WO2000048362A1

WO2000048362A1 - Device for constructing local area network with telephone lines and internet service using the same device

Info

Publication number: WO2000048362A1
Application number: PCT/KR2000/000109
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tae Jin Kim; Jung Ho Lee
Original assignee: Techgate Corporation
Priority date: 1999-02-13
Filing date: 2000-02-14
Publication date: 2000-08-17
Also published as: AU2578300A

Abstract

An apparatus and method for constructing a LAN using existing telephone lines in an area where are closely situated together individual units such as apartments, office hotels, hotels, offices, etc. and connecting the constructed LAN to a high-speed Internet dedicated line to provide the individual units with a telephone service and a high-speed Internet service at the same time. A LAN system is constructed with no necessity for installing new LAN lines, thereby reducing the construction time and cost and providing a more stable and rapid Internet service at low cost.

Description

DEVICE FOR CONSTRUCTING LOCAL AREA NETWORK WITH TELEPHONE LINES AND INTERNET SERVICE USING THE SAME DEVICE

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for constructing a standard Ethernet (IEEE802.3) local area networ (LAN) in an area where are closely situated together individual units such as offices, hotels, office hotels, apartments, etc. and providing a high-speed Internet service over the constructed LAN.

Background Art

Recently, with the rapid spread of computer communication and Internet, there have rapidly been developed techniques for constructing a network and providing a high-speed Internet service over the constructed network.

For connection to the Internet, there are currently most used a method using a modem, and a method using a LAN and Internet dedicated line, which has generally been used in offices since the 1970' s. Such methods are shown in Fig. 2 herein.

Many difficulties are present in constructing the LAN for the Internet service in an area where are closely situated together residential facilities and offices. For example, the construction work must be done according to the existing facilities, resulting in increases in construction time and cost and marring of the exterior appearance of the facilities. Further, the construction work may encounter a problem in safety.

Fig. 3 shows Internet connection methods other than the above method using the LAN, which are based on a cable TV network, ISDN, XDSL, etc. Such methods are lower in data transfer speed than the LAN-based method and noneconomical because they are high in equipment cost, maintenance cost and construction cost.

The above-mentioned Internet connection methods using the modem and LAN have advantages and disadvantages as in the below table 1.

[TABLE 1 ]

INTERNET CONNECTION USING MODEM INTERNET CONNECTION USING LAN

ADVANTAGES:

Data transfer speed is high

(10Mbps) .

ADVANTAGES : Data transfer is highly stable.

Initial construction cost is Simultaneous use with telephone low. is possible.

Connection is possible if there Internet connection is simply is present a telephone line. made (Web browser execution) .

DISADVANTAGES : DISADVANTAGES :

Data transfer speed is low. Initial construction cost is

Data transfer is instable. high.

Simultaneous use with telephone Network construction is limited is impossible. to an area where are closely

Telephone fee is charged for situated together residential

Internet connection. facilities and offices.

Disclosure of the Invention

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for constructing a LAN using existing telephone lines in an area where are closely situated together individual units such as apartments, office hotels, hotels, offices, etc. and connecting the constructed LAN to a high-speed Internet dedicated line to provide the individual units with a telephone service and a high-speed Internet service at the same time.

In a feature of the present invention, time and cost required in constructing a LAN for Internet connection are reduced as compared with conventional ones. As a result, Internet foundations can be constructed early in respective rooms of apartments, offices, office hotels, hotels, etc. to provide a high-speed Internet service.

In another feature of the present invention, an Internet connection system is simply implemented using a LAN to provide a high-speed Internet service. This Internet connection system can effect online services of fields such as finance, education, working at home, civil affairs administration, etc. As a result, such an Internet connection system is anticipated to have very high industrial utilization.

In accordance with the present invention, there are provided an apparatus and method for constructing a LAN using telephone lines previously installed in almost all offices and homes and connecting the constructed LAN to an Internet dedicated line to provide the offices and homes with a telephone service and a high-speed Internet service at the same time. Therefore, the installation cost of devices required for the construction of an Internet connection network can be reduced, thereby stably providing the high- speed Internet service at low cost. This enables Internet foundations to be constructed early over the whole of society and all people to universally use the Internet, resulting in contribution to the vitalization of Internet-based industry.

