Joe Robert Luna

6859900, Feb 22, 2005

Dec 5, 2001

10/005441

Martin Garza - Grapevine TX, US
Joe Luna - Houston TX, US
Mark Jefferies Ogden - Owens Cross Roads AL, US
James Ernest Owen - Huntsville AL, US

Adtran, Inc. - Huntsville AL

G01R031/28

714716, 714712

An in-band communication scheme reports the results of loop performance measurements from a remote site to a test site, by deliberately injecting, into a loopback sequence of a repeated code word, a selected one of different numbers of errors. The number of errors is selectable from among a plurality of different quantification values, based upon in which of a plurality of respective ranges of loop performance parameters, measured parameter values fall. The error data is thus effectively a gray-scale type of quantification of loop performance measurement data.

59463724, Aug 31, 1999

Apr 30, 1997

8/841665

William R. Jones - St. Louis MO
Joe R. Luna - Houston TX
Rafael Ruiz - Spring TX

Southwestern Bell Telephone Company - San Antonio TX

H04M 124
H04M 308
H04M 322

379 1

An apparatus and method are disclosed for remotely testing communications circuits, such as digital communications circuits for telephony-based services. According to the disclosed apparatus and method, status or history information related to the communications circuits is received from a tracking system. A control system is provided which manages testing of the communications circuits, and a database is provided which stores data associated with the communications circuits. Further, a testing system which performs a test operation or a predetermined sequence of tests on the communications circuits and determines a condition of the tested circuit(s), and a notification system which notifies service center personnel of the condition of the tested circuit are also provided. Information is received from the tracking system and utilized to extract a list of the communication circuits to be tested, which are stored in the database. The controlling system may access the database and manage the testing system to perform the test operation or predetermined sequence of tests and to notify service center personnel.