tapping

[forwarded from elsewhere]
> 
> [From Data Communications, January 1993]
> 
> INVENTION CUTS CABLING TIES
> 
> An inventor working from a garden shed in the U.K. has come up with a device
> that enables PCs and other LAN equipment to send and receive data through
> the plastic outer jacket of copper LAN cabling-- without piercing the
> cabling.  Called the Watsonlinc Cable Coupling Transformer, the device
> allows users to attach LAN equipment at any point in a network without going
> through time-consuming and costly cable attachment procedures.  The
> Watsonlinc, which must be placed directly next to a cable's outer jacket,
> uses a proprietary technique to reduce noise interference while picking up
> and transmitting data signals.  Watsonlinc-equipped network interface cards
> (NICs) will appear in the next 12 months, according to inventor Mike Watson
> (Walton-on-Thames, U.K.), who says the device's production cost of about $5
> per unit will not significantly increase NIC sticker prices.  The Watsonlinc
> works with both shielded and unshielded twisted-pair copper cabling, is
> small enough to fit on laptop PC internal adapters, and is capable of
> handling all common LAN speeds, Watson says.  The internationally patented
> invention works just as well with voice signals.  Predictably, it already
> has been licensed for use in telephone surveillance equipment.
> 
>

> 
> 
> [forwarded from elsewhere]
> > 
> > [From Data Communications, January 1993]
> > 
> > INVENTION CUTS CABLING TIES
> > 
> > An inventor working from a garden shed in the U.K. has come up with a device
> > that enables PCs and other LAN equipment to send and receive data through
> > the plastic outer jacket of copper LAN cabling-- without piercing the
> > cabling.  Called the Watsonlinc Cable Coupling Transformer, the device
> > allows users to attach LAN equipment at any point in a network without going
> > through time-consuming and costly cable attachment procedures.  The
> > Watsonlinc, which must be placed directly next to a cable's outer jacket,
> > uses a proprietary technique to reduce noise interference while picking up
> > and transmitting data signals.  Watsonlinc-equipped network interface cards
> > (NICs) will appear in the next 12 months, according to inventor Mike Watson
> > (Walton-on-Thames, U.K.), who says the device's production cost of about $5
> > per unit will not significantly increase NIC sticker prices.  The Watsonlinc
> > works with both shielded and unshielded twisted-pair copper cabling, is
> > small enough to fit on laptop PC internal adapters, and is capable of
> > handling all common LAN speeds, Watson says.  The internationally patented
> > invention works just as well with voice signals.  Predictably, it already
> > has been licensed for use in telephone surveillance equipment.
> > 
> > 
> 
> 

Mike Watson rediscovers inductance, and the inductive tap.
Film at 11.

Phiber Optik writes:
> 
> > 
> > 
> > [forwarded from elsewhere]
> > > 
> > > [From Data Communications, January 1993]
> > > 
> > > INVENTION CUTS CABLING TIES

[stuff deleted]

> > > 
> > > works with both shielded and unshielded twisted-pair copper cabling, is
> > > small enough to fit on laptop PC internal adapters, and is capable of
> > > handling all common LAN speeds, Watson says.  The internationally patented
> > > invention works just as well with voice signals.  Predictably, it already
> > > has been licensed for use in telephone surveillance equipment.
> > > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> Mike Watson rediscovers inductance, and the inductive tap.
> Film at 11.

And patents it!  Gee, I wonder if I patent the RF transmittion, and start
charging licensing fees like Watson does with inductance.  Hell, some guy
has a patent on using XOR in making inverse cursors on CRTs. 

Thug

>> > uses a proprietary technique to reduce noise interference while picking up
>> > and transmitting data signals.  

>> > works with both shielded and unshielded twisted-pair copper cabling, is
>> > small enough to fit on laptop PC internal adapters, 

Phiber writes:
>Mike Watson rediscovers inductance, and the inductive tap.
>Film at 11.

Don't be so dismissive.  There is something interesting going on here,
even if it's not very complex.  This thing works with _shielded_ pair.
With twisted pair to begin with, you largely attenuate the inductive
signal.  (A very short lesson in physics: Current generates magnetic
fields.  Opposite travelling currents generate cancelling fields.
Fields do not completely cancel because the wires are not in exactly
the same place.)  Shielding a twisted pair further attenuates a
signal.

It sounds to me like it's an inductive tap with some sort of phase
locking built into it.  By the mentioning networks, it indicates to me
a digital signal.  I doubt this thing would tap a POTS line carrying
voice.

Eric