Lightwave communication monitoring system
First Claim
1. An optical fiber monitoring system for continuously monitoring the condition of optical fibers comprising:
- a plurality of individual means for extracting optical energy from a plurality of optical fibers, each of said means being adapted to extract optical energy from one fiber of the plurality of optical fibers;
means for applying the extracted energy to a monitoring means comprising a monitoring fiber extending from each of said individual means for extracting and having a fiber termination in said monitoring means, said monitoring means including means for responding to the presence of the optical energy for generating a signal indicative of the optical energy level;
measuring means for receiving the signal thus generated for ascertaining when the optical energy indicates an optical fiber fault;
locating means under control of said measuring means for generating a fault locating signal; and
means for launching the fault locating signal on to the optical fiber.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A lightwave communication monitoring system has a monitoring member to which are applied signals extracted from one or more fibers in a transmission system. The monitoring member detects the signal and applies a signal derived therefrom to a control or processing unit. When the strength of the derived signal is below a predetermined minimum, the control unit is adapted to activate a fault location member which applies a fault location signal to the fiber circuit in which the signal, or lack thereof, is transmitted. The system is capable of handling a plurality o fiber circuits simultaneously. In another embodiment of the invention, a test signal is launched on the first fiber, or, simultaneously launched on a plurality of first fibers of fiber pairs, and the test signal is simultaneously extracted from one or more of a plurality of corresponding second fibers of the fiber pairs. The system also includes means for measuring the strength of the transmission signals, which are at a different frequency from the test signal.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. An optical fiber monitoring system for continuously monitoring the condition of optical fibers comprising:
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a plurality of individual means for extracting optical energy from a plurality of optical fibers, each of said means being adapted to extract optical energy from one fiber of the plurality of optical fibers; means for applying the extracted energy to a monitoring means comprising a monitoring fiber extending from each of said individual means for extracting and having a fiber termination in said monitoring means, said monitoring means including means for responding to the presence of the optical energy for generating a signal indicative of the optical energy level; measuring means for receiving the signal thus generated for ascertaining when the optical energy indicates an optical fiber fault; locating means under control of said measuring means for generating a fault locating signal; and means for launching the fault locating signal on to the optical fiber. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An optical fiber monitoring system for continuously monitoring the condition of optical fibers comprising:
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a monitoring member; means for generating a test signal and passing it through said monitoring member; first means for applying the test signal to a first optical fiber of an optical fiber pair; second means remote from said first means for extracting the test signal from the first optical fiber; third means for receiving the signal extracted by said second means for applying it to the second optical fiber of the optical fiber pair; fourth means remote from said third means for extracting the test signal from the second optical fiber and applying it to the monitoring member; means responsive to the optical signal applied to said monitoring means for generating a signal indicative of the optical signal level; measuring means for receiving the signal thus generated for ascertaining when the optical energy indicates an optical fiber fault; locating means under control of said measuring means for generating a fault locating signal when said measuring means detects an optical fiber fault in one of the first and second fibers of the optical fiber pair; and means for launching the fault locating signal on to the one optical fiber. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of continuously monitoring the condition of optical fibers adapted to transmit signals in a first frequency band comprising the steps of
extracting an optical signal from a fiber being monitored; -
directing and applying the signal to a monitoring member by means of a fiber member having a light emitting termination in the monitoring member; detecting the light or absence thereof emerging from the termination and generating a monitor signal indicative of the energy thereof; applying the monitor signal to a power measuring device to generate a control signal when the monitor signal indicates a fault in the fiber because of insufficient light emerging from the termination; applying the control signal to a fault locating means for generating a fault location signal; and selectively applying the fault location signal to the fiber termination having insufficient light emerging therefrom. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of continuously monitoring the condition of optical fiber pairs adapted to transmit signals in a first frequency band comprising the steps of
generating a test signal in a frequency band different from the frequency band of the transmission signals in the fiber pairs; -
applying the test signal to the first fiber of the fiber pair at a first location thereon; extracting the test signal from the first fiber at a second location removed from the first location; applying the extracted test signal to the second fiber of the fiber pair substantially at the second location; extracting the test signal from the second fiber substantially at the first location and applying it to a monitoring member; detecting and measuring the strength of the test signal and generating a first control signal when the strength of the detected test signal is insufficient; generating a fault location signal by means of the control signal; and applying the fault location signal to the second fiber of the fiber pair. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. An optical fiber monitoring system for continuously monitoring the condition of one or more optical fibers comprising:
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means for extracting a portion of the optical energy from an optical energy bearing optical fiber; means for applying the extracted energy to a monitoring means, said monitoring means including means for responding to the presence of the optical energy for generating a signal indicative of the optical energy level; measuring means for receiving the signal thus generated for ascertaining when the optical energy indicates an optical fiber fault and identifying the fiber having the fault; locating means under control of said measuring means for generating a fault locating signal; and means for selectively launching the fault locating signal on to the fiber having the fault to the exclusion of other fibers. - View Dependent Claims (29)
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Specification