Backhauling test procedures for communications networks
First Claim
1. A testing system for testing circuits in a distributed digital communications network, said system comprising:
- a test center having a plurality of test devices;
a shared use network for connecting said test center to a plurality of communication switches at two or more locations in said distributed digital communications network; and
a central controller for sending an instruction to one of said communication switches, said instruction causing one communication switch to selectively couple a circuit to be tested to said test center via said shared use network,wherein one of said plurality of test devices in said test center is controllably connected to said circuit to be tested for remotely performing one or more tests of said circuit.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A communications network having a plurality of distributed offices includes a test center at a central location for testing line and/or trunk circuits (`links`) throughout the communication network. The links are selectively coupled to a maintenance port of a selected office and are backhauled from the maintenance port to the test center via a shared network serving a plurality of offices of the communications network. The shared backhaul network may use optical fibers connecting the offices to the test center or a SONET fiber optic ring. The test center includes a switch and test devices, such as digital test devices, optical test devices and protocol analyzers. The test center includes or is in communication with a central controller and one or more associated maintenance and operation consoles (MOCs). The central controller instructs a switch in the selected office to couple the link to be tested to the maintenance port where the shared backhaul network routes the circuit to a switch associated with the test center. The central controller also instructs the switch at the test center to selectively couple the link to a selected test device which initiates one or more tests and to report the test results to a MOC. Implementations are disclosed for testing of digital and optical communication links.
-
Citations
53 Claims
-
1. A testing system for testing circuits in a distributed digital communications network, said system comprising:
-
a test center having a plurality of test devices; a shared use network for connecting said test center to a plurality of communication switches at two or more locations in said distributed digital communications network; and a central controller for sending an instruction to one of said communication switches, said instruction causing one communication switch to selectively couple a circuit to be tested to said test center via said shared use network, wherein one of said plurality of test devices in said test center is controllably connected to said circuit to be tested for remotely performing one or more tests of said circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A testing system for testing communication links in a distributed communications network, said system comprising:
-
a test center having a plurality of test devices; a shared use network for connecting said test center to maintenance ports of a plurality of offices in said distributed communications network at two or more locations remote from the test center; and a central controller for sending an instruction to one of said offices, said instruction causing the said one office to selectively couple a communication link to be tested to a maintenance port of said one office in order to connect the link to be tested from said one office to said test center via said shared use network, wherein one of said plurality of test devices in said test center is controllably connected to said link to be tested for remotely performing one or more tests of said link. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
-
27. A testing method for testing circuits in a distributed digital communications network, said method comprising the steps of:
-
providing a plurality of test devices at a test center; connecting said test center to a plurality of communication switches included respectively in a corresponding plurality of switching offices in said distributed digital communications network via a shared backhaul network; sending an instruction from a central controller to one of said switching offices, said instruction causing the communication switch included in one of said switching offices to selectively couple a circuit to be tested to a maintenance port of the communication switch in order to connect said circuit to be tested from said communication switch to said test center via said shared backhaul network; controllably connecting one of said plurality of test devices to said circuit; and remotely performing one or more tests of said circuit using said one test device. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
-
-
39. A testing center for testing links in a distributed communications network, said testing center comprising:
-
a plurality of test devices; a maintenance and operations console; a central controller, coupled for communication with test devices and said maintenance and operations console, for instructing said test devices to conduct one or more tests of said links in said distributed communications network in response to a test request entered by an operator at said maintenance and operations console; and a switch, for connection to switching offices in said distributed communications network via a shared backhaul network under the control of said central controller for selectively connecting said links to said test devices. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
-
-
45. A testing method for testing a circuit in a distributed digital communications network, said method comprising the steps of:
-
displaying a graphical user interface on a display of a maintenance and operations console; receiving inputs from an operator of said maintenance and operations console and recognizing inputs from said operator constituting a request to test one or more circuits in said distributed digital communications network, in response to said test request, connecting said test center to a selected one of a plurality of communication switches included respectively in a corresponding plurality of switching offices in said distributed digital communications network via a shared backhaul network; sending an instruction from a central controller to the one communication switch, said instruction causing the one communication switch to interrupt a circuit to be tested and couple it to a maintenance port of the one communication switch in order to connect said circuit to be tested from said one communication switch to said test center via said shared backhaul network; and sending an instruction to one or more test devices, said instruction causing said one or more test devices to remotely perform one or more tests of said circuit. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49)
-
-
50. A test system, comprising:
-
a first plurality of optical splitters for coupling to a first set of optical fibers of a distributed communication network and tapping off optical signals therefrom; a first optical switch for selectively coupling the tapped optical signals from the first optical splitters to a port; a second plurality of optical splitters for coupling to a second set of optical fibers of the distributed communication network and tapping off optical signals therefrom; a second optical switch for selectively coupling the tapped optical signals from the second optical splitters to a port; a third optical switch located at a remote test center; optical fibers coupled between the ports of the first and second optical switches and the third optical switch; and a plurality of test devices, responsive to optical signals and coupled to the third optical switch. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53)
-
Specification