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

• US 7,852,780 B1
• Filed: 05/24/2007
• Issued: 12/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Eslambolchi, Hossein, Gaddamanugu, Bala Surya Siva Sri, Novokshanov, Alexander, Stewart, Harold Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Thong H
• Application Number:
  US11/805,769
• Time in Patent Office: 1,300 Days
• Field of Search: 370/241, 709/224, 379/1.01, 379/10, 379/14, 379/21, 379/22, 379/26, 379/22.03, 379/218.01, 379/27.01
• US Class Current: 370/250
• 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 comprising:

via a dispatch terminal, displaying in sequence a selected set of frames related to a suspected site of an automatically detected cable break, the set of frames selected, based on a relative significance level, from a series of display frames that display environmental surroundings located along a length of a cable related to the suspected site of the cable break, the relative significance level based on a selectable significance scale and adapted to filter each of the set of frames according to an amount of significant information provided in each of the set of frames, the relative significance level assigned to each frame based upon an automatically displayed notice that is indicative of the cable break, the notice displayed with a two-dimensional map of the 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, a trouble ticket automatically generated responsive to the automatically detected cable break.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

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

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing in a database the series of display frames.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

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

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically displaying the notice indicative of the automatically detected cable break and an associated two-dimensional map of the suspected site of the cable break.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically generating the trouble ticket.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning the relative significance level to each frame of the series of display frames.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the set of frames.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

correlating positioning markers along the length of the cable with a relative distance from a predetermined point of origin.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a test signal along the length of the cable to locate the suspected site of the automatically detected cable break, 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.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving the set of frames.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of frames is selected via 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.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

converting positioning markers into internal map-based geocodes for selecting at least one of the selected set of frames.

14. A method comprising:

via a dispatch terminal, displaying in sequence a selected set of frames and subframes related to a suspected site of an automatically detected cable break, each frame of the selected set of frames partitioned into two or more sub-frames, the set of frames and sub-frames selected based on a relative significance level, the significance level assigned to each of the frames and sub-frames, the frames and sub-frames selected from a series of display frames that display environmental surroundings located along a length of a cable related to the suspected site of the cable break, the relative significance level based on a selectable significance scale and adapted to filter each of the set of frames according to an amount of significant information provided in each of the set of frames, the relative significance level assigned to each frame based upon an automatically displayed notice that is indicative of the cable break, the notice displayed with a two dimensional map of the 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, a trouble ticket automatically generated responsive to the automatically detected cable break.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a first frame is used as a reference and the significance level of the first frame is compared to the significance level of a sequentially proximate second frame, the second frame selected for display if the significance level of the second frame is at least equal to a predetermined significance level.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein a first frame is partitioned into two or more sub-frames as a reference and the significance level of a sub-frame in the first frame is compared to a corresponding significance level of a sequentially proximate and corresponding sub-frame in a second frame, the corresponding sub-frame in the second frame is selected for display if the significance level of the corresponding sub-frame in the second frame is at least equal to a predetermined significance level.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

correlating positioning markers along the length of the cable with a relative distance from a predetermined point of origin.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

transmitting a test signal along the length of the cable to locate the detected cable break, correlating a location of the detected cable break with an associated positioning marker, and retrieving a set of display frames within a vicinity of the associated positioning marker.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

transmitting two or more test signals along the length of the cable from two different points of origin to locate the detected cable break, correlating a location of the cable break 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.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for activities comprising:

via a dispatch terminal, displaying in sequence a selected set of frames related to a suspected site of an automatically detected cable break, the set of frames selected, based on a relative significance level, from a series of display frames that display environmental surroundings located along a length of a cable related to the suspected site of the cable break, the relative significance level based on a selectable significance scale and adapted to filter each of the set of frames according to an amount of significant information provided in each of the set of frames, the relative significance level assigned to each frame based upon an automatically displayed notice that is indicative of the cable break, the notice displayed with a two-dimensional map of the 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, a trouble ticket automatically generated responsive to the automatically detected cable break.