US Patent 6961335 Multi-layer ring architecture for fiber-to-the-home telco carrier network

A communications network, for example forming a local exchange carrier telephone network, utilizes three layers of fiber optic rings. The point of demarcation between customer premises media and network media comprises an intelligent soft network interface device or “soft NID”. First layer rings carry telephone and data communications between the soft NIDs and remote terminals. Several remote terminals in an area communicate via one of the next higher level rings to a host digital terminal. The host digital terminals communicate with each other via a backbone optical fiber ring, and a media gateway controller on this ring provides high level service logic. The remote terminals and preferably the host digital terminals are service switching points (SSPs), for intelligent services provided by the network. Local legacy switches connect to remote terminals, whereas a router on the backbone provides communications to other networks, including legacy long distance networks.