Method and apparatus for crossconnecting transmission members in the outside distribution plant of a telecommunications network for providing access to customer lines to a plurality of service providers

摘要

The outside distribution plant of the invention consists of a remote terminal such as a digital loop carrier, broadband distribution element or the like that receives telecommunications signals from a switching system or other network element. The signals are delivered to a variety of different types of line cards where each of the different types of line cards provide a different type of telecommunications service as is known in the prior art. Connection lines emanating from the line cards are connected to the inputs of a remotely controlled crossbar array where the inputs of the array can be selectively connected to the outputs of the crossbar array. The outputs of the crossbar array are connected to distribution lines that terminate at one of a plurality of feeder distribution interfaces that connect to customer lines that terminate at customer premise equipment. The crossbar array serves as the access point for competitive service providers. Specifically, distribution lines from competitive service providers are connected to the inputs of the crossbar array. Those distribution lines can then be connected to any feeder distribution interface to provide competitive service to any customer hosted by the feeder distribution interfaces under the control of an OAM & P system. Thus, the elements of the outside distribution plant that provide the connection to every customer premise do not have to be duplicated and access is provided to any potential customer hosted by those elements.