Combination system for proactively and reactively maintaining telephone network facilities in a public switched telephone system
First Claim
1. In an administration system for a public switched telephone network which includes an attendant station for receiving service requests and collecting customer information, credit verification service order processor (SOP) for creating and distributing service orders for processing by downstream processing systems such as Service Order Analysis and Control (SOAC) system, a Computer System for Mainframe Operations (COSMOS) system, SWITCH system, Loop Facility Assignment and Control System (LFACS) system, and Adjunct Processor (AP) having storage for storing data including Living Unit (LU) data, network facility data and Telephone Number (TN) data, a first test system testing a communication line in a communication cable associated with the customer in accordance with a first test producing trouble indicators indicating a potentially defective communication line, a second test system testing groups of the trouble indicators associated with the communication line in accordance with a second test, and a data processor generating an end to end description of the communication line to be tested, prioritizing the groups that are potentially defective indicating the potentially defective communication line generating prioritized groups, and generating a report to be used for examining the potentially defective communication line using the prioritized groups, a method of proactively and reactively analyzing the working status of customer network facilities in response to a customer request reporting a customer trouble, comprising the steps of:
- (a) receiving the customer request;
(b) retrieving related customer profile information including at least one of billing, service order, circuit test history, and trouble history;
(c) obtaining a description of the customer trouble and entering a trouble type associated therewith;
(d) building a trouble report;
(e) testing the communication line and generating test results;
(f) determining, responsive to first criteria, whether additional information is needed, or whether the trouble report can be closed out, or whether the trouble report should be dispatched to a customer work group, and if so, transmitting the trouble report for review by the customer work group;
(g) transmitting the trouble report to the customer work group using trouble routing criteria, mapping the trouble report to a maintenance area, determining a trouble priority, and assigning a trouble report status;
(h) grouping at least one of related open work requests and proactively determined troubles with the trouble report based on grouping rules including similarity of trouble, similarity of geographic area, and available time, the proactively determined troubles being determined in accordance with the following steps;
(h1) performing a first level test of the communication line in the communication cable associated with the customer producing trouble indicators indicating a potentially defective communication line;
(h2) filtering the trouble indicators from predetermined communication services associated with the communication line that provide potentially false trouble indicators producing filtered trouble indicators;
(h3) generating a list of the filtered trouble indicators to be considered when determining whether the communication line is potentially defective;
(h4) generating an end to end description of the communication line to be tested;
(h5) grouping the filtered trouble indicators that have common network elements in groups;
(h6) prioritizing the groups for performing a second level test of the communication line;
(h7) testing the groups prioritized for the communication line;
(h8) discarding the groups that are in a satisfactory status responsive to predetermined criteria;
(h9) prioritizing the groups that are potentially defective indicating the potentially defective communication line generating prioritized groups of the proactively determined troubles;
(i) building a work load for a technician responsive to the related open work requests, the trouble report, the proactively determined troubles and technician information including work schedule, job type, work areas, and job skills;
(j) accessing information stored in operation support systems including at least one of the SOP, the SOAC system, the COSMOS system, the SWITCH system, the LFACS system, the AP, the first test system, the second test system, and the data processor as needed;
(k) repairing and testing the communication line associated with the trouble report to verify that the communication line is working;
(1) notifying the customer that the trouble report has been resolved and the trouble is closed out;
(m) resolving the at least one of the related open work requests and the proactively determined troubles;
(n) generating a completion message responsive to said repairing step (k) and said resolving step (m); and
(o) transmitting the completion message to at least one of the SOP, the SOAC system, the COSMOS system, the SWITCH system, the LFACS system, the AP, the first test system, the second test system, and the data processor as needed.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In an administration system for a public switched telephone network, a combination proactive and reactive maintenance system analyzes the working status of customer network facilities in response to a customer request reporting a customer trouble. The combined maintenance system includes an attendant station receiving the customer request representing a reactively determined trouble, and building a first trouble report, and first and second test systems. The first test system tests a second communication line in the communication cable representing a potentially proactively determined trouble, and builds a second trouble report. The second test system tests at least one of the first and second communication lines and determines whether at least one of the first and second trouble reports should be dispatched to a customer work group together with existing related proactive and reactive trouble reports to the customer work group using trouble routing criteria. The combination system also includes a data processor that generates an end to end description of the first and second communication lines to be tested, and a dispatch system that groups related open work requests with at least one of the first and second trouble reports and the existing related reactive and proactive trouble reports based on grouping rules.
