Point-to-multi-point transmission over a wired loop plant

摘要

The present invention relates to an access node (200) with point-to-multi-point transmission capabilities. The access node comprises first transmit/receive circuitry (210m) with digital signal processing logic (DSP) and digital-to-analog/analog-to-digital conversion logic (DAC; ADC), and second transmit/receive circuitry (220n) with transmit/receive amplifiers (LD; LNA) and line adaptation units (LAU) for connection to a transmission line (Ln). The access node further comprises an analog switch (230) for dynamically connecting one of the first transmit/receive circuitry with one of the second transmit/receive circuitry according to a transmit/receive cross-connect table (XT), and transmit/receive control logic (240) for updating the transmit cross-connect table according to a transmit/receive traffic pattern over the respective transmission lines. The transmit/receive traffic pattern conforms to a Time-Division Multiple Access TDMA scheme, or is determined according to actual transmit/receive traffic demands. The transmit/receive control logic is further for individually disabling or enabling the transmit/receive amplifiers concomitantly with the updating of the cross-connect table.