Google has developed a fibre optic cable deployment method that could allow for FTTH (fibre-to-the-home) connections without having to dig trenches in the yards of subscribers, according to a patent application discovered by FierceCable.
Rather than bury cables in the ground or feed them through ducts, Google has developed a narrow “edging strip” that would conceal fibre along the driveway or pavement from the cabinets on the street. The new “edging device” could be used to connect homes to Google’s super-fast 1GB network in Kansas and Missouri.
The patent application calls the invention “a low-impact, convenient, time-efficient and cost-saving optical fibre deployment technology” and includes the design for the specific device used to lay the strip. The machine will be able to lay down the complete strip or just the empty tubing, with air blown optical fibre installed later. The tubing will also be able to accommodate coaxial or electric cables.
The new installation method should also be aesthetically pleasing: “The edging device may have decorative colour or pattern on the outside surface for aesthetic purposes,” states the application. It even suggests that different styles of coatings might be sold to especially picky customers.
According to FierceCable, the edging strips would be five to seven centimetres (2 – 2.8 inches) wide, and one to five millimeters (0.04 – 0.2 inch) thick, depending upon the number of cables they contain. The edging strips could be pressed into the ground, placed into a slot that would be cut, or run along cracks in a driveway.
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There is nothing new about this at all from the information provided in the article. Loads of companies have such systems unless there is something remarkable about the machine. Sounds like an internal lawyer job justification exercise to me.