Method and system for provisioning facility-based displays in support of repairing outside network facilities

• US 7,231,415 B1
• Filed: 04/08/2003
• Issued: 06/12/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Eslambolchi, Hossein, Stewart, Harold Jeffrey, Gaddamanugu, Bala Surya Siva Sri, Novokshanov, Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, THONG H
• Application Number:
  US10/409,318
• Time in Patent Office: 1,526 Days
• Field of Search: 370/249, 370/289, 370/241, 709/206, 709/200, 709/203, 709/224, 702/150, 715/500, 714/4, 705/7, 379/244, 725/37, 707/104
• US Class Current: 709/200
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0645 by additionally acting on or stimulating the network after receiving notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0677 Localisation of faults
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and system for providing facility-based aerial displays to field personnel in support of repairing outside network facilities. The invention relates to a method and system for displaying a series of selected frames to generate a display of surroundings within the vicinity of a cable break. Frames are selected and manipulated in accordance with a significance level which accepts or rejects the frame and in accordance with a set of display parameters selected by a dispatcher. The aerial display is compiled and displayed to support the assessment of the surroundings to be encountered by a repair crew.

Claims

1. A method of providing a display of a site in a network management system, comprising:

segmenting a cable and assigning positioning markers along a length of the cable for identifying sections of the cable and cable components;

storing in a database a series of display frames;

assigning each display frame to a positioning marker, each frame graphically descriptive of surroundings within an immediate vicinity of the assigned positioning marker;

automatically displaying a notice indicative of an automatically detected cable break and an associated two-dimensional map of a suspected site of the cable break, the suspected site of the cable break automatically located via an algorithm based on historical reliability of measurements taken from a specific test point;

automatically generating a trouble ticket responsive to the automatically detected cable break;

assigning a relative significance level to each frame based upon the notice indicative of the cable break;

selecting a set of frames based on the relative significance level from the series of display frames along the length of the cable related to the suspected site of the cable break; and

displaying in sequence the selected set of frames related to the suspected site of the cable break.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of selecting the set of frames comprises using a first frame as a reference and comparing the significance level of the first frame to the significance level of a sequentially proximate second frame, and selecting the second frame for display if the significance level of the second frame is at least equal to a predetermined significance level.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of correlating the positioning markers with a relative distance from a predetermined point of origin.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of transmitting a test signal along the length of the cable to locate a point of failure, correlating the point of failure with an associated positioning marker, and retrieving the selected set of frames within a vicinity of the associated positioning marker.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of retrieving the set of display frames along the length of the cable and within a vicinity of a point of failure.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of selecting the set of frames comprises using a first frame as a reference and comparing the significance level of the first frame to the significance level of a sequentially proximate second frame, and rejecting the second frame for display if the significance level of the second frame is less than a first predetermined significance level, and then comparing the significance level of the first frame to the significance level of a sequentially proximate third frame, and selecting the third frame for display if the significance level of the third frame and the significance level of the rejected second frame are cumulatively at least equal to a second predetermined significance level.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of converting the positioning markers into internal map-based geocodes for selecting one or more frames.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising the step of requesting the two dimensional map based on the converted geocodes.

9. A method of providing a display of a site in a network management system, comprising:

segmenting a cable and assigning positioning markers along a length of the cable for identifying sections of the cable and cable components;

storing in a database a series of display frames;

assigning each display frame to a positioning marker, each frame graphically descriptive of surroundings within an immediate vicinity of the assigned positioning marker;

automatically displaying a notice indicative of an automatically detected cable break and an associated two-dimensional map of a suspected site of the cable break, the suspected site of the cable break automatically located via an algorithm based on historical reliability of measurements taken from a specific test point;

automatically generating a trouble ticket responsive to the automatically detected cable break;

assigning one relative significance level to each frame based upon the notice indicative of the cable break;

partitioning each frame into two or more sub-frames;

assigning one relative significance level to each sub-frame of each frame;

selecting a set of frames and sub-frames from a set of frames based on the relative significance level assigned to each of the frames and sub-frames from the series of display frames along the length of the cable related to the suspected site of the cable break; and

