Metropolitan wide area network

Claim 2

A wide area communication network comprising: at least two hub sites, said hub sites being interconnected by a communication backbone, each said hub site providing coverage in at least one sector; at least two remote sites corresponding to each of said sectors; and a point-to-multi point broadband wireless system, said at least two remote sites being coupled to a corresponding hub site through said point-to-multi point broadband wireless system, wherein said point-to-multi point broadband wireless system at each said hub site comprises: a first radio unit operating on a first selectable frequency and providing coverage in a first sector; a second radio unit operating on a second selectable frequency and providing coverage in a second sector, said second sector being substantially adjacent to said first sector; and means for frequency selecting said first selectable frequency and said second selectable frequency from a plurality of available frequencies such that said first and second selectable frequencies are substantially separated thereby minimizing co-channel interference.

Claim 3

The wide area communication network according to claim 1 , further comprising at least one service node, said service node being operatively coupled to at least one of said hub sites.

Claim 4

The wide area communication network according to claim 2 , wherein said at least one service node includes at least one of an Internet service node, a long distance telephony service node, a local telephony service node, and a video service node.

Claim 5

The wide area communication network according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of said at least two remote sites comprise: an outdoor unit, said outdoor unit including a radio transceiver operatively coupled to an antenna; a plurality of indoor units, said indoor units being operatively coupled to a plurality of customer premises equipment; and an interfacility link, said interfacility link coupling said outdoor unit to said plurality of indoor units, whereby said radio transceiver supports a plurality of said customer premises equipment.

Claim 6

The wide area network according to claim 4 , further comprising means for statistical multiplexing use of said radio transceiver among said plurality of customer premises equipment.

Claim 7

The wide area network according to claim 4 , wherein said indoor units comprise: a chassis, said chassis having receiving means for a plurality of line cards; and a line card, said line card providing a service specific interface between said chassis and a customer premise equipment.

Claim 8

The wide area network according to claim 6 , wherein said line card can support an additional indoor unit in a daisy chain configuration.

Claim 9

The wide area network according to claim 4 , wherein said interfacility link is a fiber link.

Claim 10

The wide area network according to claim 4 , wherein said at least one remote site is located at a multi story dwelling and an indoor unit is installed on a plurality of floors of the dwelling.

Claim 11

The wide area network according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of said at least two remote sites comprise an integrated unit providing selected services to customer premises equipment.

Claim 12

The wide area communication network according to claim 1 , further comprising at least a third radio unit operating on a third selectable frequency, said third radio unit providing further coverage in one of said first and second sectors, said means for selecting further selecting said third selectable frequency such that said first, second and third selectable frequencies are substantially different.

Claim 13

The wide area communication network according to claim 1 , wherein said hub site includes a plurality of adjacent and non-adjacent sectors and wherein said means for frequency selecting reuses said available frequencies on said non-adjacent sectors.

Claim 14

The wide area communication network according to claim 1 , wherein said communication backbone and said broadband wireless system each support a packet based data transfer protocol.

Claim 15

The wide area communication network according to claim 13 , wherein said packet based transfer protocol is Asynchronous Transfer Mode.

Claim 16

The wide area communication network according to claim 13 , wherein said packet based transfer protocol for backbone to hub site communication includes both Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and Synchronous Transfer Mode.

Claim 17

The wide area communication network according to claim 15 , wherein said ATM packets include a header portion and a payload portion, said header portion including a quality of service parameter and wherein said network further comprises means for allocating system bandwidth based on said quality of service parameter.

Claim 18

A broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network providing fixed broadband wireless local access comprising: a plurality of subscribers, said subscribers including a subscriber radio unit, said subscriber radio unit operating on a frequency corresponding to a cell sector in which said subscriber resides, at least one of said subscribers having a plurality of associated customer premise equipment and including means for performing statistical multiplexing among said customer premise equipment and said radio unit; a plurality of hub sites, said hub sites being interconnected by a Sonet based backbone; said hub sites including a plurality of hub site radio units, said hub site radio units operating on a selectable frequency with at least one radio unit corresponding to a cell sector, said plurality of hub sites including means for dynamically allocating communication bandwidth among a plurality of subscribers within each said corresponding cell sector; a plurality of value added service nodes, said service nodes being coupled to said backbone, said subscribers accessing said value added service nodes through said hub sites and said backbone; and a central operations node, said central operations node being connected to each of said hub sites by a control network and providing remote control of said hub sites and remote control of said subscriber access to said service nodes.

