SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REMOTELY RESTORING INOPERATIVE DATA COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20070242689A1
• Filed: 04/14/2006
• Published: 10/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommScope Technologies, LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ADC Telecommunications Incorporated (TE Connectivity Limited)
• Inventors: Schatz, Paul, Stuart, Steve, Zavadsky, Dean, Millar, Jeff
• Granted Patent: US 7,630,296 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/464
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/24 Testing correct operation

Abstract

A system and method for remotely restoring inoperative data communications are disclosed, which causes the transmitter to transmit over the physical link a predetermined sequence of signals that can be detected at the receiver. Responsive to the detected sequence of signals, the receiver can initiate an internal reset command to restore the communication of data. As one example, a system for remotely restoring inoperative data communications is disclosed, which includes a first laser transceiver unit located in a head end, and a second laser transceiver unit remotely located in a node end, and an optical transmission medium connected between the head end and the node end. For this example, the head end is the host end of a distributed base station system for a cellular radiotelephone network, the node end includes the cellular transmitter/receiver (remote radio head) and antenna components, and the optical transmission medium is a fiber optic cable. The head end also includes a programmable logic device (PLD), which causes the transmitter section of the first laser transceiver to transmit over the fiber optic cable a predetermined sequence of signals if a loss of data communications has occurred. The node end also includes a PLD, which is coupled to the receiver section of the second laser transceiver to determine if the predetermined sequence of signals has been received. If so, the PLD in the node end outputs signals that initiate a reset of the node end involved. If the reset attempt fails to restore the communication of data, the PLD in the node end can cause the transmitter section of the second laser transceiver to transmit to the head end a second predetermined sequence of signals that represents node end diagnostic information.

Claims

1. A system for remotely restoring inoperative data communications, comprising:

a data communications transmitting unit;

a data communications receiving unit;

a transmission medium coupled to said data communications transmitting unit and said data communications receiving unit;

a first logic circuit coupled to said data communications transmitting unit, said first logic circuit operable to generate a predetermined sequence of signals, and said data communications transmitting unit operable to transmit over said transmission medium responsive to said predetermined sequence of signals; and

a second logic circuit coupled to said data communications receiving unit, said second logic circuit operable to recognize said predetermined sequence of signals and output a signal to attempt to restore said inoperative data communications, if said predetermined sequence of signals is detected at said data communications receiving unit.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a second data communications transmitting unit coupled to said data communications receiving unit and said second logic circuit, said second logic circuit operable to generate a second predetermined sequence of signals, and said second data communications transmitting unit operable to transmit over said transmission medium responsive to said second predetermined sequence of signals; and

a second data communications receiving unit coupled to said data communications transmitting unit and said first logic circuit, said first logic circuit operable to recognize said second predetermined sequence of signals, if said second predetermined sequence of signals is detected at said second data communications receiving unit.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said transmission medium comprises an optical transmission medium.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said transmission medium comprises a fiber optic cable, said data communications transmitting unit comprises a laser transmitter, and said data communications receiving unit comprises a laser receiver.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said data communications transmitting unit comprises a data communications transmitter for a head end of a remote radio head, and the data communications receiving unit comprises a data communications receiver for a node end of said remote radio head.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein said data communications transmitting unit and said second data communications receiving unit comprise a first transceiver, said data communications receiving unit and said second data communications transmitting unit comprises a second transceiver, and the data communications is bidirectional.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said transmission medium comprises a wireless radio link, said data communications transmitting unit comprises a wireless radio transmitter, and said data communications receiving unit comprises a wireless radio receiver.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said transmission medium comprises at least one of a twisted pair, coaxial cable, microwave radio link, cellular radiotelephone link, satellite radio link, infrared data link, and lightwave communications link.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said predetermined sequence of signals comprises a predetermined sequence of ones and zeros.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein said predetermined sequence of signals comprises a low-speed sequence of signals.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein said first logic circuit and second logic circuit comprise a respective digital processor.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein said first logic circuit and said second logic circuit respectively comprise at least one of a programmable logic circuit, PLD, CPLD, SPLD, FPGA and ASIC.

13. A system for remotely restoring inoperative data communications, comprising:

means for transmitting data;

means for receiving said data;

means for conveying said data from said means for transmitting data to said means for receiving said data;

means for generating a predetermined sequence of signals coupled to said means for transmitting data; and

means for recognizing said predetermined sequence of signals and outputting a signal to attempt to restore said inoperative data communications, if said predetermined sequence of signals is detected at said means for receiving data.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

second means for transmitting data coupled to said means for receiving data;

second means for receiving data coupled to said means for transmitting data;

means for generating a second predetermined sequence of signals; and

means for recognizing said second predetermined sequence of signals, if said second predetermined sequence of signals is detected at said second means for receiving data.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein said means for conveying said data comprises a fiber optic cable.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein said means for transmitting data and said second means for receiving data comprises a first transceiver, and said means for receiving data and said second means for transmitting data comprise a second transceiver.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein said means for generating and said means for recognizing comprise at least one of a respective programmable logic circuit or a digital processor.

18. A method for remotely restoring inoperative data communications, comprising the steps of:

generating a predetermined sequence of signals at a first communications unit;

keying a transmitter at said first communications unit with said predetermined sequence of signals;

conveying a transmission of said predetermined sequence of signals to a second communications unit;

recognizing said predetermined sequence of signals at said second communications unit; and

responsive to said recognized predetermined sequence of signals, outputting a signal to attempt to restore said inoperative data communications at said second communications unit.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the steps of:

generating a second predetermined sequence of signals at said second communications unit;

keying a transmitter at said second communications unit with said second predetermined sequence of signals;

conveying a transmission of said second predetermined sequence of signals to said first communications unit;

recognizing said second predetermined sequence of signals at said first communications unit; and

responsive to said recognized second predetermined sequence of signals, outputting at least one signal associated with said inoperative data communications at said second communications unit.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said at least one signal comprises diagnostic information associated with said inoperative data communications at said second communications unit.