123 Citations
24 Claims
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1. In an administration system for a public switched telephone network which includes an attendant station for receiving service requests and collecting customer information, credit verification service order processor (SOP) for creating and distributing service orders for processing by downstream processing systems such as Service Order Analysis and Control (SOAC) system, a Computer System for Mainframe Operations (COSMOS) system, SWITCH system, Loop Facility Assignment and Control System (LFACS) system, and Adjunct Processor (AP) having storage for storing data including Living Unit (LU) data, network facility data and Telephone Number (TN) data, a first test system testing a communication line in a communication cable associated with the customer in accordance with a first test producing trouble indicators indicating a potentially defective communication line, a second test system testing groups of the trouble indicators associated with the communication line in accordance with a second test, and a data processor generating an end to end description of the communication line to be tested, prioritizing the groups that are potentially defective indicating the potentially defective communication line generating prioritized groups, and generating a report to be used for examining the potentially defective communication line using the prioritized groups, a method of proactively and reactively analyzing the working status of customer network facilities in response to a customer request reporting a customer trouble, comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving the customer request; (b) retrieving related customer profile information including at least one of billing, service order, circuit test history, and trouble history; (c) obtaining a description of the customer trouble and entering a trouble type associated therewith; (d) building a trouble report; (e) testing the communication line and generating test results; (f) determining, responsive to first criteria, whether additional information is needed, or whether the trouble report can be closed out, or whether the trouble report should be dispatched to a customer work group, and if so, transmitting the trouble report for review by the customer work group; (g) transmitting the trouble report to the customer work group using trouble routing criteria, mapping the trouble report to a maintenance area, determining a trouble priority, and assigning a trouble report status; (h) grouping at least one of related open work requests and proactively determined troubles with the trouble report based on grouping rules including similarity of trouble, similarity of geographic area, and available time, the proactively determined troubles being determined in accordance with the following steps; (h1) performing a first level test of the communication line in the communication cable associated with the customer producing trouble indicators indicating a potentially defective communication line; (h2) filtering the trouble indicators from predetermined communication services associated with the communication line that provide potentially false trouble indicators producing filtered trouble indicators; (h3) generating a list of the filtered trouble indicators to be considered when determining whether the communication line is potentially defective; (h4) generating an end to end description of the communication line to be tested; (h5) grouping the filtered trouble indicators that have common network elements in groups; (h6) prioritizing the groups for performing a second level test of the communication line; (h7) testing the groups prioritized for the communication line; (h8) discarding the groups that are in a satisfactory status responsive to predetermined criteria; (h9) prioritizing the groups that are potentially defective indicating the potentially defective communication line generating prioritized groups of the proactively determined troubles; (i) building a work load for a technician responsive to the related open work requests, the trouble report, the proactively determined troubles and technician information including work schedule, job type, work areas, and job skills; (j) accessing information stored in operation support systems including at least one of the SOP, the SOAC system, the COSMOS system, the SWITCH system, the LFACS system, the AP, the first test system, the second test system, and the data processor as needed; (k) repairing and testing the communication line associated with the trouble report to verify that the communication line is working; (1) notifying the customer that the trouble report has been resolved and the trouble is closed out; (m) resolving the at least one of the related open work requests and the proactively determined troubles; (n) generating a completion message responsive to said repairing step (k) and said resolving step (m); and (o) transmitting the completion message to at least one of the SOP, the SOAC system, the COSMOS system, the SWITCH system, the LFACS system, the AP, the first test system, the second test system, and the data processor as needed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. In an administration system for a public switched telephone network which includes an attendant station for receiving service requests and collecting customer information, credit verification service order processor (SOP) for creating and distributing service orders for processing by downstream processing systems such as Service Order Analysis and Control (SOAC) system, a Computer System for Mainframe Operations (COSMOS) system, SWITCH system, Loop Facility Assignment and Control System (LFACS) system, and Adjunct Processor (AP) having storage for storing data including Living Unit (LU) data, network facility data and Telephone Number (TN) data, a combination proactive and reactive maintenance system for analyzing the working status of customer network facilities in response to a customer request reporting a customer trouble, comprising:
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an attendant station receiving the customer request, retrieving related customer profile information, obtaining a description of the customer trouble and entering a trouble type associated therewith corresponding to a first communication line representing a reactively determined trouble, and building a first trouble report; a first test system testing a second communication line in the communication cable associated with the customer producing trouble indicators indicating a potentially defective first communication line representing a potentially proactively determined trouble, and building a second trouble report; a second test system, responsively connected to said first test system and to said attendant station, said second test system testing groups of the trouble indicators associated with the second communication line, testing the first communication line associated with the trouble report and generating test results, and determining, responsive to criteria, whether additional information is needed, or whether at least one of the first and second trouble reports can be closed out, or whether at least one of the first and second trouble reports should be dispatched to a customer work group, and if so, transmitting the at least one of the first and second trouble reports for review by the customer work group and existing related proactive and reactive trouble reports to the customer work group using trouble routing criteria; a data processor, operatively connected to said first and second test systems, filtering the trouble