
control communication means to the pieces of equipment on the coupled
channels.
3. The network of claim 2 wherein
a plurality of the signaling message carrying narrowband channels are
coupled to the signaling message transfer means in form of multiplexed
signal streams one incoming from the narrowband switching means and one
outgoing to the narrowband switching means and comprising a plurality of
substreams, each substream comprising signals of different
signaling-message-carrying narrowband channels, the signaling message
transfer means comprising:
multiplexing and demultiplexing means connected to the narrowband switching
means for separating the incoming multiplexed stream into its constituent
substreams and for combining into the outgoing multiplexed stream its
constituent substreams;
a plurality of processing means each coupled to the multiplexing and
demultiplexing means to receive therefrom an incoming substream and to
transmit thereto an outgoing substream, each processing means for
extracting incoming messages from the received substream and forming
outgoing messages into the transmitted substream;
control communication interface means connected to the control
communication means for transmitting incoming messages on the control
communication means to the control means and receiving outgoing messages
on the control communication means from the control means;
transfer controlling means coupled between the plurality of processing
means and the interface means for receiving incoming messages from the
plurality of processing means and forwarding them to the interface means
and receiving from the interface means outgoing messages and forwarding
them to the processing means that are forming an outgoing substream
comprising signals of a signaling-message-carrying channel leading to a
piece of equipment for which the message is intended; and
buffering means interposed between the plurality of processing means and
the transfer controlling means for facilitating transfer of messages
between the plurality of processing means and the transfer controlling
means by temporarily storing messages being transferred therebetween.
4. The network of claim 2 wherein
the signaling message transfer means include apparatus for serving a
plurality of the signaling-message-carrying narrowband channels one at a
time on a rotating basis, the apparatus comprising:
first buffer storage means having the served channels coupled thereto, for
buffering groups of signals incoming and outgoing on the served channels;
finite state machine means shared by the served channels and connected to
the first buffer storage means to retrieve therefrom buffered incoming
groups, one group at a time from each incoming served channel, the finite
state machine means for identifying both signal types and source of each
received incoming group and generating a source identifier and a type
identifier for each received incoming group;
second buffer storage means for storing incoming and outgoing signal groups
and their accompanying identifiers;
first control means connected to the finite state machine means and to the
first and the second buffer storage means, responsive to receipt of the
type identifiers from the finite state machine means for storing in the
second buffer storage means those incoming groups retrieved from the first
buffer storage means, and their source and type identifiers, received from
the finite state machine means that are identified by their type
identifiers as being groups of message signals, and discarding other
incoming groups, and further responsive to type and destination
identifiers, retrieved with the accompanying outgoing groups from the
second buffer storage means, for generating outgoing groups and supplying
the received and generated outgoing groups to the first buffer storage
means one group at a time for each served outgoing channel; and
second control means connected to the second buffer storage means and
communicatively coupled to the control communication means, responsive to
type and source identifiers retrieved from the second buffer storage means
with their accompanying incoming groups for assembling the retrieved
groups into incoming messages and transferring the incoming messages to
the control communication means, and disassembling outgoing messages
received from the control communication means into outgoing groups of
message signals, generating a destination identifier and a type identifier
for each outgoing group, and storing the outgoing groups along with their
destination and type identifiers in the second buffer storage means.
5. The network of claim 2 further comprising:
a plurality of channelized optical fibers coupling a set of link sets
comprising at least some of the link sets to the wideband and the
narrowband switching means and providing a plurality of second
communication channels for extending wideband and narrowband channels to
the wideband and the narrowband switching means;
wideband digital channel handling means, connected between links of the set
of link sets and the fibers, for connecting wideband channels of the
connected links with second channels to establish wideband communication
paths between the wideband switching means and pieces of equipment
connected to the links of the set of link sets; and
narrowband digital channel handling means, connected between links of the
set of link sets and the fibers, for connecting narrowband channels of the
connected links with second channels to establish narrowband communication
paths between the narrowband switching means and pieces of equipment
connected to the links of the set of link sets.
6. The network of claim 5 wherein
the wideband handling means comprise second wideband digital channel
switching means responsive to received control communications for
connecting wideband channels with second channels; wherein
the control communication means are further connected to the second
wideband switching means; and wherein
the control means are further responsive to the received signaling messages
for sending control communications over the control communication means to
the second wideband switching means to control establishment thereby of
wideband communication paths.
