Data processing: measuring – calibrating – or testing – Measurement system – Orientation or position
Reexamination Certificate
2003-03-04
2004-06-08
Barlow, John (Department: 2863)
Data processing: measuring, calibrating, or testing
Measurement system
Orientation or position
C342S357490
Reexamination Certificate
active
06748340
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cable position information management system, a cable position information management method, and a cable position information management program, which measure the position of a cable and manage the measurement information.
The present invention also relates to a facility information management server and a facility information management program, capable of managing visually in an integrated manner information on facilities which exist in a number of locations as information managed by individual facility managers, and relates specifically to technology which enables the use of such facility information over a network, using wireless communication terminals such as PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) and mobile telephones.
The present invention also relates to a cable core wire management system, a cable core wire management method and a cable core wire management program, which assign identification codes to optical fibers and the like, and manage the related facility information and work information in a database in a linked manner, to yield an improvement in construction efficiency and quality.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a buried cable surveying method described below is employed, to determine the cable type and installation conditions, and the like, and detect the position and depth at which buried transmission cables are laid.
First, a weak alternating magnetic field originating from an underground cable is measured from above the surface by a cable position measurement device which measures magnetic fields. Next, the distance from the point of measurement to the position of the cable is calculated based on these magnetic field measurement results (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2001-356177). The distance is then measured several times nearby the point of measurement, and the cable is determined to be lie directly beneath the point of measurement where the calculated distance is the shortest.
However, in order to perform cable position measurement efficiently, it is necessary to predict to a certain extent the point of measurement where measurement should next be performed, based on the cable position information determined to be the position where the cable is buried, and then perform the next measurement. However, in order to perform such a prediction at a measurement location, it is necessary for a person to determine empirically the vicinity from which measurement should next commence in order to narrow down the position of the cable, based on the measured numerical results.
Furthermore, when displaying over a map the route on which the cable is laid based on this cable position information, even though it is possible to know roughly the latitude and longitude information of the points of measurement determined to be directly above the cable position by viewing the map or the like, accurate latitude and longitude information cannot be obtained. Consequently, it was not possible to display an accurate position upon a map.
On one hand, conventionally as a system to reduce the costs involved in performing management duties, when there is a limited number of facilities to be managed, then for example instead of having custodians or the like stationed permanently at a plurality of buildings, remote management is often performed to reduce the management costs and the like of a building. This remote management is realized by a supervisor and a building side operator communicating with each other via a network, and by the supervisor performing management duties based on images taken by a CCD camera installed at the building (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-133559, for example).
When the facilities to be managed are provided in a plurality of locations spread over a wide area, facility management is performed based on drawing information such as facility record drawings, or character based databases.
However, in such cases as the facility management of optical transmission lines, the object of management is often widely spread and complicated.
For example, here we assume that road works are to be performed in the vicinity of an optical transmission line held by our company, and it is therefore necessary to determine the possibility of disruption of the optical transmission line (disruption determination). In such a case, because the on-site facility information is often managed based on different management systems, vast amounts of time are required to perform such tasks as verifying the on-site facility information (on-site verification), estimating the scale of the relocation construction operation when relocation is required (relocation determination), and planning the time of the switchover of the optical transmission line which accompanies the construction (construction determination). The costs involved in performing these determinations are specifically the labor costs involved in performing such tasks as the site verification, the disruption and relocation determination, construction determination, and the on-site direction, and the cause of the high cost is the fact that a plurality of personnel are involved in selecting the material on which to base their determinations, extracting the required material, and making their determination.
Furthermore, conventionally, drawing information such as facility record drawings, and character based databases are created manually, which entails a certain probability of human error, and as such the content thereof will differ from the state of the site. Consequently, the determinations above are performed based on drawing information which is created manually and therefore contains errors, sometimes in later steps work must be redone.
Moreover, in order to make the determinations under a variety of conditions using drawing information such as facility record drawings and character based databases, skill is required to interpret the drawings.
Furthermore, if a fault occurs such as the accidental severing of the optical transmission line, until now it was necessary to check drawings such as facility record drawings, bring the drawings to the site, and decide on the appropriate remedial measures while communicating with the contingency planning office.
On the other hand, because of the increase in scale of optical fiber networks, there is a need for an improvement in efficiency and quality of construction in the areas of the laying of optical fiber, and fault recovery. In order to realize an improvement in efficiency and quality of construction during the optical fiber core wire switching work which accompanies construction to lay optical fiber and the like, it is necessary to identify with greater accuracy and efficiency the core wire which is scheduled to be worked on from many similar optical fibers.
Conventionally, a method in which sheets on which are printed codes to which identification symbols arc assigned covers the optical fiber core wire, and these codes are read by a pen type code reader, is proposed as a technique for identifying mechanically the optical fiber core wire (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Applications, First Publication Nos. 2001-57683, Hei 11-295566, and Hei 9-184949). This method allows the identification of similar optical fiber core wires with very high accuracy.
However, when actually performing the work at the work site, the checking of work content which tells from which connector to which connector the identified core wire should be connected is not supported mechanically, and when incidents such as checking errors of the work content and the like caused by human error occur, they are likely to cause serious problems with regard to the reliability of the optical network.
Furthermore, conventionally, a scheme for linking mechanically the identification information assigned to the codes, the core wire information in the administration databases and the work information does not exist, and the keeping of work records a
Hidaka Kazutoshi
Kawagoe Noriyuki
Mori Jiro
Nishiwaki Ken
Otsuki Kazuhiro
Barlow John
NTT Infrastructure Network Corporation
Vo Hien
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