The basic concept of the present invention is to transmit a telephone signal and high-speed data signal of different frequency bands over an existing telephone line in a multiplexing manner and split the transmitted signals from each other. In order to multiplex, transmit and split the telephone signal and high-speed data signal, band pass filters 31 for signal splitting and matching circuits 32 are provided respectively in a control unit 1 and terminal unit 2, as shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 4 shows frequency bands of the multiplexed telephone signal and high-speed data signal in accordance with the present invention. In this drawing, the reference numeral 28 denotes a frequency band (0-5KHz) of the telephone signal and the reference numeral 30 denotes a frequency band (1-lOMHz) of the Ethernet lOBase-T signal. For reference, a frequency band (0-256KHz) of an ISDN signal is indicated by the reference numeral 29.

The present apparatus for constructing a high-speed Internet network comprises Internet 4, an Internet repeater 3, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 5, the control unit 1, the terminal unit 2, an existing telephone line 8 between the control unit 1 and terminal unit 2, a computer 9 and a telephone 10, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5.

The control unit 1 and terminal unit 2, which are the kernel of the present invention, cooperate to multiplex a data signal from the Internet 4 and a telephone signal from the PSTN 5 and transmit the multiplexed signal simultaneously to the computer 9 and the telephone 10 over the existing telephone line 8. Further, the control unit 1 and terminal unit 2 are adapted to transmit a telephone signal from the telephone 10 and a data signal from the computer 9 respectively to the PSTN 5 and Internet .

The Internet repeater 3, which is a universal device for Internet connection, includes a CSU 15, router 16 and hub 17, as shown in Fig. 2 illustrating conventional Internet connection methods . The operation of the present LAN system with the above- mentioned construction is performed as shown in Fig. 5. Namely, the control unit 1 multiplexes a data signal from the Internet 4 and a telephone signal from the PSTN 5 and sends the multiplexed result to the terminal unit 2. Then, the terminal unit 2 splits the multiplexed result from the control unit 1 into the Internet data signal and the telephone signal and supplies the split signals respectively to the computer 9 and the telephone 10.

Further, the terminal unit 2 multiplexes a data signal from the computer 9 and a telephone signal from the telephone 10 and sends the multiplexed result to the control unit 1 over the telephone line 8. Then, the control unit 1 splits the multiplexed result from the terminal unit 2 into the Internet data signal and telephone signal and transmits the split signals respectively to the Internet 4 and PSTN 5.

Fig. 6 shows an embodiment of the control unit 1 in accordance with the present invention, which will hereinafter be denoted by the reference numeral 33. As shown in this drawing, the control unit 33 comprises a plurality of control modules, each of which includes one Internet repeater port, one or two telephone input terminals, the band pass filters 31, the matching circuit 32 and a telephone terminal for transmitting and receiving a multiplexed signal. Six or twelve control modules are mounted on one board to constitute the control unit 33.

Fig. 7 shows an alternative embodiment of the control unit 1 in accordance with the present invention, which will hereinafter be denoted by the reference numeral 34. As shown in this drawing, the control unit 34 comprises the above control unit 33 and a hub circuit 36 of the Internet repeater modularized on one board. This construction reduces the size of the control unit while increasing the stability thereof, resulting in reductions in time and cost required in manufacturing and installing the control unit. Fig. 8 shows an embodiment of the terminal unit 2 in accordance with the present invention. As shown in this drawing, the terminal unit 2 comprises telephone signal input/output terminals, a data signal terminal, the band pass filters 31 and the matching circuit 32, similar to the control unit 1. With this construction, the terminal unit 2 splits a data signal and a telephone signal carried on the telephone line 8 from each other and supplies the split signals respectively to the computer 9 and telephone 10. The terminal unit 2 further functions to multiplex a data signal generated by the computer 9 and a telephone signal generated by the telephone 10 and transmit the multiplexed result over the telephone line 8. The band pass filters 31 works to split the data signal and the telephone signal from each other so that they cannot interfere with each other.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall construction of a LAN system in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating conventional Internet connection methods based on a LAN and modem;

