System and method for automated double-ended field management of DSL service

• US 7,778,192 B2
• Filed: 11/29/2005
• Issued: 08/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hart, Richard D., Savoor, Raghvendra G., Shrikhande, Kapil, Van Slyke, John, Wang, Jin, Wu, Xidong
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Steven H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Skripnikov; Alex
• Application Number:
  US11/288,969
• Publication Number:
  US 20070121520A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,722 Days
• Field of Search: 370/241, 370/248, 370/251, 379 2701- 2708, 379/28, 379 2901- 2909, 379/29.1, 379/29.11, 379/30
• US Class Current: 370/248
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/301 Circuit arrangements at the subscriber's side of the line
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/306 for frequencies above the voice frequency, e.g. xDSL line qualification test methods, test equipment and test arrangements for subscriber lines using xDSL modems H04M3/304; systems modifying transmission characteristics according to link quality H04L1/0001; monitoring and/or testing of line transmission systems H04B3/46

Abstract

A system and method to perform double-ended measurements of a network is provided. The system includes a test device that makes measurements at the customer end and a portable computing device that interfaces with the test device, a customer gateway and database at a network location to analyze the data and determine a performance metric of the network.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising machine executable instructions, the instructions comprising:

an instruction to receive a data from a customer interface when a portable computing device is connected to the customer interface;

an instruction to receive test measurements from a portable test device when the portable computing device is connected to the portable test device, wherein the portable test device configured to make test measurements at a first end of a line;

an instruction to receive test measurements from a network device configured to make test measurements at a second end of the line;

an instruction to receive a data stored in a database via a wireless network, wherein the database, accessible to a server, for storing data relating to a network service provided to the customer interface over the line; and

an instruction to analyze one of the data to determine a performance metric relating to the network service;

wherein the portable test device and the network device both being configured to exchange their respective test measurements and to store data relating to the test measurements made by the portable test device and the network device.

2. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise an instruction to configure the portable test device and network device to make double-ended measurements on the line and to transfer the double-ended measurements to the portable test device.

3. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise an instruction to transfer the data received from the customer interface to the server.

4. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the database stores a higher layer test data and wherein the instructions further comprise an instruction to receive the higher layer test data over the wireless network.

5. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise an instruction to receive a test video content from the database that represents a selected level of quality for the network service.

6. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise an instruction to receive at the portable computing device in real-time a content relating to the network service transmitted to the customer interface.

7. An apparatus, comprising:

a portable computing device having a processor;

a machine-readable storage medium accessible to the processor, the storage medium including processor executable instructions, the instructions including;

an instruction to receive a data from a customer interface when a portable computing device is connected to the customer interface;

an instruction to receive test measurements from a portable test device when the portable computing device is connected to the portable test device, wherein the portable test device configured to make test measurements at a first end of a line;

an instruction to receive test measurements from a network device configured to make test measurements at a second end of the line;

an instruction to receive a data stored in a database via a wireless network, wherein the database, accessible to a server, for storing data relating to a network service provided to the customer interface over the line; and

an instruction to analyze one of the data to determine a performance metric relating to the network service;

wherein the portable test device and the network device both being configured to exchange their respective test measurements and to store data relating to the test measurements made by the portable test device and the network device.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the instructions further comprise

an instruction to configure the portable test device and network device to make double-ended measurements on the line and to transfer the double-ended measurements to the portable test device.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the instructions further comprise an instruction to transfer the data received from the customer interface to the server.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the database stores a higher layer test data and wherein the instructions further comprise an instruction to receive the higher layer test data over the wireless network.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the instructions further comprise

an instruction to receive a test video content from the database that represents a selected level of quality for the network service.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the instructions further comprise an instruction to receive at the portable computing device in real-time a content relating to the network service transmitted to the customer interface.

13. A system suitable for use with a server, a database, accessible to the server, for storing data relating to a network service provided to a customer interface over a line, a portable test device configured to make test measurements at a first end of the line, and a network device configured to make test measurements at a second end of the line, the portable test device and the network device both being further configured to exchange their respective test measurements and to store data relating to the test measurements made by the portable test device and the network device, comprising:

a processor having access to the customer interface, portable test device and server, a computer readable storage medium that is accessible to the processor, the storage medium including processor executable instructions, the instructions including;

an instruction to receive data from the customer interface when a portable computing device is connected to the customer interface;

an instruction to receive test measurements from the portable test device when the portable computing device is connected to the portable test device;

an instruction to receive the data stored in the database via a wireless network; and

an instruction to analyze one of the data to determine a performance metric relating to the network service.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions further comprise an instruction to configure the portable test device and network device to make double-ended measurements on the line and to transfer the double-ended measurements to the portable test device.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions further comprise an instruction to transfer the data received from the customer interface to the server.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the database stores a higher-layer test data and wherein the instructions further comprise an instruction to receive the higher layer test data over the wireless network.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions further comprise an instruction to receive a test video content from the database that represents a selected level of quality for the network service.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions further comprise an instruction to receive at the portable computing device in real-time a content relating to the network service transmitted to the customer interface.