Importance

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Abstract

An interactive cable television system for serving a plurality of user locations in a service area divided into a plurality of service regions, including a central office and a service network having a portion composed of parallel cables arranged in a tree pattern possessing a plurality of nodes remote from the user locations and, in the vicinity of the users, a further portion representing the lowermost plane of the network and composed of transmission cables connected to groups of user locations, the transmission cables being connected to each group in a star pattern, the system presenting a plurality of transmission paths and permitting multiple utilization of the paths, the parallel cables of the first mentioned portion of the network being connected in each service region in a tree structure extending from one node toward the user locations and being constituted by two parallel autonomous sets of cables, thus representing medium planes of the network, the network further including, in each service region, a plurality of junction devices each connected to the parallel autonomous sets of cables at the end in the vicinity of the users and to the transmission cables of a respective group of user locations and in the uppermost plane of the network, a first connecting cable which is common to all nodes and connected between the central office and all nodes in a tree structure, the first cable being connected at the nodes to one of the sets of cables, and second connecting cables connected to the central office in a star structure and independently of one another and of the first connecting cable, each second connecting cable being connected at a respective node to a portion of the other set of parallel cables associated with a respective service region.

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First Claim