Ascertaining physical routing of cabling interconnects

• US 20090153321A1
• Filed: 12/18/2007
• Published: 06/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Nelson, Scott William, Lange, Andrew Snowden
• Granted Patent: US 7,696,879 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.100
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 15/00 Tags attached to, or associated with, an object, in order to enable detection of the object record carriers for use with machines having a detectable tag or marker G06K19/00

Abstract

In a communication network or networked system, cables that interconnect systems or parts of a system are provided with RFID tags embedded at periodic intervals along their lengths. A network of GPS-enabled RFID readers with triangulation capabilities enables the determination of the physical routing of cables within an area of interest. It also enables communication of the physical routing information to an operations support system for cable management.

Claims

1. A method of determining a physical routing of a cable for interconnecting communications systems, comprising:

reading information from RFID tags disposed at respective locations along the cable, the information including a cable identifier and a respective location identifier of a given RFID tag;

determining, for the information read from one or more RFID tags, a physical location of an RFID reader that read the information; and

associating, for one or more RFID tags, the location of the RFID tag with the physical location of the RFID reader that read the RFID tag, thereby determining the physical routing of the cable.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one location identifier specifies a distance from one end of the cable.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein a plurality of the respective locations of RFID tags are at periodic intervals along the cable.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one physical location of an RFID reader is fixed and determined from manually configured information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one physical location of an RFID reader is variable and is determined where the RFID tag was read.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the determination is made using a GPS unit.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one physical location corresponds to a cabling channel and a specific position therein.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one location identifier specifies a sequence number with respect to an adjacent RFID tag.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at two or more antenna of an RFID reader having a plurality of antenna, a signal from an RFID tag conveying said information;

estimating a distance to the RFID tag from a given antenna based on a strength of the signal received at the antenna; and

adjusting the determination of the physical routing of the cable at the location of the RFID tag according to the estimated distances.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the determination of the physical routing of the cable in a management system for determining the physical layout of a cabling plant.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the information includes an indication of one or more of equipment types and ports that a given cable connects.

12. A system for determining a physical routing of a cable for interconnecting communication systems, comprising:

an RFID reader for reading information from RFID tags disposed at respective locations along the cable, the information including a cable identifier and a respective location identifier of a given RFID tag;

a database for storing the information and a physical location of the RFID reader where the information from a given RFID tag was read; and

a management system operable to access the database and for associating, for one or more RFID tags, the location of the RFID tag with the physical location of the RFID reader where the information from the RFID tag was read, thereby determining the physical routing of the cable.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein at least one location identifier corresponds to a predetermined distance from one end of the cable.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein at least one location identifier specifies a sequence number with respect to an adjacent RFID tag.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one physical location of an RFID reader is variable and is determined where the RFID tag was read.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the determination is made using a geographical positioning system unit.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein at least one physical location corresponds to a cabling channel and a specific position therein.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the RFID reader comprises:

a plurality of antennae, two or more of which are for receiving a signal from an RFID tag conveying said information; and

,

the management system comprises;

means for estimating a distance to the RFID tag from a given antenna based on a strength of the signal received at the antenna; and

means for adjusting the determination of the physical routing of the cable at the location of the RFID tag according to the estimated distances.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the management system further comprises means for determining a physical layout of a cabling plant from a plurality of determinations of physical routing of cables in the cabling plant.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the information includes an indication of one or more of equipment types and ports that a given cable connects.