Fault management system for a communications network
First Claim
1. A method of operating a fault management system for a communications network, said communications network including a switch and an access network of one or more terminating circuits connecting said switch to terminal equipment provided for users of the communications network, each of said terminating circuits passing through one or more nodes between said switch and its respective terminal equipment, said method comprising:
- performing a circuit test on each circuit of at least a subset of said terminating circuits and producing a test result for each circuit so tested, each test result comprising one or more elements of test data;
for each circuit, identifying whether a fault exists on the circuit;
identifying circuits that have a possibility of becoming faulty within a predetermined period;
associating a repair cost with each fault or potential fault; and
for each circuit, calculating a measure of the possible cost of repair of the circuit over said predetermined period.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A fault management system is directed to the access network part of a communications network where terminating lines in the form of pairs of copper wires extend from a local switch through a series of nodes to terminal equipment provided for user of the network. Each night, a test head performs a series of tests on each of the terminating lines. The results of the tests are transmitted to an access network management system where they are analyzed with respect to a set of parameters to identify characteristics that would indicate that a fault is likely to occur on the associated circuit within a predetermined period e.g. 1 year. Further analysis can then be carried out to establish the probability of the fault actually occurring and/or whether the potential fault analyzed is going to occur in either the underground or the over-ground part of the network. Further analysis determines relative costs of repair for circuits or network elements in which faults or potential faults have been identified.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method of operating a fault management system for a communications network, said communications network including a switch and an access network of one or more terminating circuits connecting said switch to terminal equipment provided for users of the communications network, each of said terminating circuits passing through one or more nodes between said switch and its respective terminal equipment, said method comprising:
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performing a circuit test on each circuit of at least a subset of said terminating circuits and producing a test result for each circuit so tested, each test result comprising one or more elements of test data; for each circuit, identifying whether a fault exists on the circuit; identifying circuits that have a possibility of becoming faulty within a predetermined period; associating a repair cost with each fault or potential fault; and for each circuit, calculating a measure of the possible cost of repair of the circuit over said predetermined period. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 6)
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5. A method as in claim in which the cost measure is calculated for a plurality of circuits or network elements and then used to rank circuits or lines relative to each other.
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7. A fault management apparatus for a communications network including a switch and an access network of terminating circuits connecting said switch to terminal equipment provided for users of the communications network, each of said terminating circuits passing through a series of nodes between said switch and its respective terminal equipment, said fault management apparatus comprising:
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circuit testing apparatus arranged to perform circuit tests on said terminating circuits to produce test results; a store containing data relating to said terminating circuits; means for identifying in each circuit whether a fault exists on the circuit; means for identifying circuits that have a possibility of becoming faulty within a predetermined period; means for associating a repair cost with each fault or potential fault; and means operable, for each circuit to calculate a measure of the possible cost of repair of the circuit over said predetermined period. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification