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Telecommunications

Patent Issued for Universal Bracket for Mounting a Drop Terminal

2012 JUL 25 (VerticalNews) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Telecommunications Weekly -- ADC Telecommunications, Inc. (Eden Prairie, MN) has been issued patent number 8218935, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by VerticalNews editors.

The patent's inventors are Reagan, Randy (Morristown, NJ); Cobb, III, John Clifton (Fitchburg, MA).

This patent was filed on October 22, 2010 and was cleared and issued on July 10, 2012.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: "Passive optical networks are becoming prevalent in part because service providers want to deliver high bandwidth communication capabilities to customers. Passive optical networks are a desirable choice for delivering high-speed communication data because they may not employ active electronic devices, such as amplifiers and repeaters, between a central office and a subscriber termination. The absence of active electronic devices may decrease network complexity and/or cost and may increase network reliability.

"FIG. 1 illustrates a network 100 deploying passive fiber optic lines. As shown in FIG. 1, the network 100 may include a central office 110 that connects a number of end subscribers 115 (also called end users 115 herein) in a network. The central office 110 may additionally connect to a larger network such as the Internet (not shown) and a public switched telephone network (PSTN). The network 100 may also include fiber distribution hubs (FDHs) 130 having one or more optical splitters (e.g., 1-to-8 splitters, 1-to-16 splitters, or 1-to-32 splitters) that generate a number of individual fibers that may lead to the premises of an end user 115. The various lines of the network can be aerial or housed within underground conduits (e.g., see conduit 105).

"The portion of network 100 that is closest to central office 110 is generally referred to as the F1 region, where F1 is the 'feeder fiber' from the central office. The F1 portion of the network may include a distribution cable having on the order of 12 to 48 fibers; however, alternative implementations may include fewer or more fibers. The portion of network 100 that includes an FDH 130 and a number of end users 115 may be referred to as an F2 portion of network 100. Splitters used in an FDH 130 may accept a feeder cable having a number of fibers and may split those incoming fibers into, for example, 216 to 432 individual distribution fibers that may be associated with a like number of end user locations.

"Referring to FIG. 1, the network 100 includes a plurality of breakout locations 125 at which branch cables (e.g., drop cables, stub cables, etc.) are separated out from main cables (e.g., distribution cables). Breakout locations can also be referred to as tap locations or branch locations and branch cables can also be referred to as breakout cables. At a breakout location, fibers of the branch cables are typically spliced to selected fibers of the main cable. However, for certain applications, the interface between the fibers of the main cable and the fibers of the branch cables can be connectorized.

"Stub cables are typically branch cables that are routed from breakout locations to intermediate access locations such as a pedestals, drop terminals or hubs. Intermediate access locations can provide connector interfaces located between breakout locations and subscriber locations. A drop cable is a cable that typically forms the last leg to a subscriber location. For example, drop cables are routed from intermediate access locations to subscriber locations. Drop cables can also be routed directly from breakout locations to subscriber locations hereby bypassing any intermediate access locations

"FIG. 1 shows several branch cables routed to drop terminals 104. Drop terminals can be mounted on a variety of different structures. For example, a typical drop terminal may be mounted to a pole, a strand (e.g., a fiber optic cable or a copper cable) or inside a hand hole. A typical practice in the field for installation of a drop terminal involves mounting the terminal to a mounting structure using fasteners that extend through-holes integrally formed in the housing of the drop terminal. This practice may involve the use of tools such as hammers that can damage the drop terminal. For example, the drop terminal may be cracked thereby providing a location for water intrusion. Also, fiber optics mounted to the terminal may be damaged thereby rendering the terminal inoperative.

"It is also common for an installer to use a bracket to mount a drop terminal to a given structure. Typically, separate, specialized brackets are used for each mounting application. For example, a first type of bracket may be used for a pole mount configuration, a second bracket may be used for a strand mount configuration, and multiple other brackets may be used for a hand hole mount. The use of multiple brackets for different mounting configurations is expensive and requires an installer to maintain a relatively large stock of brackets in his or her truck."

Supplementing the background information on this patent, VerticalNews reporters also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent: "The present disclosure relates to a drop terminal mounting system including a universal bracket adapted to be mounted to a variety of different structures such as a pole, a strand or inside a hand hole. The universal bracket includes a cradle for receiving the drop terminal. In one embodiment, the drop terminal is retained in the cradle by a snap-fit connection. In use, the bracket is initially mounted to the structure to which it is desired to secure the drop terminal. Thereafter, the drop terminal is mounted in the bracket. In this manner, the risks associated with damaging the drop terminal during the mounting process are reduced.

"A variety of additional inventive aspects will be set forth in the description that follows. The inventive aspects can relate to individual features and to combinations of features. It is to be understood that both the forgoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the broad inventive concepts upon which the embodiments disclosed herein are based."

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Reagan, Randy; Cobb, III, John Clifton. Universal Bracket for Mounting a Drop Terminal. U.S. Patent Number 8218935, filed October 22, 2010, and issued July 10, 2012. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=32&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1551&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=20120710.PD.&OS=ISD/20120710&RS=ISD/20120710

Keywords for this news article include: Fiber Optic Network, ADC Telecommunications Inc..