7. The network of claim 5 wherein the narrowband handling means comprise
narrowband digital channel multiplexing and demultiplexing means, connected
between links of the set of link sets and the fibers, for multiplexing a
plurality of narrowband channels of the connected links into a second
channel and demultiplexing a second channel into a plurality of narrowband
channels of the connected links to establish narrowband communication
paths between the narrowband switching means and pieces of equipment.
8. The network of claim 5 wherein the second communication channels
comprise
a plurality of wideband-carrying channels each comprising at least one
wideband channel and narrowband-carrying channels each comprising in
multiplexed form a plurality of narrowband channels; wherein the wideband
handling means comprise
second wideband digital channel switching means, connected between links of
the set of link sets and the fibers and coupled to the bus, responsive to
control communications received over the bus from the control means for
connecting wideband channels of the connected links with wideband channels
of the wideband-carrying channels to establish wideband communication
paths between the other wideband switching means and pieces of equipment
connected to the links of the set of link sets; and wherein the narrowband
handling means comprise
narrowband digital channel multiplexing and demultiplexing means, connected
between links of the set of link sets and the fibers, for multiplexing a
plurality of narrowband channels of the connected links into narrowband
channels of a narrowband-carrying channel and demultiplexing narrowband
channels of a narrowband-carrying channel into a plurality of narrowband
channels of the connected links to establish narrowband communication
paths between the narrowband switching means and pieces of equipment
connected to the links of the set of link sets.
9. A communication network for use in providing integrated voice, data, and
video services between a plurality of pieces of equipment connected
thereto by a plurality of first channelized communication links, each
piece of equipment connected to the network by a set of first links
comprising at least one first link and providing a set of wideband
communication channels comprising at least one wideband channel and a set
of narrowband communication channels comprising at least one narrowband
channel, a narrowband channel of each first link set for carrying
signaling messages for establishing communication connections over all
channels of the first link set, the network comprising:
wideband channel switching means, coupled to links of the first link sets,
for interconnecting wideband channels to establish wideband communication
paths between pieces of equipment;
narrowband channel switching means, coupled to links of the first link
sets, for interconnecting narrowband channels to establish narrowband
communication paths between pieces of equipment;
a plurality of channelized second links coupling a set of first link sets,
comprising at least some of the first link sets, to the wideband and the
narrowband switching means and providing a plurality of second
communication channels for extending wideband and narrowband channels to
the wideband and the narrowband switching means;
wideband channel handling means, connected between first links of the set
of first link sets and the second links, for connecting wideband channels
of the connected first links with second channels to establish wideband
communication paths between the wideband switching means and pieces of
equipment connected to the first links of the set of first link sets;
narrowband channel handling means, connected between first links of the set
of first link sets and the second links, for connecting narrowband
channels of the connected first links with second channels to establish
narrowband communication paths between the narrowband switching means and
pieces of equipment connected to the first links of the set of first link
sets; and
control means connected to the wideband and the narrowband switching means
and having second channels that are connected to the
signaling-message-carrying narrowband channels coupled thereto, the
control means responsive to signaling messages received from the pieces of
equipment on the coupled channels for sending control communications to
the wideband and the narrowband switching means and sending signaling
messages to the pieces of equipment on the coupled channels to control
establishment on wideband and narrowband channels of wideband and
narrowband communication paths between the pieces of equipment.
10. A communication network for use in providing integrated voice, data,
and video services between a plurality of pieces of equipment
communicatively connected thereto, the network comprising:
a central switching node for establishing wideband and narrowband
communication connections between the pieces of equipment;
a plurality of peripheral nodes, each for communicatively coupling a
plurality of the pieces of equipment to the central node;
a plurality of channelized first optical fibers communicatively connecting
the pieces of equipment to the plurality of peripheral nodes, each piece
of equipment connected to one peripheral node by a set of first fibers
comprising at least one first fiber and providing a set of wideband
communication channels comprising at least one wideband channel and a set
of narrowband communication channels comprising at least one narrowband
channel, a narrowband channel of each first fiber set for carrying
signaling messages for establishing communication connections over all
channels of the first fiber set;
a plurality of channelized second optical fibers communicatively connecting
the peripheral nodes with the central node, each peripheral node connected
with the central node by its own set of second fibers comprising at least
one second fiber and providing a plurality of second communication
channels for carrying the wideband and the narrowband channels; wherein
each peripheral node comprises
wideband digital channel handling means, coupled to first fibers of first
fiber sets connected to the peripheral node and to second fibers of the
peripheral node's second fiber set, for connecting wideband channels with
second channels to establish wideband communication paths between the
central node and pieces of equipment connected to the peripheral node, and
narrowband digital channel handling means, coupled to first fibers of first
fiber sets connected to the peripheral node and to second fibers of the
peripheral node's second fiber set, for connecting narrowband channels
with second channels to establish narrowband communication paths between
the central node and pieces of equipment connected to the peripheral node;
and wherein
the central switching node comprises
wideband digital channel switching means, coupled to fibers of the sets,
for interconnecting wideband channels carried by the second channels to
establish wideband communication paths between pieces of equipment,
narrowband digital channel switching means, coupled to fibers of the sets,
for interconnecting narrowband channels carried by the second channels to
establish narrowband communication paths between pieces of equipment, and
node control means, coupled to the wideband and the narrowband switching
means, responsive to signaling messages received from the pieces of
equipment on the signaling-message-carrying narrowband channels for
sending control communications to the wideband and the narrowband
switching means and sending signaling messages to the pieces of equipment
on the signaling-message-carrying narrowband channels, to control
establishment of wideband and narrowband communication paths on the
wideband and narrowband channels between the pieces of equipment.
