OUTLET WITH ANALOG SIGNAL ADAPTER, A METHOD FOR USE THEREOF AND A NETWORK USING SAID OUTLET
An outlet (70, 75, 76, 78, 79) for a Local Area Network (LAN), containing an integrated adapter (21, 25) that converts digital data to and from analog video signal. Such an outlet allows using analog video units in a digital data network (80), eliminating the need for a digital video units or external adapter. The outlet may include a hub (31, 41) that allows connecting both an analog video signal via an adapter, as well as retaining the data network connection, which may be accessed by a network jack (73). The invention may also be applied to a telephone line-based data networking system. In such an environment, the data networking circuitry as well as the analog video adapters are integrated into a telephone outlet, providing for regular telephone service, analog video connectivity, and data networking as well. In such a configuration, the outlet would have a standard telephone jack (71), an analog video jack (72) and at least one data networking jack (73). Outlets according to the invention can be used to retrofit existing LAN and in-building telephone wiring, as well as original equipment in new installation
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The present invention relates to the field of conveying analog video, and, more specifically, to the transport of analog video signals within a Local Area Network (LAN) over wiring simultaneously used for analog telephony.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION OutletsThe term “outlet” herein denotes an electro-mechanical device, which enables connection to wiring installed within a building. Outlets are permanently connected to the wiring, and allow easy connection of external units as required to such wiring, commonly by means of an integrated, faceplate built-in connector. The outlet is normally mechanically attached to, or mounted in, the wall. Non-limiting examples of common outlets include: telephone outlets for connecting telephone sets; CATV outlets for connecting television sets, VCR's, and the like; and electrical outlets for connecting power to electrical appliances.
LAN EnvironmentAlthough
While the network 10 is specifically designed to carry digital signals, still many devices in the home or office environment are using an analog type of interface. Specifically, video associated equipment such as VCR, video monitors, video cameras uses standard analog video interface for networking. The term “video source” used herein denotes any device having analog video output, non-limiting examples being VCR (while playing), analog video camera, TV receiver. The term “video target” used herein denotes any device having analog video input, non-limiting examples being VCR (while recording), analog video monitor.
In order to employ video transportation from a video source to a video target via the digital data network, additional adapters converting analog to digital and vice versa are required. This will become clearer from
Although the digital data network 20 facilitates the employment of common, low-cost standard video units, the adapters 21 and 25 are necessary, making installation and maintenance complex, and requiring additional equipment, connections, and cables. Furthermore, such adapters require a power connection, further complicating installation, use, and maintenance. Furthermore, although
Analog telephony, popularly known as “Plain Old Telephone Service” (“POTS”) has been in existence for over 100 years, and is well-designed and well-engineered for the transmission and switching of voice signals in the 3-4 KHz portion (or “band”) of the audio spectrum. The familiar POTS network supports real-time, low-latency, high-reliability, moderate-fidelity voice telephony, and is capable of establishing a session between two end-points, each using an analog telephone set.
The terms “data unit”, “computer” and “personal computer” (“PC”) as used herein include workstations and other data terminal equipment (DTE) with interfaces for connection to a local area network. The term “telephone set” or “telephone device” as used herein includes any device which can connect to a Public Switch Telephone Network (“PSTN”) using analog telephone signals, non-limiting examples of which are fax machines, automatic telephone answering machines, and dial-up modems.
Home NetworkingIn-home telephone service usually employs two or four wires, to which telephone sets are connected via telephone outlets.
Network 40 is normally configured into a serial or “daisy-chained” topology, wherein the wiring is connected from one outlet to the next in a linear manner, but other topologies such as star, tree, or any arbitrary topology may also be used. Regardless of the topology, however, the telephone wiring system within a residence always uses wired media: two or four copper wires along with one or more outlets which provide direct access to these wires for connecting to telephone sets.
It is often desirable to simultaneously use existing telephone wiring simultaneously for both telephony and data networking. In this way, establishing a new local area network in a home or other building is simplified, because there is no need to install additional wiring. U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,402 to Crane (hereinafter referred to as “Crane”) teaches a Local Area Network over standard two-wire telephone lines, but does not simultaneously support telephony.
The concept of frequency domain/division multiplexing (FDM) is well-known in the art, and provides means of splitting the bandwidth carried by a wire into a low-frequency band capable of carrying an analog telephony signal and a high-frequency band capable of carrying data communication or other signals. Such a mechanism is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,448 to Reichert et al.(hereinafter referred to as “Reichert”).
