Remotely controlled apparatus for conditioning telephone line exclusive

Abstract

A remotely controlled line conditioning apparatus is installed in the terminal where access to the telephone loop to be tested is readily available. Although a metallic bypass pair from the central office to the (remote) terminal may also be available, its presence and/or condition does not affect the ability of the apparatus to condition the line under test. The line conditioning apparatus includes a telephone line termination unit and an intelligent control unit. The telephone line termination unit has a telephone line access port to which a telephone line pair is selectively coupled, and is operative to controllably impart a selected one of a plurality of electrical signalling conditions to the telephone line pair under test. The control unit has a communication modem through which communication signals containing telephone line conditioning messages are coupled to and from the central office/remote terminal communication link. The control unit also includes a micro-controller, which is coupled to the modem, for generating telephone line unit control signals in response to line conditioning messages from a host unit located at the central office. Control signals generated by the micro-controller control the operation of the telephone line termination unit which conditions the telephone line pair.