METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING COMBINED BI-DIRECTIONAL AND BROADCAST SERVICES WITHIN AN OPTICAL FIBRE ACCESS NETWORK

A METHOD (300) AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A BROADCAST SERVICE AND A BI-DIRECTIONAL DATA SERVICE TO AT LEAST ONE USER OF AN OPTICAL FIBRE ACCESS NETWORK (200). THE METHOD INCLUDES COMBINING (302) A BI-DIRECTIONAL DATA SIGNAL (215) CARRIED ON A FIRST OPTICAL WAVELENGTH WITH A BROADCAST SIGNAL (210) CARRIED ON A SECOND OPTICAL WAVELENGTH. THE COMBINED BI-DIRECTIONAL DATA SIGNAL AND BROADCAST SIGNAL ARE TRANSMITTED (304) THROUGH A SINGLE OPTICAL FIBRE CONNECTION (106). THE SIGNALS CARRIED ON SAID FIRST AND SECOND OPTICAL WAVELENGTHS ARE DIVIDED (306) ONTO SEPARATE OPTICAL PATHS, AND THE BI-DIRECTIONAL DATA SIGNAL (218, 220) IS PROVIDED (308) TO THE USER AT A FIRST ACCESS INTERFACE, AND THE BROADCAST SIGNAL (222) IS PROVIDED TO THE USER AT A SECOND ACCESS INTERFACE. THE APPARATUS INCLUDES A MULTIPLEXING UNIT (202) ARRANGED TO COMBINE THE BI-DIRECTIONAL DATA SIGNAL (204, 206) WITH THE BROADCAST SIGNAL (210), AND A CUSTOMER ACCESS UNIT (108) ARRANGED TO SEPARATE THE COMBINED BI-DIRECTIONAL DATA SIGNAL AND BROADCAST SIGNAL. A SINGLE OPTICAL FIBRE CONNECTION (106) IS DISPOSED BETWEEN THE MULTIPLEXING UNIT AND THE CUSTOMER ACCESS UNIT, THEREBY IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF UTILISATION OF RESOURCES WITHIN AN OPTICAL ACCESS NETWORK BY REDUCING THE NUMBER OF FIBRE CONNECTIONS REQUIRED.