System and method of operation for a telecommunications patch system

This application is related to the following co-pending applications, the disclosures of which are incorporated into this specification by reference.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/247,613, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ADDRESSING AND TRACING PATCH CORD IN A DEDICATED TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM;

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/247,269, entitled TRACING INTERFACE MODULE FOR PATCH CORDS IN A TELECOMMUNICATIONS PATCH SYSTEM;

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/247,385, entitled DISPLAY PANEL OVERLAY STRUCTURE AND METHOD FOR TRACING INTERFACE MODULES IN A TELECOMMUNICATIONS PATCH SYSTEM;

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/247,270, entitled METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DETECTING THE PRESENCE OF A PATCH CORD CONNECTOR IN A TELECOMMUNICATIONS PATCH SYSTEM;

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/247,237, entitled METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DETECTING THE PRESENCE OF A PATCH CORD CONNECTOR IN A TELECOMMUNICATIONS PATCH SYSTEM USING PASSIVE DETECTION SENSORS;

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/404,420, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING SPECIFIC PATCH CORD CONNECTORS IN A TELECOMMUNICATIONS PATCH SYSTEM; and

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/404,619, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD OF INTERCONNECTING TRACING INTERFACE MODULES TO A CENTRAL CONTROLLER IN A TELECOMMUNICATIONS PATCH SYSTEM.

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the structure and method of operations of dedicated telecommunications patching systems where telecommunications lines are selectively interconnected using patch cords. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for remotely accessing telecommunication patching systems, prior to physically visiting the telecommunications patching system.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Many businesses have dedicated telecommunication systems that enable computers, telephones, facsimile machines and the like to communicate with each other, through a private network, and with remote locations via a telecommunications service provider. In most buildings, the dedicated telecommunications system is hard wired using telecommunication cables that contain conductive wire. In such hard wired systems, dedicated wires are coupled to individual service ports throughout the building. The wires from the dedicated service ports extend through the walls of the building to a telecommunications closet or closets. The telecommunications lines from the interface hub of a main frame computer and the telecommunication lines from external telecommunication service providers are also terminated within the telecommunications closets.

A patching system is used to interconnect the various telecommunication lines within the telecommunications closet. In a telecommunications patching system, all of the telecommunication lines are terminated within the telecommunications closet in an organized manner. The organized terminations of the various lines are provided via the structure of the telecommunications closet. Within the telecommunications closet is typically located a mounting frame. On the mounting frame is connected a plurality of racks. The telecommunications lines terminate on the racks, as is explained below.

Referring to FIG. 1, a typical prior art rack 10 is shown. The rack 10 retains a plurality of patch panels 12 that are mounted to the rack 10 . On each of the patch panels 12 are located port assemblies 14 . The port assemblies 14 each contain six RJ-45 telecommunication connector ports 16 .

Each of the different telecommunication connector ports 16 is hard wired to one of the system's telecommunications lines. Accordingly, each telecommunications line is terminated on a patch panel 12 in an organized manner. In small patch systems, all telecommunications lines may terminate on the patch panels of the same rack. In larger patch systems, multiple racks are used, wherein different telecommunications lines terminate on different racks.

In the shown embodiment of FIG. 1, the interconnections between the various telecommunications lines are made using patch cords 20 . Both ends of each patch cord 20 are terminated with connectors 22 , such as an RJ-45 telecommunication connector or a RJ-11 telecommunications connector. One end of the patch cord 20 is connected to the connector port 16 of a first telecommunications line and the opposite end of the cord is connected to the connector port 16 of a second telecommunications line. By selectively connecting the various lines of the patch cords 20 , any combination of telecommunications lines can be interconnected.

In many businesses, employees are assigned their own computer network access number exchange so that the employee can interface with the company's main frame computer or computer network. When an employee changes office locations, it is not desirable to provide that employee with new exchange numbers. Rather, to preserve consistency in communications, it is preferred that the exchanges of the telecommunication connection ports in the employee's old office be transferred to the telecommunications ports in the employee's new office. To accomplish this task, the patch cords in the telecommunication closet are rearranged so that the employee's old exchanges are now received in his/her new office.

As employees, move, change positions, add lines and subtract lines, the patch cords in a typical telecommunications closet are rearranged quite often. The interconnections of the various patch cords in a telecommunications closet are often logged in either paper or computer based log. However, technicians often neglect to update the log each and every time a change is made. Inevitably, the log is less than 100% accurate and a technician has no way of reading where each of the patch cords begins and ends. Accordingly, each time a technician needs to change a patch cord, that technician manually traces that patch cord between an internal line and an external line. To preform a manual trace, the technician locates one end of a patch cord. The technician then manually follows the patch cord until he/she finds the opposite end of that patch cord. Once the two ends of the patch cord are located, the patch cord can be positively identified.