This technique is exploited in U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,443 to Dichter (hereinafter referred to as “Dichter”). Dichter suggests a method and apparatus for applying a frequency domain/division multiplexing (FDM) technique for residential telephone wiring, enabling the simultaneous carrying of telephony and data communication signals. The available bandwidth over the wiring is split into a low-frequency band capable of carrying an analog telephony signal, and a high-frequency band capable of carrying data communication signals. In such a mechanism, telephony is not affected, while a data communication capability is provided over existing telephone wiring within a home. FDM is also widely used are xDSL systems, primarily Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Loop (ADSL) systems.
In addition to illustrating a residential telephone system,
Communication Equipment (DCE) units 39a, 39b, and 39e. Examples of Data. Communication Equipment include, but are not limited to, modems, line drivers, line receivers, and transceivers (the team “transceiver” herein denotes a combined transmitter and receiver), which enables communication over telephone line 5. DCE units 39a, 39b, and 39c are connected to respective high pass filters (HPF) 38a, 38b, and 38c, which allow access to the high-frequency band carried by telephone line 5. In order to avoid interference to the data network caused by the telephones, low pass filters (LPFs) 37a, 37b, and 37c are added to isolate the POTS carrying band, so that telephones 22a, 22b, and 22c connect to telephone line 5 for providing PSTN. Furthermore, a low pass filter (not shown in the figure) may also be connected to Junction Box 34 in order to filter noise induced from or to PSTN wiring 33.
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a means for allowing the use of analog video units in LAN environment without requiring additional external devices and allowing easy installation, operation, and maintenance. This goal is met by the present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention makes it easy and convenient to convey analog video signals in a digital data network environment. The invention provides an outlet for a Local Area Network (LAN), with an integrated analog video adapter. The outlet has a standard analog video connector allowing an analog video unit to be directly connected to, and used with, a digital data network.
In a first embodiment, an outlet according to the present invention is used with an ordinary LAN environment, such as Ethernet 10BaseT (IEEE802.3). The outlet allows connecting analog video units to the LAN via the integrated analog video adapter, supports analog video over the LAN media, and can also support a standard network data connection using an integrated multi-port unit (e.g, hub, switch, or router). For standard network data connections, the outlet also includes at least one data networking jack (e.g. RJ-45 if 10BaseT or 100BaseTX is used) connected to a port.
In another embodiment, the outlet enables a LAN to be based on in-building telephone wiring, in a home or Small Office/Home Office (SoHo) environment. A packet-based LAN is implemented, and outlets according to the present invention serve as telephone outlets, network outlets and analog video. This allows for direct and convenient connection of analog video units over the data network. In such an arrangement, the regular analog telephony service remains unaffected, because the low-frequency analog portion of the spectrum is isolated by the IDM technique. As noted above, the outlet may also support a network data connection, using an integrated multi-port unit (e.g. hub, switch or router), and in this case also includes a data network jack (e.g. RJ-45 if 10BaseT or 100BaseTX is used) connected to a port.
Outlets according to the present invention can be installed as part of an original network installation, as a retrofit to an existing network, or to set up a network over existing telephone wiring.
The invention is herein described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The principles and operation of a network according to the present invention may be understood with reference to the drawings and the accompanying description. The drawings and descriptions are conceptual only. In actual practice, a single component can implement one or more functions; alternatively, each function can be implemented by a plurality of components and circuits. In the drawings and descriptions, identical reference numerals indicate those components that are common to different embodiments or configurations.
As shown in
Powering any of the outlets mentioned above, can be implemented either locally by connecting a power supply to each outlet, or, preferably, via the network itself. In the latter case, commonly known as “Power over LAN”, the power can be carried to the outlet from a central location either by an additional wire pair, using the well-known phantom configuration, or by the PDM (Frequency Division/Domain Multiplexing) method. The latter commonly employs DC feeding, which is frequency-isolated from the data carried in the higher part of the spectrum.
Network 80 offers the advantages of the carrying analog video, but requires the infrastructure of LAN wiring, which may not exist within a home. In another embodiment, the invention is used in a data network over in-building telephone lines, where the analog telephony signals are carried in the low-frequency portion of the spectrum, and the data communication signals are carried in the high-frequency portion.
Thus, outlet 90 supports four types of interface: Regular analog telephony (via jack 92), data communications (via jack 73), analog video source connection via jack 72 and analog video target connection via jack 77. A subset of such functionalities can also be provided. For example, an outlet solely supporting analog video target connection can be implemented, eliminating the need for LPF 37 and jack 92, and also eliminating hub 41 and jack 73 as well as AID 21 and related jack 72. In such a case, D/A 25 directly connects to DCE unit 39.
