Ascertaining physical routing of cabling interconnects
First Claim
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1. A method of determining a physical routing of a cable for interconnecting communications systems through a conduit, comprising:
- reading, with a plurality of RFID readers, information from a plurality of RFID tags disposed at respective locations along the cable, the information including a cable identifier and a respective location identifier of a given RFID tag;
determining, for the information read from each RFID tag, a physical location of each RFID reader that read the information based on physical location information of the RFID readers, wherein the physical location information comprises a conduit identification and a position of a closest inspection point along the cable; and
associating, for each RFID tag, the location of the RFID tag with the physical location of each RFID reader that read the RFID tag, thereby determining the physical routing of the cable.
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Abstract
In a communication network or networked system, cables that interconnect systems or parts of a system are provided with RFID tags embedded at periodic intervals along their lengths. A network of GPS-enabled RFID readers with triangulation capabilities enables the determination of the physical routing of cables within an area of interest. It also enables communication of the physical routing information to an operations support system for cable management.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of determining a physical routing of a cable for interconnecting communications systems through a conduit, comprising:
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reading, with a plurality of RFID readers, information from a plurality of RFID tags disposed at respective locations along the cable, the information including a cable identifier and a respective location identifier of a given RFID tag; determining, for the information read from each RFID tag, a physical location of each RFID reader that read the information based on physical location information of the RFID readers, wherein the physical location information comprises a conduit identification and a position of a closest inspection point along the cable; and associating, for each RFID tag, the location of the RFID tag with the physical location of each RFID reader that read the RFID tag, thereby determining the physical routing of the cable. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A system that determines a physical routing of a cable through a conduit for interconnecting communication systems, comprising:
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a plurality RFID readers that receive information from a plurality of RFID tags disposed at respective locations along the cable, the information including a cable identifier and a respective location identifier of a given RFID tag; a database that stores the information and a physical location of the RFID reader where the information from a given RFID tag was read; and a management system that accesses the database and associates, for each RFID tag, the location of the RFID tag with the physical location of each RFID reader where the information from the RFID tag was read, thereby determining the physical routing of the cable based on physical location information of the RFID readers, wherein the physical location information comprises a conduit identification and a position of a closest inspection point along the cable. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification