Apparatus for monitoring cable television system remote equipment performance and status using a cell modem

Abstract

A wireless remote data sensor for use in the cable television industry. It senses the status of equipment in the field, such as battery backup power equipment, amplifiers, pilot and signal level monitors, and voltage level for powering active equipment, and transmits the status information using a low data rate cellular data service known as Cellemetry. It also allows the cable system operator to switch each power supply to a backup power source and back remotely for conditioning and battery capacity measurement. Cellemetry uses the forward and reverse control channels of the AMPS cellular network to communicate 32 bit data packets. Included in the sensor are a DC-to-DC converter, external power transformer or other power source, analog-to-digital converter(s), digital on-off sense input(s); a control microprocessor, a bi-directional connector for external programming, a bi-directional connection to a Cellemetry modem, a Cellemetry modem, and a cellular antenna, all of which are enclosed in an environmentally appropriate case. In addition, the present invention minimizes the number of MINs required by cycling through a series of formats of the data signal so that more than 32 bits of data can be sent, although at different times.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.