11. The network of claim 10 further comprising
a communication bus means, interconnecting the wideband and the narrowband
switching means with the node control means, for carrying control
communications from the node control means to the switching means; and
signaling message transfer means, connected to the communication bus means
and having the signaling-message-carrying narrowband channels carried by
the second channels coupled thereto by the narrowband switching means, for
transferring signaling messages incoming from the pieces of equipment on
the coupled channels to the node control means over the bus means and
transferring signaling messages incoming from the node control means over
the bus means to the pieces of equipment on the coupled channels.
12. The network of claim 10 wherein
the node control means are further coupled to the wideband handling means
of the plurality of peripheral nodes and are further responsive to the
received signaling messages for sending control communications to the
wideband handling means to control establishment thereby of wideband
communication paths.
13. The network of claim 12 further comprising
a communication bus means, interconnecting the wideband and the narrowband
switching means and the wideband handling means with the node control
means, for carrying control communications from the node control means to
the switching and the handling means; and
signaling message transfer means, connected to the communication bus means
and having the signaling-message-carrying narrowband channels carried by
the second channels coupled thereto by the narrowband switching means, for
transferring signaling messages incoming from the pieces of equipment on
the coupled channels to the node control means over the bus means and
transferring signaling messages incoming from the node control means over
the bus means to the pieces of equipment on the coupled channels.
14. The network of claim 10 wherein
the narrowband handling means comprise
narrowband digital channel multiplexing and demultiplexing means, coupled
to first fibers of first fiber sets connected to the peripheral node and
to second fibers of the peripheral node's second fiber set, for
multiplexing a plurality of narrowband channels into a second channel and
demultiplexing a second channel into a plurality of narrowband first
channels to establish narrowband communication paths between the
narrowband switching means and pieces of equipment connected to the
peripheral node.
15. The network of claim 10 wherein
the second communication channels comprise
a plurality of wideband-carrying channels each comprising at least one
wideband channel and narrowband-carrying channels each comprising a
plurality of narrowband channels; wherein
the wideband handling means comprise
second wideband digital channel switching means, coupled to first fibers of
first fiber sets connected to the peripheral node and to second fibers of
the peripheral node's second fiber set, responsive to control
communications received from the node control means for connecting
wideband channels of first fibers with wideband channels of the
wideband-carrying channels to establish wideband communication paths
between the other wideband switching means and pieces of equipment
connected to the peripheral node; and wherein
the narrowband handling means comprise
narrowband digital channel multiplexing and demultiplexing means, coupled
to first fibers of first fiber sets connected to the peripheral node and
to second fibers of the peripheral node's second fiber set, for
multiplexing a plurality of narrowband channels of first fibers into
narrowband channels of a narrowband-carrying channel and demultiplexing
narrowband channels of a narrowband-carrying channel into a plurality of
narrowband channels of first fibers to establish narrowband communication
paths between the narrowband switching means and pieces of equipment
connected to the peripheral node.