It takes a significant amount of time for a technician to manually trace a particular patch cord. Furthermore, manual tracing is not completely accurate and technicians often accidently go from one patch cord to another during a manual trace. Such errors result in misconnected telecommunication lines which must be later identified and corrected.

Furthermore, each rack on a telecommunications closet only contains a finite amount of room. Accordingly, each rack can hold only a predetermined maximum number of patch panels. The number of connector ports on the various patch panels is also limited. Often a technician does not know if there are any free connector ports in a telecommunications closet until the technician inspects the telecommunications closet. If no free connector ports are available, a technician may have to add a new patch panel to one of the racks in the telecommunications closet. If there is no room for additional patch panels, a new rack may have to be added to the telecommunications closet.

As can be ascertained, a technician often does not know how complicated a task will be in a telecommunication closet until the technician inspects that telecommunications closet and determines the status of that telecommunications closet. Unfortunately, a technician cannot currently inspect a telecommunications closet until such a time that he/she arrives at that telecommunications closet. Accordingly, the unknown status of different telecommunications closets makes it difficult for technicians to generate and keep an accurate work schedule.

Furthermore, technicians are typically given work orders that instruct them as to which patch cords in a telecommunications closet are to be rearranged, removed or added. The records for a telecommunication closets may not be accurately kept. In a telecommunications closet, there are often deadjumpers that are connected to the telecommunications rack but serve no purpose. Without accurate records, a technician cannot tell if a patch cord is active or dead. Accordingly, a technician may add new patch panels to the telecommunication closet when such additions are not necessary.

A need therefore exists in the field of telecommunication patching closets for a system and method of remotely ascertaining the status of a telecommunications closet, prior to the arrival of a technician.

The present invention is a system and method for ascertaining the status of a telecommunications patching system and making that status communicable to a remote location. The system includes a plurality of tracing interface modules that attach to the patch panels in a telecommunications closet. Each of the patch panels in a telecommunications closet contains a plurality of connector ports that receive the terminated ends of patch cords. The tracing interface modules mount to the patch panels and provide a sensor for each of the connector ports. The sensor detects whenever a patch cord is connected to, or removed from, a connector port. Accordingly, by connecting a computer controller to the various sensors in each rack, the computer controller can monitor all changes to the patch cord interconnections within that rack. The computer controllers can be joined together in a network. The network monitors the status of all the connector ports on all the racks. Accordingly, the data on the network contains the full status of the telecommunications closet.

The network within the telecommunications closet can be accessed via a private and/or public telecommunications network. Accordingly, the network within the telecommunications closet can be accessed, via a modem from a remote computer. Preferably, the network within the telecommunications closet is coded with a Simple Network Management Protocol, the current standard internet protocol. This enables direct access of the network via the internet.

By ascertaining the status of a telecommunications closet before traveling to that telecommunications closet, a technician can predetermine the amount of work that needs to be done to complete a scheduled task. This eliminates the time previously required to manually determine the status of a telecommunications closet on site. Furthermore, paperless work order instruction can be fed directly to the telecommunications closet for a technician to read on-site.

For a better understanding of the present invention, reference is made to the following description of and exemplary embodiment thereof, considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a typical prior art telecommunications rack assembly containing multiple patch panels with connector ports that are selectively interconnected by patch cords;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a tracing interface module and rack controller in accordance with the present invention, shown in conjunction with the prior art telecommunications rack assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the present invention system.

In the prior art telecommunications rack of FIG. 1, there is no method of determining the status of the individual connector ports present on the various patch panels. In the present invention system and method, each patch panel and rack is modified so that the status of each individual connector port can be monitored by computer. Referring to FIG. 2, a conventional telecommunications rack 10 is shown, such as the one previously described in regard to FIG. 1 . The telecommunications rack 10 contains a plurality of patch panels 12 that are mounted in parallel horizontal rows within the rack 10 . Each of the patch panels 12 contains a plurality of patch port assemblies 14 . The connector ports 16 associated with each of the patch port assemblies 14 are hard wired to the various telecommunications lines that lead into the telecommunications closet.

