Apparatus and method for group-wise detection of failure condition
AssigneeAT&T Corp.
InventorThusitha Jayawardena
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Group-wise testing of the clocks arriving at a switching office is undertaken by multiplexing the clocks onto a single line and developing a signal therefrom that is indicative of a problem, if it exists, in any of the component signals that were multiplexed. In one embodiment, the developed signal is a gated portion of the multiplexed signal. That signal is integrated over an integration frame and compared to the integrated signal of another integration frame. A difference between the two compared signals indicates that at least one of the clocks is out of frequency synch. Subsequent tests identify the offending clock, or clocks.
Claims14
A method for detecting an operational problem in a plurality of N signals comprising the steps of;
- generating a time multiplexed composite signal having frames, and a super frame having N of said frames, where each of said frames in said super frame includes a signal that includes an attribute which indicates operational state of a different one of said N signals,
- combining with a one-way function, within an integration frame that corresponds to a selected number of said frames, the signals of the frames in said integration frame that posses an attribute that indicates operational state of its corresponding signal from said N signals, to form a signal with a combined attribute that indicates operational state of the set of signals of said frames in said integration frame;
- determining whether said combined attribute indicates presence of an operational problem in said set of signals of said frames in said integration frame;
- and
- taking action in response to a determination that there is an operational problem in said set of signals of said frames in said integration frame.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.