Cable checker utilizing logic circuitry
First Claim
1. For use with an electric cable having opposite end connectors and a pair of conductors therein adapted to be coupled by said connectors to circuits, an apparatus for testing said cable, comprising a source of voltage, circuit coupling means engageable with said connectors for establishing separate conducting paths through the pair of conductors respectively to the source and to ground, logic circuit means connected to the circuit coupling means for continuously monitoring the current conducted through said pair of conductors in response to engagement of the connectors with the circuit coupling means, said logic circuit means including means for detecting abnormal current conducting patterns representing a plurality of defects in the cable, and indicator means connected to the logic circuit means for registering detection of any of the cable defects by the detecting means on a real time basis.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A cable checker employs a pair of jacks mounted to a housing and operably associated with an electronic circuit employing a pair of digital logic integrated circuits for both the confirmation and clocking circuitry. In this respect, the integrated circuits comprise a plurality of NAND gates which drive a pair of light emitting diodes, one of which is red to indicate an improperly functioning cable and the other one of which is green to indicate a properly functioning cable. The cable checker further includes an astable multivibrator circuit so as to cause the light emitting diodes to blink thus to save battery power, and the checking of a cable is accomplished simply by plugging the two ends of the cable into the respective jacks associated with the cable checker.
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Citations
9 Claims
- 1. For use with an electric cable having opposite end connectors and a pair of conductors therein adapted to be coupled by said connectors to circuits, an apparatus for testing said cable, comprising a source of voltage, circuit coupling means engageable with said connectors for establishing separate conducting paths through the pair of conductors respectively to the source and to ground, logic circuit means connected to the circuit coupling means for continuously monitoring the current conducted through said pair of conductors in response to engagement of the connectors with the circuit coupling means, said logic circuit means including means for detecting abnormal current conducting patterns representing a plurality of defects in the cable, and indicator means connected to the logic circuit means for registering detection of any of the cable defects by the detecting means on a real time basis.
Specification