Line testing method and apparatus therefor
US6373923B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 3, 1998 |
| Grant date | Apr 16, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 3, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04M3/303
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
To facilitate the use of relatively high frequency data transmission services over a wireline communication resource originally deployed to support low frequency voice band services, an assessment of the wireline communication resource (50-52) is based on attenuation of high frequency test signals, of known original level, that are generated (18) injected into the wireline communication resource from a test point (12). A detector (60) at a potential point of service, e.g. at a customers' premises (14), detects an attenuated level of the test signals and generates a control signal (70, 82), such as a drive current, indicative of the attenuation caused by the wireline communication resource (50-52). The control signal (70, 82) is then indirectly communicated back to the test point (12) in a coded form, and preferably within a voice band transmission. The coded form may be realized as modulation of a power supply provided to the customers' premises by the wireline communication resource, or could be achieved by up-link frequency mixing. In its most basic form, the control signal causes fluctuation on a visual level indicator at the customers' premises and therefore relies on a custome…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.