Patent ID: 7340171

Claim:
An FTTH (Fiber To The Home) system for broadcast/communication convergence, comprising: an OLT (Optical Line Terminal) for transferring a plurality of broadcast signals and a communication signal received from external broadcast and communication providers through a single optical signal (A); an ONU (Optical Network Unit) for receiving the optical signal (A) from the OLT, separating the received optical signal into the plurality of broadcast signals and the communication signal, opto-electrically converting the plurality of broadcast signals and the communication signal, switching the converted broadcast signals subscriber by subscriber, combining the converted communication signal with the switched converted broadcast signals, and transferring a resulting combined converted communication signal and switched converted broadcast signals to a corresponding subscriber through a single optical signal (B), said ONU comprising: a receiving/demultiplexing unit for receiving the optical signal (A) from the OLT, separating the received optical signal into the plurality of broadcast signals and the communication signal, and demultiplexing the plurality of broadcast signals channel by channel; a broadcast/communication data switching unit for switching the broadcast signals demultiplexed by the receiving/demultiplexing unit subscriber by subscriber, and switching a downstream communication signal received from the receiving/demultiplexing unit and an upstream communication signal received from the gateway; and a first IEEE 1394 data controlling and transmitting/receiving unit for converting the switched broadcast signals and the downstream communication signal into IEEE 1394 data to transmit the IEEE 1394 data, and receiving IEEE 1394 data from the gateway; and a gateway at each subscriber for receiving the optical signal (B) from the ONU, separating the received optical signal into the broadcast signals and the communication signal, and transferring the broadcast signals and the communication signal to a corresponding subscriber device, wherein a connection between the ONU and the gateway at each subscriber is implemented by IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 1394 protocol.