Patent Publication Number: US-2018034546-A1

Title: Signal processing method and apparatus, and passive optical fibre concentrator

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a signal processing method, apparatus, and passive fiber hub. 
     BACKGROUND 
     With the development of broadband/HD video and other services, users&#39; demand for bandwidth is getting higher and higher. In the access side, operators have been able to provide passive optical network (referred to as PON)/Gigabit transmission Gfast/third generation wired data transmission system DOCSIS3.0 gigabit rate level of home bandwidth. The backbone bandwidth of the home network is also increased from 100 megahertz to gigabit, such as Gigabit Ethernet, gigabit WiFi 802.11ac, gigabit indoor power line communications HomePlug AV2 and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) G. hn. 
     Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ad is the latest LAN wireless communication technology, which is mainly used to achieve the home wireless high-definition audio and video signal transmission, and to provide more complete HD video solutions for home multimedia applications. In 802.11ad, 60 GHz spectrum, rather than the crowded 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band, is used, and thus the transmission speed can reach up to 7 Gbps. 
     Due to poor penetration of the 60 GHz band and signals attenuate badly in the air, both the transmission distance and the signal coverage thereof are greatly affected, and as a result, effective connection can only be confined to a very small range. In general, 802.11ad is used as a channel for high-speed wireless transmission between devices in rooms. 
     An ordinary family house usually includes multiple rooms. Power lines cannot provide transmission speed up to 7 Gbps for to a return channel from the 802.11ad access point equipment in a room to a home gateway, while 10G Ethernet is too expensive and it has a high requirement for cable medium. A fast, reliable, no bottlenecks and cost-controllable return transmission method is desired in the art. 
     Fiber transmission capacity is massive. There are two kinds of optical fiber communication topologies: Point to Point (referred to as P2P) and Point to Multiple Point (referred to as P2MP). In a P2P network, multiple fiber interfaces need to be configured, the number of which is based on the number of access point equipments in the home gateway, and therefore the cost is not controllable. P2MP is mainly used for access networks, and the control protocol thereof is more complex. Access point equipments can communicate with the home gateway equipment, but the access point equipments cannot communicate with each other directly. They have to exchange data via the home gateway, and thus there are communication bottlenecks. If the home gateway is abnormal, the network will be unavailable, and then there will be a single point of failure. 
     There is still not any effective solution to solve the problem of poor communication quality between the access point devices in the related technology. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present disclosure provides a signal processing method, apparatus and passive fiber hub to solve at least the problem of poor communication quality between access point devices existing in the related technology. 
     According to one aspect of the present disclosure, it is provided a signal processing method, including: receiving an optical signal transmitted from a first access point device in a home network with optical fibers; forwarding the received optical signal to two or more second access point devices in the home network with optical fibers. 
     In an exemplary embodiment, the first access point includes at least an optical fiber interface; and the second access point includes at least an optical fiber interface. 
     According to another aspect of the present disclosure, it is provided a signal processing apparatus, including: a receiving module, configured to receive an optical signal transmitted from a first access point device in a home network with optical fibers; and a forwarding module, configured to forward the received optical signal to two or more second access point devices in the home network with optical fibers. 
     In an exemplary embodiment, the first access point includes at least an optical fiber interface; and the second access point includes at least an optical fiber interface. 
     According to still another aspect of the present disclosure, it is provide a passive fiber hub, including the above mentioned signal processing apparatus. 
     In an exemplary embodiment, the number of ports of the passive fiber hub is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold, a number of port optical splitters within the passive fiber hub and the number of the ports is in a predetermined ratio, each of the ports being connected to a corresponding port optical splitter, respectively, and the ports transmit data with each other via the port optical splitters connected with the ports, or alternatively, the ports transmit data with each other via the port optical splitters connected with the ports and one or more non-port optical splitters in the passive fiber hub, wherein the non-port optical splitters are those optical splitters in the passive fiber hub other than the port optical splitters. 
     In an exemplary embodiment, the predetermined threshold is 3, and the predetermined ratio includes at least one selected from 1:2, 1:3 and 1:4. 