Fig. 3 is a block diagram illustrating conventional Internet connection methods based on a cable modem, XDSL and ISDN; Fig. 4 is a waveform diagram showing frequency bands of multiplexed signals in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing the detailed construction of the LAN system in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a control unit in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 7 is a block diagram showing an alternative embodiment of the control unit in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 8 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a terminal unit in accordance with the present invention; and

Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a method for constructing the LAN system in an apartment complex in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a method for constructing a LAN system in an apartment complex in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, existing telephone lines are used for the construction of a LAN in an apartment complex where residential facilities are closely situated together, with no necessity for installing new lines associated with the LAN in the apartment complex. The constructed LAN is connected to an Internet dedicated line to provide users in the apartment complex with a telephone service and a high-speed Internet service at the same time. For the construction of such a LAN system, the Internet repeater 3 and control unit 1 are first modularized and installed in an MDF 14.

The control unit 1 is connected via the existing telephone line 8 to the terminal unit 2, which is in turn connected to a telephone terminal of each home. The terminal unit 2 is also connected to the computer 9 via a LAN line 11 (see Fig. 2), resulting in the LAN system being constructed in the apartment complex. The terminal unit 2 is connected to the telephone 10 via a telephone line 12 (see Fig. 1) and the control unit 1 is connected to a high- speed Internet dedicated line 6 (see Figs. 1 and 2) via the repeater 3, thereby constructing a high-speed Internet service network.

The matching circuit 32 in the control unit 1 multiplexes an Internet data signal and a telephone signal and the multiplexed signals are transmitted over the existing telephone line 8 to the terminal unit 2, which is installed in each home or office. Then, the band pass filters 31 in the terminal unit 2 filter the transmitted signals to split them into the telephone signal and the data signal. The split telephone signal and the data signal are supplied respectively to the telephone 10 and the computer 9, thereby providing each home or office with the telephone service and the Internet service at the same time. With this LAN-based Internet service network constructed, the user can connect to the Internet 4 by powering on the computer 9 after registration based on a plug-in program for presetting.

Industrial Applicability

As apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a LAN system is constructed with no necessity for installing new LAN lines, thereby reducing the construction time and cost and providing a more stable and rapid Internet service of more than 10Mbps. Further, the LAN system includes the circuitry device which is simply composed of only passive elements requiring no power supply, so as to stabilize the system. Moreover, a control unit and terminal unit can be manufactured and installed at lower cost, resulting in a reduction in the initial construction cost of the system. Therefore, an Internet service network can readily be constructed using a LAN to provide a high-speed Internet service at low cost. This enables Internet foundations to be constructed early over the whole of society and all people to universally use the Internet, resulting in contribution to the vitalization of Internet-based industry.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Claims

Claims :

1. A method for constructing a LAN system of more than 10Mbps and providing a high-speed Internet service through the constructed LAN system, comprising the step of constructing said LAN system using an existing telephone line, a control unit and a terminal unit without installing separate LAN lines and providing each home or office with said high-speed Internet service and telephone service through the constructed LAN system simultaneously.

2. The method as set forth in Claim 1, wherein each of said control unit and terminal unit includes a pair of band pass filters having different filtering bands and a matching circuit respectively, said control unit and terminal unit cooperating to multiplex a data signal from Internet and a telephone signal from a PSTN, transmit the multiplexed signals simultaneously to a computer and a telephone of each home or office over said existing telephone line, to split the multiplexed signals on said existing telephone line into a telephone signal and a data signal and to transmit the split signals respectively to said PSTN and Internet.

3. The method as set forth in Claim 2, wherein said control unit includes a hub circuit.

. A LAN system comprising a terminal unit including a pair of band pass filters having different filtering bands and a matching circuit, said terminal unit splitting a multiplexed signal on an existing telephone line into a data signal and a telephone signal, supplying the split signals respectively to a computer and a telephone, multiplexing a data signal from said computer and a telephone signal from said telephone and transmitting the multiplexed signals to said existing telephone line at the same time.