Both networks 80 and 100 support the connectivity of both video units and DTEs. However, the analog video signal transportation is not to be limited to be carried solely between video units. For example, the analog video signal generated by video source 23 can be routed to a PC 17 (such as shown in
Although outlets 79 and 90 and their variants are each described above as having up to one single video source connection, up to one video target connection, up to one data unit interface, it is understood that multiple such interfaces can be supported within a single outlet. For example, an additional video source interface can be added to an outlet by adding an auxiliary hub port (if required), connected to an auxiliary A/D unit 21 connected to an auxiliary connector 72. Similarly, multiple data network interfaces can be included within an outlet, each connected to different ports of a respective hub (such as hub 41a).
Although the invention has been so far described with regard to telephone wiring and telephone outlets, the invention can be similarly applied to any type of wired networking within a building, such as CATV or electrical power wiring.
Although the invention has been so far described as relating to Ethernet based data networks, the invention can be similarly applied to any type of wired network, including non-packet based. Furthermore, although packet networks are the most important for wide area networks, the invention is not restricted to packet networks only, and can be applied to any digital data network, where video signals are digitized and carried in digital form.
Although the invention has been so far described as relating to analog video transportation over a digital data networks, the invention can be similarly applied to any type of analog signals, including voice or analog sensors. For example, such a network can be used to carry analog audio signals from an audio system to remote analog speakers.
Although the invention has been so far described as relating to simple digitizing the incoming analog video or audio signal using A/D 21, additional analog or digital processing can be applied within the outlet. For example, as shown in
Furthermore, although the invention has been described as relating to networks based on continuous electrical conducting media (telephone, CATV, or electrical power), and the relevant modem and associated circuitry are connected in parallel to the wiring infrastructure, the invention can be applied equally to the case wherein the wiring is not continuous, but is cut into discrete segments as disclosed in WO 00/07322 to the present inventor, which is incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. The invention described can be equally used in new installations of data network in an office or home environment, as well as in retrofit applications, wherein the existing outlets (either LAN, telephone or any other) are substituted with outlets according to the invention.
While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, it will be appreciated that many variations, modifications and other applications of the invention may be made.
Claims
1. A device comprising:
- a video camera for producing video data;
- a processor coupled to the video camera for compressing the video data into compressed video data;
- a transceiver coupled to the processor for full-duplex communication of digital data with a Local Area Network (LAN), at least part of the digital data representing the compressed video data;
- a LAN connector coupled to the transceiver and couplable to the LAN; and
- a single enclosure housing the video camera, the processor, the transceiver, and the LAN connector,
- the device being addressable in the LAN; and
- the device being configured to be powered by a power signal received from the LAN.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein the transceiver is a modem.
3. The device of claim 1, wherein the digital data comprises packet-based digital data.
4. The device of claim 3, wherein the digital data comprises IP-based digital data.
5. The device of claim 1, wherein the power signal comprises a DC power signal carried over the LAN concurrently with the digital data.
6. The device of claim 5, wherein the DC power signal and the digital data are carried concurrently using frequency division multiplexing.
7. The device of claim 6, further comprising a splitter operative to:
- receive the DC power signal and the digital data carried concurrently; and
- separately output the digital data and the DC power signal via separate output ports.
8. The device of claim 7, further comprising a power supply coupled to the splitter for receiving the DC power signal, and wherein at least one power-consuming component of the device is connected to be powered by the power signal via the power supply.
9. The device of claim 1, further comprising an audio source for producing audio data for communication with the LAN.
10. The device of claim 9, wherein the audio data is an analog audio data,
- the device further comprising an analog-to-digital converter for converting the analog audio data to a digitized audio data for communication with the LAN.
11. The device of claim 10, further comprising an audio target for receiving audio data from the LAN.
12. The device of claim 11, further comprising a multi-port packet-based unit including one of: a hub; a switch;
- a router; and a gateway, the multi-port packet-based unit being coupled to the video camera, the audio source, and the audio target to provide data communication with the transceiver via the multi-port packet-based unit.
13. The device of claim 3, wherein communication of the packet-based digital data is based on the IEEE802.3 Ethernet standard.
14. The device of claim 1, further comprising:
- at least one further data connector for connecting to a device outside the single enclosure; and
- a multi-port packet-based unit including one of: a hub; a switch; a router; and a gateway, the multi-port packet-based unit being coupled to the video camera and the at least one further data connector to provide data communication with the transceiver via the multi-port packet-based unit.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 7, 2011
Publication Date: Apr 28, 2011
Applicant: MOSAID Technologies Incorporated (Ottawa)
Inventor: Yehuda Binder (Hod HaSharon)
Application Number: 12/986,539
International Classification: H04N 7/26 (20060101); H04N 5/225 (20060101); H04J 1/00 (20060101); H04L 12/56 (20060101);