     According to the present disclosure, by receiving an optical signal transmitted from a first access point device in a home network and forwarding the received optical signal to two or more second access points in the home network device with optical fibers, the problem of poor communication quality between the access point devices in the related technology is solved, and thereby the communication quality between the access point devices is improved. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The drawings described herein are provided to facilitate a further understanding of the disclosure, which constitute a part of the disclosure. The illustrative embodiments of the disclosure and its description are intended to be illustrative of the disclosure and do not limit the scope of the disclosure in any way. In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is a flow chart of a signal processing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating a structure of a signal processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a structure of a passive fiber hub according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a diagram of a home fiber network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram of a Y-type splitter according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram of an internal structure of a 3-port hub according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of a 4-port passive fiber hub according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 8  is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of a 5-port passive fiber hub according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 9  is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of a 6-port passive fiber hub according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 10  is a diagram illustrating an interface of a regional access point according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 11  is a schematic diagram of a first home optical fiber network with a passive fiber hub as the core according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. and 
         FIG. 12  is a schematic diagram of a second home optical fiber network with a passive fiber hub as the core according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described in details with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be noted that the features in the embodiments and examples of the present disclosure may be combined if they do not conflict with each other. 
     A signal processing method is provided in one embodiment.  FIG. 1  is a flow chart of a signal processing method according to the present embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the method includes the following steps. 
     At step S 102 , an optical signal transmitted from a first access point device in a home network with optical fibers is received; and 
     At step S 104 , the received optical signal is forwarded to two or more second access point devices in the home network with optical fibers. 
     By way of the above steps, the optical signal transmitted from the first access point device in the home network is forwarded to the second access point device by using the optical fibers, and thereby the communication quality between the access point devices can be improved. In this way, the problem of poor quality of communication between the input devices in the related technology is solved and the communication quality between the access point devices is improved. 
     As to the above mentioned first and second access point devices, a plurality of types of interfaces can be used. For example, in an alternative embodiment, the first access point may comprise at least an optical fiber interface; and the second access point may comprise at least an optical fiber interface. Or alternatively, the second access point includes at least an optical fiber interface. 
     A signal processing apparatus is provided in another embodiment, the apparatus being configured to implement the above mentioned embodiments and preferable embodiments. Details of the embodiments have been described above and thus will not be repeated here. Although the devices described in the following embodiments are preferably implemented in software, the implementation of hardware, or a combination of software and hardware, is also possible and envisioned. 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating a structure of a signal processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the apparatus includes a receiving module  22  and a forwarding module  24 , which will be explained hereinafter. 
     The receiving module  22  is configured to receive an optical signal transmitted from a first access point device in a home network with optical fibers. And the forwarding module  24  is connected to the receiving module  22  and configured to forward the received optical signal to two or more second access point devices in the home network with optical fibers. 
     In the present embodiment, the first access point includes at least an optical fiber interface; and the second access point includes at least an optical fiber interface. 
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a structure of a passive fiber hub according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the passive fiber hub  32  includes a signal processing apparatus  34  as described above. 
     In the present embodiment, the number of ports of the passive fiber hub is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold, and the number of port optical splitters within the passive fiber hub and the number of the ports is in a predetermined ratio, each of the ports being connected to a corresponding port optical splitter, respectively. The ports communicate data with each other via the port optical splitters connected with the ports. Or alternatively, the ports communicate data with each other via the port optical splitters connected with the ports and one or more non-port optical splitters in the passive fiber hub, wherein the non-port optical splitters are those optical splitters in the passive fiber hub other than the port optical splitters. 
     In an alternative embodiment, the aforesaid predetermined threshold is 3, and the predetermined ratio includes at least one selected from: 1:2, 1:3 and 1:4. Of course, the predetermined ratio may be other proportions according to actual application situations, and will not be enumerated here. 
