Voice, data and video integrated broadband metropolitan area network
Hiroshi Kobayashi, Hideaki Haruyama · Electronics and Communications in Japan (Part I Communications) · 1990
Abstract This paper discusses the technical feasibility of the multimedia metropolitan area network based on the tree‐shaped broadband network, employing two‐way CATV technology. In the proposed network, all information can flow on any transmission line through the headend. This leads to the following features, which cannot be realized in the star network as in the telephone network: Flexible services are provided. An efficient information communication service can easily be realized. It is easy to provide the highspeed broadband service at a low cost. The security of the network can be improved. The following systems were developed by the authors as examples of the information communication services utilizing those features: TDMA circuit switching service using “time‐slotted bus with control window,” CSMA/CD packet switching service using “beat signal level detection,” and TDMA video switching service, where several video signals are multiplexed as analog signals. Those services can be provided to more than 10,000 subscribers in a service area of diameter 20 km or more. The system is expected to provide the basis for the information communication in local communities, together with the widespread use of urban‐type CATV.