Claim 19

A broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network providing fixed broadband wireless local access comprising: a plurality of subscribers, said subscribers including a subscriber radio unit, said subscriber radio unit operating on a frequency corresponding to a cell sector in which said subscriber resides, at least one of said subscribers having a plurality of associated customer premise equipment and including means for performing statistical multiplexing among said customer premise equipment and said radio unit; a plurality of hub sites, said hub sites being interconnected by a Sonet based backbone; said hub sites including a plurality of hub site radio units, said hub site radio units operating on a selectable frequency with at least one radio unit corresponding to a cell sector, said plurality of hub sites including means for dynamically allocating communication bandwidth among a plurality of subscribers within each said corresponding cell sector; a plurality of value added service nodes, said service nodes being coupled to said backbone, said subscribers accessing said value added service nodes through said hub sites and said backbone; and a central operations node, said central operations node being connected to each of said hub sites by a control network and providing remote control of said hub sites and remote control of said subscriber access to said service nodes.

Claim 20

The broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network according to claim 17 , wherein said plurality of value added service nodes include at least one of an Internet service node, a long distance telephony service node, a local telephony service node, and a video service node.

Claim 21

The broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network according to claim 17 , wherein said at least one of said plurality of subscribers comprise: an outdoor unit, said outdoor unit including a radio transceiver operatively coupled to an antenna; a plurality of indoor units, said indoor units being operatively coupled to a plurality of customer premises equipment; and an interfacility link, said interfacility link coupling said outdoor unit to said plurality of indoor units, whereby said radio transceiver supports said plurality of said customer premises equipment.

Claim 22

The broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network according to claim 19 , wherein said indoor units further comprise: a chassis, said chassis having receiving means for a plurality of line cards; and a line card, said line card providing a service specific interface between said chassis and at least one of said plurality of customer premises equipment.

Claim 23

The broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network according to claim 20 , wherein said interfacility link is a fiber link.

Claim 24

The broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network according to claim 19 , wherein said at least one subscriber is located at a multi story dwelling and at least one of said plurality of indoor units is installed at a plurality of floors of the dwelling.

Claim 25

The broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network according to claim 17 , wherein at least one of said subscribers is an integrated subscriber unit providing a selected service to customer premise equipment.

Claim 26

The broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network according to claim 17 , wherein said plurality of hub radio units at each said hub site comprise: a first sector radio unit operating on a first selectable frequency and providing coverage in a first cell sector; a second sector radio unit operating on a second selectable frequency and providing coverage in a second cell sector, said second cell sector being substantially adjacent to said first cell sector; and means for frequency selecting said first selectable frequency and said second selectable frequency from a plurality of available frequencies such that said first and second selectable frequencies are substantially separated thereby minimizing co-channel interference.

Claim 27

The broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network according to claim 24 , wherein said plurality of hub radio units further comprise at least a third radio unit operating on a third selectable frequency, said third radio unit providing further coverage in one of said first and second sectors, said means for selecting further selecting said third selectable frequency such that said first, second and third selectable frequencies are substantially different.

Claim 28

The broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network according to claim 24 , wherein each said hub site covers a plurality of adjacent and non-adjacent sectors and wherein said means for frequency selecting reuses said available frequencies on said non-adjacent sectors.

Claim 29

The broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network according to claim 17 , wherein said backbone, said subscriber radio unit and said hub radio units each support a packet based data transfer protocol.

Claim 30

The broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network according to claim 27 , wherein said packet based transfer protocol is Asynchronous Transfer Mode.

Claim 31

The broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network according to claim 27 , wherein said packet based transfer protocol for hub to backbone communication includes both Asynchronous Transfer Mode and Synchronous Transfer Mode.

Claim 32

The broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network according to claim 7 , wherein said subscriber radio units and said hub radio units transfer data on a frequency channel using high order modulation.

Claim 33

The broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network according to claim 30 , wherein said high order modulation is one of 16 QAM and 64 QAM.

Claim 34

The broadband local metropolitan area telecommunication network according to claim 28 , wherein said central operations node includes means for collecting packet quality and packet volume data related to said subscribers, said data being provided to a billing system.