     In an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a passive optical fiber hub and a home optical fiber networking method with a passive fiber hub as a core.  FIG. 4  is a diagram of a home optical fiber network according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in  FIG. 4 , an optical signal input from any port of the passive fiber hub will be output from all other ports. The number of ports of the passive fiber hub may be at least 3, and the number of ports can be arbitrarily expanded. The internal structure of the passive fiber hub generally includes a combination of multiple Y-type splitters (1:2 optical splitters, with a trunk optical interface, two branch optical interfaces). Of course, other types of optical splitters can also be used, such as 1:3 optical splitter and 1:4 optical splitter, as will be described hereinafter. The structure of the optical splitter is shown in  FIG. 5 , which is a schematic diagram of a Y-type splitter according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
       FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram of an internal structure of a 3-port hub according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In  FIG. 6 , a trunk side of the Y-type splitter is used as a passive fiber hub external port. The Y-type branches are connected with each other within the passive fiber hub. Branch P1.1 is connected to branch P2.1, branch P1.2 is connected to branch P3.1, and branch P2.2 is connected to branch P3.2, so as to form a triangular interconnection topology. When the optical signal is input from P1 port, it is transmitted to branches P1.1 and P1.2 at the bifurcation point. A part of the optical signal travels along P1.1→P2.1→P2 and output at P2; and the other part travels along P1.2→P3.1→P3 and output at P3. Similarly, an optical signal input from the P2 port will be output at the P1 and P3 ports, and an optical signal input from the P3 port will be output at the P1 and P2 ports. 
     When there are more than three ports in the passive fiber hub, for each additional port, three Y-type splitters need to be added, and one more triangular interconnection topology will be added to the internal structure of the passive fiber hub.  FIG. 7  is a block diagram of a 4-port passive optical fiber according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG. 8  is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of a 5-port passive fiber hub according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG. 9  is a schematic diagram showing the internal structure of a 6-port passive fiber hub according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     Among them, the Y-type splitter can equally or unequally split optical power, and the Y-type splitter can be implemented by fused biconical taper (FBT) or planar light-wave circuit (PLC) process. 
     The internal structure of the passive fiber hub described above can also comprise a combination of splitters with 1:3, 1:4 or more branches. In case 1:3 splitters are used, only four splitters are required in a 4-port hub. In case 1:4 splitters are used, only five splitters are required in a 5-port hub. Of course, other splitters like 1:5, 1:6 splitters can also be used. 
     In an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is also provided a home optical fiber networking method using a passive fiber hub as described above, wherein the passive fiber hub and the convergence device/regional access point (the same with the above-mentioned first access point and second access point) are connected by optical fibers. The hub shunts the physical light signal, and do not perform any data analysis and processing in data link layer and upper level of an OSI/RM seven-layer model. The above mentioned optical fiber may be single mode optical fiber or multimode fiber. The convergence device has the interface aggregation capability and service aggregation ability, wherein the interface aggregation capability includes, but is not limited to, a home gateway interface such as an Ethernet interface, an 802.11 wireless network interface, a power line network interface, a coaxial network, and Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON), Gigabit-Capable Passive Optical Network (GPON), 10G EPON, XG-PON, Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL)2, G fast, DOCSIS3.0/3.1 and other broadband network access interface. Service aggregation capabilities include, but not limited to, the Internet, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), Over the Top (OTT), games and other services. 
     The regional access point is provided with a wireless interface that provides high-speed wireless access services for clients in the region.  FIG. 10  is a diagram illustrating an interface of a regional access point according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in  FIG. 10 , the regional access point may include an optical fiber interface and a wireless interface, so as to provide more options for the data transmissions. The above-mentioned convergence devices and the regional access points perform data exchange, analysis and processing of the second layer defined by the Open System Interconnection (OSI) seven-layer model. The data link layer of the OSI/RM seven-layer model of the optical fiber interface of the above convergence devices adopts the Ethernet CSMA/CD mechanism. The data link layer of the OSI/RM seven-layer model of the optical fiber interface of the above regional access point adopts the Ethernet CSMA/CD mechanism. 
     The present disclosure will now be described with reference to specific examples. 
     Embodiment One 
       FIG. 11  is a schematic diagram of a first home optical fiber network with a passive fiber hub as the core according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In this embodiment, the user uses the Gfast home gateway as a convergence device, the passive fiber hub is provided with four optical fiber interfaces, two 802.11ac/ad APs are used as regional access points in the living room and study, and an 802.11ad AP is used as a regional access point in the master bedroom. 