indicators received from said first test system from predetermined communication services associated with the communication line that provide potentially false trouble indicators producing filtered trouble indicators, generating a list of the filtered trouble indicators to be considered when determining whether the communication line is potentially defective, generating an end to end description of the communication line to be tested, wherein said data processor discards the groups tested by said second test system that are in a satisfactory status, prioritizes the groups that are potentially defective indicating the potentially defective communication line generating prioritized groups, and generates a report to be used for examining the potentially defective communication line using the prioritized groups to determine whether the potentially proactively determined troubles are considered proactively determined troubles; and a work request processing and dispatch system, responsively connected to said attendant station, grouping related open work requests with at least one of the first and second trouble reports and the existing related reactive and proactive trouble reports based on grouping rules including similarity of trouble, similarity of geographic area, and available time, building a work load for a technician. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. In an administration system for a public switched telephone network which includes an attendant station for receiving service requests and collecting customer information, credit verification, service order processor (SOP) for creating and distributing service orders for processing by downstream processing systems such as Service Order Analysis and Control (SOAC) system, a Computer System for Mainframe Operations (COSMOS) system, SWITCH system, Loop Facility Assignment and Control System (LFACS) system, and Adjunct Processor (AP) having storage for storing data including Living Unit (LU) data, network facility data and Telephone Number (TN) data, a first test system testing a communication line in a communication cable associated with the customer in accordance with a first test producing trouble indicators indicating a potentially defective communication line, a second test system testing groups of the trouble indicators associated with the communication line in accordance with a second test, and a data processor generating an end to end description of the communication line to be tested, prioritizing the groups that are potentially defective indicating the potentially defective communication line generating prioritized groups, and generating a report to be used for examining the potentially defective communication line using the prioritized groups, a method of proactively and reactively analyzing the working status of customer network facilities in response to a customer request reporting a customer trouble, comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving the customer request; (b) retrieving related customer profile information; (c) obtaining a description of the customer trouble and entering a trouble type associated therewith; (d) building a trouble report; (e) testing the communication line and generating test results; (f) determining, responsive to criteria, whether additional information is needed, or whether the trouble report can be closed out, or whether the trouble report should be dispatched to a customer work group, and if so, transmitting the trouble report for review by the customer work group using trouble routing criteria; (g) grouping related open work requests and proactively determined troubles with the trouble report based on grouping rules including at least one of similarity of trouble, similarity of geographic area, and available time, the proactively determined troubles being determined in accordance with the following steps; (g1) performing a first level test of the communication line in the communication cable associated with the customer producing trouble indicators indicating a potentially defective communication line; (g2) generating an end to end description of the potentially defective communication line; (g3) performing a second level test of the potentially defective communication line to identify whether the potentially defective communication line contains the proactively determined troubles; (h) building a work load for a technician responsive to the related open work requests, the trouble report, the proactively determined troubles and technician information including work schedule, job type, work areas, and job skills.
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24. In an administration system for a public switched telephone network which includes an attendant station for receiving service requests and collecting customer information, credit verification service order processor (SOP) for creating and distributing service orders for processing by downstream processing systems such as Service Order Analysis and Control (SOAC) system, a Computer System for Mainframe Operations (COSMOS) system, SWITCH system, Loop Facility Assignment and Control System (LFACS) system, and Adjunct Processor (AP) having storage for storing data including Living Unit (LU) data, network facility data and Telephone Number (TN) data, a combination proactive and reactive maintenance system for analyzing the working status of customer network facilities in response to a customer request reporting a customer trouble, comprising:
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an attendant station receiving the customer request, retrieving related customer profile information, obtaining a description of the customer trouble and entering a trouble type associated therewith corresponding to a first communication line representing a reactively determined trouble, and building a first trouble report; a first test system testing a second communication line in the communication cable associated with the customer producing trouble indicators indicating a potentially defective first communication line representing a potentially proactively determined trouble, and building a second trouble report; a second test system, responsively connected to said first test system and to said attendant station, said second test system testing at least one of the first and second communication lines and determining, responsive to criteria, whether at least one of the first and second trouble reports should be dispatched to a customer work group, and if so, transmitting the at least one of the first and second trouble reports for review by the customer work group together with existing related proactive and reactive trouble reports to the customer work group using trouble routing criteria; a data processor, operatively connected to said first and second test systems, generating an end to end description of the at least one of the first and second communication lines to be tested by said second test system responsive to the reactively determined trouble and the potentially proactively determined trouble to determine whether the at least one of the first and second communication lines require at least one of inspection and repair; and a work request processing and dispatch system, responsively connected to said attendant station, grouping related open work requests with at least one of the first and second trouble reports and the existing related reactive and proactive trouble reports based on grouping rules including similarity of trouble, similarity of geographic area, and available time, building a work load for a technician.
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Specification