Systems and methods for extending optical network services across non-optical channels

摘要

An optical communication system comprises a network interface device (NID) having a media converter coupled to an optical fiber of a passive optical network (PON). The media converter converts optical signals from the PON into electrical signals for communication across at least one non-optical channel, such as a conductive or wireless connection, to customer premises equipment (CPE), such as a residential gateway or other customer premises (CP) device. Rather than implementing an optical media access control (optical MAC) layer in the NID, an optical MAC layer for handling PON protocols and management is implemented by the CPE, thereby effectively extending the customer end of the PON across at least one non-optical connection to the CPE. By implementing the optical MAC layer at the CPE, the complexity of the NID is reduced thereby lowering the cost of the NID. In one embodiment, in an effort to further reduce the complexity of the NID, the optical MAC layer is configured to control a laser-on state of an optical transmitter in the NID.

主权项

1. A communication system, comprising:
a media converter having an optical transceiver and a first electrical transceiver, the optical transceiver coupled to an optical line terminal (OLT) via an optical fiber of an optical network, the first electrical transceiver configured to receive an electrical data signal from a non-optical channel and to demodulate the electrical data signal to recover a data stream comprising data packets carried by the electrical data signal, the first electrical transceiver further configured to transmit the data stream to the optical transceiver, wherein the optical transceiver has an optical transmitter configured to modulate an optical signal with the data stream, thereby forming an optical data signal, and to transmit the optical data signal across the optical fiber to the OLT; and a customer premises (CP) device communicatively coupled to the media converter at a customer premises, the CP device having a second electrical transceiver and an optical media access control (optical MAC) layer configured to form the data packets according to an optical network protocol for the optical network and to manage communication of the data packets across the optical network, the second electrical transceiver configured to modulate an electrical carrier signal with the data stream, thereby forming the electrical data signal, and to transmit the electrical data signal across the non-optical channel to the first electrical transceiver of the media converter, the optical MAC layer configured to receive control information from the OLT via a control channel of the optical network and determine, based on the control information, time slots allocated for transmissions across the optical network by the optical MAC layer, the optical MAC layer further configured to transmit an indication to the media converter via the non-optical channel based on the allocated time slots, wherein the media converter is configured such that the optical transmitter transitions from a laser-off state to a laser-on state in response to the indication.