     A STB1 that is provided with an 802.11ad interface in the living room is connected to the AP1, and the AP1 is connected to AP3 in the study via the P1 port and P3 port of the hub, so that STB1 can play the high-definition 8K 3D ultra-high-definition video stored in the NAS, and thus the interworking between the P1 port and P3 Port of the hub is achieved. 
     A PAD that is provided with an 802.11ac interface in the living room is connected to the AP1, and the AP1 is connected to AP2 in a master bedroom via the P1 port and P3 port of the hub. A Smart TV that is provided with an 802.11ad interface in the master bedroom is connected to the AP2. Users use the PAD and the smart TV to play a double-player networking game, and thus the interworking between the P1, P2 and P4 ports of the hub is achieved. 
     Embodiment Two 
       FIG. 12  is a schematic diagram of a second home optical fiber network with a passive fiber hub as the core according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In this embodiment, the user uses the GPON home gateway as the aggregation device, the passive fiber hub is provided with three optical interfaces, two 802.11ad AP, as the regional access points, are located in the living room and the master bedroom, respectively. 
     STB1 in the living room is connected to the AP1, which requests an Internet 8K 3D HDTV ultra-high definition 3D video source. The video stream on demand flows from the home gateway into the fiber hub P2 port, and is output from the P1 port and P3 port. The AP1 receives data frames transmitted from the P1 port of the hub, analyzes the destination MAC address of the data link layer, and sends the data frames to the STB1 if the address is successfully matched. The STB1 decodes and plays the video stream. At the same time, the AP2 receives the data frames sent from the P3 port of the hub, analyzes the destination MAC address of the data link layer, and finds that the MAC address has been learned at the same port of the data frame. Then, the AP2 discards the data frame according to the two-tier Ethernet Bridge forwarding rules. 
     As can be seen from the above embodiments, the present disclosure has the following technical effects: a passive fiber hub can be used to form a peer-to-peer optical fiber local area network, which avoids the flow bottleneck when data aggregates to the gateway device; since the hub is a passive device, with low failure rate, high reliability, low cost, and optical fibers with a mass bandwidth, it can easily carry ultra-high-speed traffic data, and then 802.11ad 7 Gbps and other ultra-high bandwidth technology in the future data return functions can be realized. 
     The passive fiber hub described in the present disclosure can be used not only for home networking, but also in applications such as cars and tanks, so as to implement high-reliability networking. 
     Embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a storage medium. In an exemplary embodiment, in the present embodiment, the above-described storage medium may be arranged to store program code for performing the following steps: 
     At step S 1 , an optical signal transmitted from a first access point device in a home network with optical fibers is received; and 
     At step S 2 , the received optical signal is forwarded to two or more second access point devices in the home network with optical fibers. 
     In an exemplary embodiment, in the present embodiment, the above-described storage medium may include, but is not limited to, a USB disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM) Mobile hard disk, disk or CD and other media that can store program code. 
     In an exemplary embodiment, in the present embodiment, the processor executes the steps in the above-described method embodiments according to the program code stored in the storage medium. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the above-described modules or steps of the present disclosure may be implemented by a general purpose computing device, and those modules may be provided on a single computing device or distributed over a network of multiple computing devices. In an exemplary embodiment, they may be implemented by program code executable by the computing device so that they may be stored in a storage device by a computing device and, in some cases, may be performed in a different order from the steps shown or described above. Those modules may be made separately into individual integrated circuit modules, or multiple modules or steps among them may be made into a single integrated circuit module. Thus, the present disclosure is not limited to any particular combination of hardware and software. 
     The above description is merely illustrative of the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure and is not intended to limit the present disclosure in any way. Various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, and the like within the spirit and principles of the disclosure are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure. 
     INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY 
     As described above, a signal processing method, apparatus, and passive fiber hub provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure have the following advantageous effects: the problem of poor communication quality between the access point devices existing in the related technology is solved, and the quality of communication between access point devices is improved.