At&t Intellectual Property I, LP

At+t Corp.

Mihail Vasilescu

Hossein Eslambolchi

Paritosh Bajpay

John McCanuel

David H Lu

Wen-Jui Li

Carolyn Bekampis

John Soares

Roberta Ann Bienfait

Nino Girardi

Mohammed Shariff

Thomas Dickey

Mark Rogaski

A method and apparatus for collecting and processing line performance data transmitted over cables, e.g., Y-cables, is disclosed. The present invention applies a method based on specific performance measurements, specific measurement time intervals, and compare results from different measurement time intervals to produce a 'signature' that indicates deteriorating performance of a particular Y-cable. Once a 'signature' is detected, the method will proactively and automatically generate a trouble ticket to trigger the dispatch maintenance staffs to service the cable, e.g., to perform the replacement of the Y-cable in question, thus completing the predictive maintenance process. A trouble ticket is a record used to report and manage the resolution of network related problems.

Method and apparatus for providing signature based predictive maintenance in communication networks

Computer systems and techniques for predicting a cable failure in a network system begin by receiving a remote alarm indicator followed by a remote alarm indicator clear as a transmission alarm indicator of an intermittent short duration failure on the transmission path of a circuit. If the transmission alarm indicator is of a duration less than or equal to a preset threshold D it is considered an acceptable short hit transmission alarm. When at least N acceptable transmission alarms have been received and the time stamps of the last N acceptable transmission alarms have been recorded, then a determination is made as to whether N acceptable transmission alarms have been received within a preset time period. A moving window time period is calculated as the difference between the time stamp of the present acceptable transmission alarm K and the time stamp of the [(K&#x2212;N)+1] acceptable transmission alarm. If the difference is less than or equal to T, a cable error signature is indicated. Based on the cable error signature, a cable failure may be predicted.

Predicting cable failure through remote failure detection of error signatures

Systems and methods for predicting one or more service problems in a communication network are described. In one implementation, a threshold is set and signal data are collected at an interface component. The collected data are compared to the threshold, and depending on the comparison between the collected data and the threshold, a trend analysis is performed on the collected data.

Method for predictive maintenance of a communication network

Systems and methods for detecting errors in communication networks are described. When an interface component is potentially defective, a rules engine performs diagnostic testing to determine if the interface component is defective. During diagnostics, the rules engine tests a protection interface card to determine if it is defective before determining if the interface component is defective.

Method for automatically identifying component failure in a communication network

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Middletown, NJ, United States of America

Mihail Vasilescu