16. A communication network for use in providing integrated voice, data,
and video services between a plurality of interface arrangements each for
communicatively coupling at least one subscriber communication device to
the network, the network comprising:
a central switching node for establishing wideband and narrowband
communication connections between the interface arrangements;
a plurality of remote nodes each communicatively coupling a plurality of
the interface arrangements to the central node;
a plurality of channelized first optical fibers communicatively connecting
the interface arrangements with the remote nodes, each interface
arrangement connected with one remote node by its own set of first fibers
comprising at least one first fiber and providing a set of wideband first
communication channels comprising at least one wideband first channel and
a set of narrowband first communication channels comprising at least one
narrowband first channel, a narrowband first channel of each first fiber
set for carrying signaling messages for establishing communication
connections over all channels of the first fiber set; and
a plurality of channelized second optical fibers communicatively connecting
the remote nodes with the central node, each remote node connected with
the central node by its own set of second fibers comprising at least one
second fiber and providing a plurality of wideband-carrying channels each
comprising at least one wideband second communication channel and at least
one narrowband-carrying channel each comprising a plurality of narrowband
second communication channels;
each remote node comprising
first wideband digital channel switching means, coupled to second fibers of
the remote node's second fiber set and to first fibers of the first fiber
sets that are connected to the remote node, responsive to control
communications received from the central node for connecting wideband
first channels with wideband second channels to establish wideband
communication paths between the central node and the interface
arrangements connected to the remote node, and
narrowband digital channel multiplexing and demultiplexing means, coupled
to second fibers of the remote node's second fiber set and to first fibers
of the first fiber sets that are connected to the remote node, for
connecting the channels of a plurality of narrowband first channel sets
with the second channels of a narrowband-carrying channel to establish
narrowband communication paths between the central node and the interface
arrangements connected to the remote node; and
the central node comprising
second wideband digital channel switching means, coupled to second fibers
of the second fiber sets, responsive to received control communications
for interconnecting wideband second channels to establish wideband
communication paths between interface arrangements,
narrowband digital channel switching means, coupled to second fibers of the
second fiber sets, responsive to received control communications for
interconnecting narrowband second channels to establish narrowband
communication paths between interface arrangements,
node control means, responsive to signaling messages received from the
interface arrangements for sending control communications to the first and
the second wideband switching means and the narrowband switching means and
for sending signaling messages to the interface arrangements to control
establishment of wideband and narrowband communication paths between the
interface arrangements on the channels of the first and second fibers,
communication bus means, interconnecting the first and second wideband
switching means and the narrowband switching means with the node control
means, for carrying control communications from the control means to the
switching means, and
signaling message transfer means, connected to the bus means and having
second channels that are connected to signaling-message-carrying
narrowband first channels coupled thereto by the narrowband switching
means, for transferring signaling messages incoming from the interface
arrangements on the coupled channels to the node control means over the
bus means and transferring signaling messages incoming from the node
control means over the bus means to the interface arrangements on the
coupled channels.
17. The network of claim 16 wherein the first wideband switching means
comprise
first wideband digital channel switching fabric, connected to second fibers
of the remote node's second fiber set and to first fibers of the first
fiber sets that are connected to the remote node, for making and breaking
connections between wideband first channels and wideband second channels,
and
first control means, coupled to the first wideband switching fabric,
responsive to control communications received from the node control means
for controlling the making and breaking of connections by the first
wideband switching fabric;
wherein the second wideband switching means comprise
second wideband digital channel switching fabric, connected to second
fibers of the second fiber sets, for making and breaking connections
between wideband second channels, and
second control means, coupled to the second wideband switching fabric,
responsive to control communications received from the node control means
for controlling the making and breaking of connections by the second
wideband switching fabric; and
wherein the narrowband switching means comprise
narrowband digital channel switching fabric, connected to second fibers of
the second fiber sets, for making and breaking connections between
narrowband second channels, and
third control means, coupled to the narrowband switching fabric, responsive
to control communications received from the node control means for
controlling the making and breaking of connections by the narrowband
switching fabric.
18. The network of claim 16, wherein
a set of narrowband first channels comprises
a plurality of narrowband first channels multiplexed into a multiplexed
first channel, and wherein
the narrowband digital channel multiplexing and demultiplexing means
comprise
means for connecting narrowband first channels of a plurality of
multiplexed first channels with narrowband second channels of a
narrowband-carrying channel.
19. The network of claim 16 wherein
the first fibers comprise
a plurality of downstream first optical fibers each for carrying
communications from a remote node to an interface arrangement and a
plurality of upstream first optical fibers each for carrying
communications from an interface arrangement to a remote node, each
interface arrangement connected with a remote node by at least one
upstream and at least one downstream first fiber, the at least one
upstream first fiber providing an upstream narrowband first channel f | | |
