Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-12
2003-04-29
Kincaid, Kristine (Department: 2174)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
C345S215000, C345S215000, C345S215000, C345S215000, C345S215000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06556223
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
A) Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a communication test set and more particularly to a communication test set with a graphical user interface which can simultaneously present and update test results of a communication signal at multiple levels.
B) Description of Related Art
FIG. 1
shows a typical communication network
10
. The communication network
10
employs a variety of communication links
12
-
22
. Each of the communication links
12
-
22
can vary in type and design.
As is known in the art, the various types of communications links
12
-
22
enable communication according to a standardized communication protocol which allows the communications to occur at various levels, rates and formats. The standardized communication protocol, as defined on the date of this filing, is summarized below in the following table.
Type of
Communi-
Communication
cation
Communication
Communication
Link
Level
Rate
Format
Twisted Pair
DSO
64
kb/s
Copper Cable
Link
T1 Link
DS1
1.544
mb/s
24
DSO's
T3 Link
DS3
44.736
mb/s
28
DS1's
Electrical or Fiber
SONET
Up to 9.984
gb/s
Up to 192
DS3's
Optic Link
Referring to the table above and as is known in the art, each communication level groups a varying number of communications signals from the preceding level to increase the communication rate. For example, communications at the DS
1
level occurs by grouping 24 DS
1
signals into a standardized communication protocol to achieve transmission at higher communication rate. Similarly, communications at the DS
3
level occurs by grouping 28 DS
1
signals into a standardized communication protocol for transmission at even a higher communication rate. This procedure can repeat itself to ultimately allow for communications at the SONET level.
Whenever the communication network
10
is being installed, under maintenance or under repair, there exists a need to test the various communication links
12
-
22
. This testing process is typically conducted by field engineers with a device known as a communication test set.
FIG. 2
shows a conventional communication test set
30
which is used to test the communication links
12
-
22
contained within the communication network
10
. The communication test set
30
generally includes a set of transmit and receive ports
32
, a front panel of LED's
34
, and a touch screen graphical-user-interface (GUI)
36
.
The receive ports
32
are used to receive input signals from the communication links that will be tested. The receive ports
32
allow for the testing of two communication links simultaneously. The two signals received by the ports
32
from the two communication links are generally referred to as the primary signal and the secondary signal.
The front panel of LED's
34
provide immediate visual feedback on the status of a test. Green LED's indicate that the a signal is present and the communication test set is synchronized to a network. Red LED's indicate that errors and alarms have been detected by the communication test set
30
. The LED's also allow a user to monitor the progress of a test from a distance which in turn allows the engineer to perform other functions at the same time.
The touch screen GUI
36
contains a number of icons which, among other things, allow a user to view information related to the test results.
FIG. 3
show a conventional GUI
36
which displays information relating to the test results of the primary signal.
FIG. 4
shows a conventional GUI
36
which displays information relating to the test results of the secondary signal.
In the example shown in
FIG. 3
, the primary signal being tested is at the SONET level. Therefore, as described above, this signal will include groups of communications that are being processed at the lower levels (i.e., the DS
3
, DS
1
and DS
0
levels).
To allow the user to view the test results at both the SONET level and one of the lower levels, the conventional GUI
36
is split into two screens
40
and
42
. The first screen
40
displays the test results of the data communications occurring at the SONET level, whereas, the second screen
42
displays the test results of the data communications occurring at DS
3
communication level.
A similar test result occurs for the secondary signal being tested. In particular, in the example shown in
FIG. 4
, the secondary signal being tested is also at the SONET level. Therefore, To allow the user to view test results at both the SONET level and one of the lower levels, the conventional GUI
36
is split into two screens
44
and
46
. The first screen
44
displays the test results of the data communications occurring at the SONET level, whereas, the second screen
46
displays the test results of the data communications occurring at DS
3
communication level.
Although not shown in
FIGS. 3 and 4
, the conventional GUI
36
can be configured by a user to view any two levels of a communication. In particular, the GUI
36
shown in
FIGS. 3 and 4
can instead be configured to view the DS
3
and DS
1
levels simultaneously or, alternatively, the GUI
36
can be configured to view DS
1
and DS
0
simultaneously.
The conventional GUI
36
described above does, however, have significant drawbacks. In particular, the conventional GUI
36
only allows a user of the communication test set
10
to simultaneously view the test results of a signal at two levels.
This limitation is of particular significance when the communication is occurring at the SONET level and there are at least three lower levels of communication occurring that require testing. Thus, when a communication is occurring at the SONET level, the field test engineer has to reprogram the GUI
36
every time he or she wants to view more than two different levels of a communication. In view of this problem there currently exists a need for a communication test set with a GUI that will allow a user to simultaneously view the test results of a communication at multiple levels.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a communication test set that will allow a user to simultaneously view and update the test results of a communication at multiple levels.
It is another object of the invention to provide a communication test set that will allow a user to select, store and transfer the specific test results of the he or she wants to view at these levels.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a communication test set that will automatically configure the GUI to show the appropriate number of communication levels based on the number of communication levels contained within the input signal.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a communication test set that will use a GUI that color codes the those levels of a communication being tested to indicate that alarms and/or errors are occurring in the signal.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a programmable GUI is disclosed for use in a communication test set which conducts line tests at different communication levels for both a primary signal and a secondary signal. The GUI comprises: a first screen for displaying test results for a first communication level; a second screen for displaying test results for a second communication level; a third screen for displaying test results for a third communication level; and a fourth screen for displaying test results for a fourth communication level; wherein, the GUI simultaneously displays the first screen, second screen, third screen and fourth screen.
In accordance with another aspect of this embodiment of the invention, the first screen, second screen, third screen and fourth screen display test results for both the primary and secondary signal.
In accordance with still another aspect of this embodiment of the invention, the test results presented in the first screen represent one group of test results that are selected from a plurality of groups of test results.
In accordance with yet another aspect of this embodiment of the invention, the test re
Brozenick Chris F.
Tran Minh L.
Kincaid Kristine
Reed Smith LLP
Tran Mylinh T
TTC, a division of Dynatech, LLC
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