Automated trouble-shooting mechanism resident in craftsperson's portable test and communications device

A mechanism for enabling a craftsperson's communication and processing unit to provide a craftsperson, who has been dispatched to a service site that is remotely located with respect to a telephone facility serving a subscriber line, with a trouble-shooting procedure through which said craftsperson may locate and solve the probable cause of a problem in said subscriber line, said communication and processing unit being operative to communicate with a test system of said telephone facility and with a test head that is connectable to said subscriber line, said communication and processing unit having an input/output device, including a visual display, through which information input by said craftsperson is converted into prescribed control signals and transmitted to said test system and through which information associated with the operation of said test system is presented to said craftsperson, said mechanism comprising an information processing, trouble-shooting application engine, and first and second databases coupled thereto, said first database being a knowledge database containing rules and static parameters which define the characteristics and behavior of said application engine, said second data base being a shared database which stores parameter data associated with one or more tests conducted on said line, said trouble-shooting application engine being operative to perform a diagnostic evaluation of data in said shared database, in accordance with rule sets stored in said knowledge data base and to display a message containing a proposed procedure to be carried out by said craftsperson to located and solve said problem in said subscriber line.

A method of providing a trouble-shooting strategy to a craftsperson, who is dispatched to a service site that is located remotely with respect to a telephone facility serving a subscriber line, said trouble-shooting strategy providing said craftsperson with an indication of the probable cause of a problem in said subscriber line and a suggested procedure for solving said problem, comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing said craftsperson with a communication and signal processing craft unit through which said craftsperson may communicate with said telephone facility and with test equipment that is connectable to said subscriber line, said craft unit having an input/output device, including a visual display panel, through which information input by said craftsperson is converted into prescribed signals and transmitted to a test system of said telephone facility and through which information associated with the operation of said test system is presented to said craftsperson, said test system being operative to respond to command signals supplied thereto from said craft unit and to apply to said subscriber line prescribed test stimuli, responses of said subscriber line to which are measured by said test equipment;
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• (b) providing, in said craft unit, an information processing, trouble-shooting application engine, and first and second databases coupled thereto, said first database being a knowledge database containing rules and static parameters which define the characteristics and behavior of said application engine, said second data base being a shared database which stores parameter data associated with one or more tests conducted on said line, said trouble-shooting application engine being operative to perform a diagnostic evaluation of data in said shared database, in accordance with rule sets stored in said knowledge data base, by coordinating the application of a stimulus to said subscriber line by said test system and analyzing the output of said test equipment to said stimulus, and to generate said proposed solution to the problem in said subscriber line that will guide said craftsperson to remove the fault.