Telephonic communications – Telephone line or system combined with diverse electrical... – Remote indication over telephone line
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-09
2001-07-17
Matar, Ahmad (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Telephone line or system combined with diverse electrical...
Remote indication over telephone line
C379S102010, C379S102020, C379S106030, C379S106080, C379S106090
Reexamination Certificate
active
06263055
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to subscriber line access systems and, in particular, to a system that provides a service provider with access to a selected subscriber line via a suppressed ringing connection to enable the service provider to obtain data indicative of the usage parameters of selected customer premise equipment connected to the subscriber line and, in particular, to detect usage anomalies of the customer premise equipment.
PROBLEM
It is a problem in the field of telemetry monitoring for the telemetry service provider to determine the operational status of the customer premise equipment that is connected to the subscriber line. In telemetry applications, the telemetry equipment to be polled typically resides at the customer premises, such as a residence. The telemetry equipment can comprise utility meters, appliance controllers, medical monitoring equipment, security systems, telephone line test apparatus, and the like. The telemetry equipment is typically connected via the telephone company network interface unit to the serving subscriber line in a manner similar to an extension telephone.
The telemetry service provider access to the telemetry equipment is effected by the use of a Central Office Service Unit (COSU) that is connected to the serving central office switch via a plurality of dedicated Utility Telemetry Trunks (UTTs) or other network connection mechanism, such as a T
1
or PRI link from the telemetry service provider. In operation, the telemetry application user, such as a utility company, dials or is directly connected to the Central Office Service Unit that functions to connect the telemetry applications user via one of the dedicated Utility Telemetry Trunks to the serving central office switch, which then provides a suppressed ringing connection to the selected subscriber line. The telemetry applications controller collects data from the polled telemetry equipment. The telemetry equipment is programmed to read usage data, transmit this data to the telemetry applications controller and then return on-hook, thereby terminating the call connection which immediately drops the trunk connection. The serving central office switch is programmed to set call connection duration timers to ensure that the suppressed ringing call does not last for more than a few seconds, thereby avoiding the possibility of “hung lines” due to a fault condition.
In this method of polling the telemetry equipment, at least two successive suppressed ringing connections must be made to determine whether there is an out of service condition in the telemetry equipment or the apparatus that the telemetry equipment serves. For example, a loss of electrical service at the customer premise is typically determined by measuring the difference between at least two readings of electricity usage, that are successively taken over a period of time. A measurable difference in the successive usage readings of expected magnitude indicates uninterrupted service. The absence of any change in the usage reading, or anomalies in the usage readings indicates a loss of service or a trouble condition, respectively. However, the need to take such successive readings at each subscriber line significantly increases the traffic, in terms of the network connections required, in the serving central office. These additional call connections add significant overhead in terms of call setup processing and significantly reduce the capacity of a trunk to handle telemetry calls. Multiple calls also run the risk of having the subscriber line in use, therefore requiring additional delay in the execution of the task.
SOLUTION
The above-described problems are solved and a technical advance achieved in the field by the system for suppressed ringing access to a subscriber line to detect usage anomalies in the telemetry equipment that is connected to this subscriber line (termed “usage detection system” herein). This usage detection system establishes a suppressed ringing connection to the subscriber line for either a predetermined extended time interval to enable at least two successive usage readings to be taken, or for a duration as determined by the telemetry equipment to perform the necessary usage readings to detect the presence of usage anomalies in real time.
This usage detection system communicates with the serving central office to establish a suppressed ringing connection, the duration of which is either under the control of the usage detection system or the telemetry equipment located at the customer premises. The usage detection system communicates with the telemetry equipment to identify the usage measurements that are desired. The parameters that are passed by the usage detection system to the telemetry equipment can include: identification of the telemetry equipment to be tested, number of successive usage readings, time interval between usage readings, anticipated usage rate, duration of usage measurement interval, return to service actions. This communication enables the telemetry equipment to actively perform the usage measurements without the intimate involvement of the usage detection system and within the single call connection. This significantly reduces the number of call connections that are required to perform usage detection tests and, by using the ability to empower the telemetry equipment to make the initial determination, minimize the connect time required for each call connection.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5204896 (1993-04-01), Oliver
patent: 5243644 (1993-09-01), Garland et al.
patent: 5359641 (1994-10-01), Schull et al.
patent: 5369690 (1994-11-01), Comfort
patent: 5825849 (1998-10-01), Garland et al.
patent: 6038297 (2000-03-01), Garland et al.
Garland Stuart M.
Smith David B.
Smith Matthew Richard
Bui Bing
Duft, Graziano & Forest, P.C
Lucent Technologies - Inc.
Matar Ahmad
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