displaying in sequence the selected set of frames and sub-frames related to the suspected site of the cable break.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of selecting the set of frames and sub-frames comprises using a first frame as a reference and comparing the significance level of the first frame to the significance level of a sequentially proximate second frame, and selecting the second frame for display if the significance level of the second frame is at least equal to a predetermined significance level.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of selecting a set of frames and sub-frames comprises using a first frame partitioned into two or more sub-frames as a reference and comparing the significance level of a sub-frame in the first frame to the corresponding significance level of a sequentially proximate and corresponding sub-frame in a second frame, and selecting the corresponding sub-frame in the second frame for display if the significance level of the corresponding sub-frame in the second frame is at least equal to a predetermined significance level.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of correlating the positioning markers with a relative distance from a predetermined point of origin.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of transmitting a test signal along the length of the cable to locate a point of failure, correlating the point of failure with an associated positioning marker, and retrieving a set of display frames within a vicinity of the associated positioning marker.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of transmitting two or more test signals along the length of the cable from two different points of origin to locate a point of failure, correlating the point of failure by averaging resulting positioning data from the two different points of origin and associating the positioning data with a particular positioning marker, and retrieving the set of frames within a vicinity of the particular positioning marker.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of retrieving the set of frames along the length of the cable and within a vicinity of a point of failure.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of selecting the set of frames and sub-frames comprises using a first frame as a reference and comparing the significance level of the first frame to the significance level of a sequentially proximate second frame, and rejecting the second frame for display if the significance level of the second frame is less than a first predetermined significance level, and then comparing the significance level of the first frame to the significance level of a sequentially proximate third frame, and selecting the third frame for display if the significance level of the third frame and the significance level of the rejected second frame are cumulatively at least equal to a second predetermined significance level.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of selecting the set of frames and sub-frames comprises using a first frame partitioned into two or more sub-frames as a reference and comparing the significance level of a sub-frame in the first frame to the significance level of a sequentially proximate and corresponding sub-frame in a second frame, and rejecting the corresponding sub-frame in the second frame for display if the significance level of the corresponding sub-frame in the second frame is at less than a first predetermined significance level, and then comparing the significance level of the sub-frame in the first frame to the significance level of a sequentially proximate and corresponding sub-frame in a third frame, and selecting the corresponding sub-frame in the third frame for display if the significance level of the corresponding sub-frame in the third frame and the significance level of the rejected corresponding sub-frame in the second frame are cumulatively at least equal to a second predetermined significance level.

18. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of converting the positioning markers into internal map-based geocodes for selecting one or more frames.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising the step of requesting the two dimensional map based on the converted geocodes.

20. A system for providing a display of a site in a network management system, comprising:

a facilities management processor adapted to receive cable failure notifications and adapted to process display requests of a site within an immediate vicinity of a cable failure, the facilities management processor adapted to automatically generate a trouble ticket responsive to the automatically detected cable break;

a controller in communication with the facilities management processor adapted to select and compile a series of display frames; and

a map server in communication with the controller adapted to store, process, and forward requested mapping information and display frames associated with the immediate vicinity of the cable failure, the controller operative for selecting a set of frames in which a first frame is used as a reference and a comparison is conducted between a significance level of the first frame to a significance level of a sequentially proximate second frame, and the controller selects the second frame for display if the significance level of the second frame is at least equal to a predetermined significance level, the man server adapted to cause, responsive to a displayed notice of a cable break, a display of an associated two-dimensional map of a suspected site of the cable break, the suspected site of the cable break automatically located via an algorithm based on historical reliability of measurements taken from a specific test point.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the facilities management processor transmits a first test signal from a terminating site along a length of a portion of a cable to locate a point of failure, and correlates the point of failure with a positioning marker which designates a relative position of cable failure.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the facilities management processor forwards positioning data to the controller, and wherein the controller converts the positioning data into internal map-based geocodes for selecting one or more frames.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the facilities management processor receives positioning data and queries the controller for the two dimensional map, and wherein the controller forwards the two-dimensional map to the facilities management processor based on the converted geocodes.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the controller compiles the series of frames in accordance with the predetermined significance level.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the facilities management processor transmits a second test signal from an in-network test point and compares an in-network test signal response and a response to the first test signal to determine a location of the point of failure.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising a means for wirelessly transmitting the series of display frames to a display device.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the facilities management processor comprises a database which correlates segments and sub-segments of a cable with distances from a point of origin.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the controller selects the set of frames for display on a terminal by using the first frame as the reference and comparing the significance level of the first frame to the significance level of the sequentially proximate second frame, and selecting the second frame for display if the significance level of the second frame is at least equal to the determined significance level.

29. The system 28, wherein the controller selects a set of sub-frames for display on a terminal by using the first frame, partitioned into two or more sub-frames, as the reference and comparing the significance level of a sub-frame in the first frame to a corresponding significance level of a sequentially proximate and corresponding sub-frame in the second frame, and selecting the corresponding sub-frame in the second frame for display if the significance level of the corresponding sub-frame in the second frame is at least equal to the predetermined significance level.