Telephone technician's remote assist apparatus and method

Details Telephone technician's remote assist apparatus and method Telephone technician's remote assist apparatus and method

1999-07-13

2001-03-13

Woo, Stella (Department: 2643)

Telephonic communications

Diagnostic testing, malfunction indication, or electrical...

Using portable test set

C379S022000, C379S026020, C379S029010

Reexamination Certificate

active

06201853

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to apparatus and methods used by telephone technicians in testing and repairing telephone lines in the field. The invention relates more particularly to remote assist apparatus and methods that enable a telephone technician to control a junction in a telephone line from a remote location along the line.
A telephone line, as that term is used in this description and the following claims, includes a pair of wires in which one wire is referred to as the tip wire or side and the other as the ring wire or side (this terminology is used throughout the following description and claims and encompasses other terms that may be used in the industry; for example, “tip” encompasses the European “A” or “A side” and “ring” encompasses the European “B” or “B side”). These wires are typically individually insulated but twisted together to form a conventional twisted pair telephone line. Such a telephone line extends between a central office and a subscriber as illustrated in FIG.
1
.
At least some segments of a typical telephone line are in respective cables that include other twisted wire pairs. Such cables also have outer shields that are earth grounded when the cables are installed. Referring to
FIG. 1
, an underground feeder cable
2
extends from a main distribution frame
4
connected to class
5
switching equipment
6
in a central office
8
. The cable
2
has several twisted wire pairs, each defining a segment of a respective telephone line. Each of these segments terminates in the illustrated cross-connect box
12
in the field, such as may be located at a residential neighborhood. These can be connected at the cross-connect box
12
to other respective twisted wire pairs defining other segments of the telephone lines. In
FIG. 1
these other segments are within a distribution cable
14
that extends from the junction in the cross-connect box into the neighborhood in this example. One or more such segments can end, for example, at a pedestal or aerial terminal box
16
. A further segment of a respective twisted pair telephone line is a drop cable
18
extending from the junction at the pedestal or aerial terminal box
16
to a residential network interface box
20
at the subscriber site, such as house
22
. The length of such a telephone line can be from several hundred feet to a few miles, for example.
When a subscriber reports a problem with his or her telephone service, the local telephone company performs tests on the circuit. Some of these tests may be internal, that is, from the central office or further upstream away from the telephone line extending into the field described above. Some tests, however, may need to be performed in the field along the telephone line. To make such field tests, a telephone technician works with the segments to try to determine which, if any, segment is causing the problem. For example, the technician might drive to the cross-connect box, disconnect the junction formed there between the respective telephone line segment in the feeder cable and the respective telephone line segment in the distribution cable, and perform tests on the segment directed toward the central office side and on the segment directed toward the subscriber side. These tests are well-known in the industry and can include forming different terminations on the tip and ring wires of the respective segment (e.g., grounding the tip and ring wires or shorting the tip and ring wires together). Some such testing can be performed with the technician's conventional butt-set; more extensive testing can be performed with other known test devices. One such device is marketed under the trademark “PairChek” by Communications Manufacturing Company of Los Angeles, Calif.
If the problem is in the portion of the telephone line extending between the cross-connect box and the subscriber in the example of
FIG. 1
, the technician will want to continue testing in segments to isolate the source of the problem. To test the segment between the cross-connect box and the pedestal or aerial terminal box, the technician can configure the cross-connect box end of the respective segment, drive to the pedestal or aerial location, perform the test from that end, return to the cross-connect box, and repeat the process for whatever tests and different configurations are needed. This, obviously, is very time consuming and costly. It can also leave the subscriber disconnected for extended periods. One way to reduce the time is to use a second technician so that one can work at each end of a segment; however, this is costly and requires good communication between the two technicians. Another way to reduce both the time and cost is to use an electronic apparatus at the end of any segment opposite the technician, which apparatus communicates with a test device used by the technician at his or her end of the segment.
One such electronic apparatus is the SmartStrap® cable test/remote strapping device from Communications Technology Corporation of Madison, Ala. This device connects to one end of a segment of a tip and ring wire pair and to a second telephone line over which control signals can be received. Despite this device, there is the need for a telephone technician's remote assist apparatus and method for use in testing a telephone line that enable both control and testing to occur over the same telephone line. This need is imperative in some environments, such as for a rural subscriber where only a single pair of wires is available. There is also the need for specialized control signal encoding whereby other automated response features connected to the telephone line are not activated by the control signals for the remote assist apparatus or method. Yet another need is for automated (i.e., without further external control) restoration of the telephone line so that the subscriber is not left disconnected once a test is completed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention meets the aforementioned needs by providing a novel and improved telephone technician's remote assist apparatus and method for use in testing a telephone line. This includes a method of controlling a telephone line connection from a remote location. In one aspect, the present invention operates over a single telephone line with a specialized control signal encoding that does not activate currently existing features of at least conventional U.S. telephone systems. The present invention preferably also automatically restores the telephone line within a predetermined time after a test is commenced. Circuitry for the safety of personnel is included in a particular implementation described below.
In the following, “central office” and “subscriber” are used as adjectives to define respective directions or sides unless their contexts indicate otherwise (e.g., “central office” used alone would designate a central office within the telephone system). “Switch” is used in its sense of one or more components which can be controlled to open or close an electrical circuit or path (without limiting the term “switch,” other related telephone terminology includes “key,” “test relay” and “test matrix”).
A telephone technician's remote assist apparatus of the present invention comprises a central office side connector to connect to a pair of wires extending as a central office side of a telephone line. The apparatus also comprises a subscriber side connector to connect to a pair of wires extending as a subscriber side of the telephone line. A switch connects to the central office side connector and to the subscriber side connector. The switch is operable at least between (1) a state in which the central office side connector and the subscriber side connector are connected by the switch such that the pair of wires extending as the central office side of the telephone line is connected to the pair of wires extending as the subscriber side of the telephone line when each said pair is connected to the respective connector and (2) a state in which the central office side connector an

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