In the present invention system, a rack controller 30 is mounted to each rack 10 in the overall patch system. The rack controller 30 contains a central processing unit (CPU). The CPU is capable of independently running line tracing programs and also contains a remote access port 32 that enables the CPU to be accessed by a remote computer. The purpose of the rack controller 30 is to operate and gather data from various tracing interface modules 34 . The tracing interface modules 34 are modules that mount to the face of each patch panel 12 on the rack 10 . The tracing interface modules 34 surround the various connector ports 16 located on a patch panel 12 and provide an interface through which data about each connector port can be transmitted to and from the rack controller 30 .

The tracing interface module 34 can have multiple different configurations. The structure and different configuration of the tracing modules 34 are disclosed in related co-pending patent application Ser. No. 09/247,269, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,830, entitled Tracing Interface Module For Patch Cords In A Telecommunications Patch System; patent application Ser. No. 09/247,385, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,330,307, entitled Display Panel Overlay Structure And Method For Tracing Interface Modules In A Telecommunications System; and patent application Ser. No. 09/247,270, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,350,148, entitled Method And Devices For Detecting The Presence Of A Patch Cord Connector In a Telecommunications Patch System. These applications have already been incorporated into this application by reference.

In the shown embodiment, the tracing interface module 34 contains a rectangular relief 36 that surrounds the connector ports 16 on each patch port assembly 14 when the tracing interface module 34 is connected to the patch panels 12 . From FIG. 2, it can be seen that extending into each rectangular relief 36 is a plurality of sensors 38 . Each sensor 38 corresponds in position with one of the connector ports 16 on the patch panel 12 . As the terminated end of a patch cord 20 (FIG. 1) is connected to a connector port 16 , the presence of the patch cord 20 is detected by the rack controller 30 . The rack controller 30 is therefore capable of automatically determining when a patch cord 20 has been added to, or removed from, any connector port 16 on the rack 10 .

In addition to the sensors, the tracing interface module also contains light emitting diodes (LEDS) 40 and tracing buttons 42 that are used in tracing the origin and destination of each of the patch cords 20 . The disclosure concerning patch cord tracing can be found in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/247,613, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,285,293, entitled System and Method For Addressing And Tracing Patch Cords In A Dedicated Telecommunications System, the disclosure of which has previously been incorporated by reference.

When a patch cord 20 (FIG. 1) is placed into any connector port 16 , or removed from any connector port 16 , that change is sensed by a sensor 38 and read to the rack controller 30 . The rack controller 30 is therefore capable of monitoring any and all changes that occur to the patch cords in the patch system over time. The rack controller 30 is therefore also capable of automatically keeping an accurate log of all changes that have occurred to the patch cords since the installation of the present invention system. Accordingly, if a technician is servicing the patch system, that technician can read the accurate log directly from the rack controller 30 . The log can be read out on the display 46 of the rack controller 30 or can be remotely accessed via the connector port 32 on the rack controller 30 .

Referring to FIG. 3, it can be seen that the rack controllers 30 of the various racks 10 within a telecommunications closet can be networked together in parallel. This produces a closet control network 50 that monitors the status of every connector port 16 (FIG. 2) within that telecommunications closet. Accordingly, by accessing the closet control network 50 , a technician can ascertain the full status of the telecommunications closet, including the status and location of unused connector ports 16 (FIG. 2) within the telecommunications closet and the location of dead patch cords.

A technician can access the closet control network 50 from within the telecommunications closet itself. However, it is useful for the technician to access the closet control network 50 prior to arriving at the telecommunications closet.

As is shown in FIG. 3, the closet control network 50 is connected to either a private or public telecommunications network 52 . Using a telecommunications link, a remote computer 56 can access the closet control network 50 and develop a database of data from the closet control network 50 . A technician can therefore ascertain the status of the targeted telecommunications closet by accessing the collected data in the database.

Each rack controller 30 may contain the software that is used to organize and display the information gathered from the closet control network 50 . However, if a technician has this operating software, a technician can access the closet control network 50 directly, via the private or public telecommunications network 52 .

To facilitate the access of the closet control network 50 from remote locations, the closet control network 50 is preferably coded using a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). SNMP is the current standard management protocol for the internet. Accordingly, using the internet, a technician can access the closet control network 50 and can ascertain the status of the selected telecommunications closet.

As a technician arrives at a telecommunications closet to do work, that technician may want to retrieve certain information from the closet control network 50 that may have not been previously retrieved. For this reason, a local access controller 60 may be provided. A local access controller 60 is a hand held controller that communicates to the closet control network 50 . The hand held controller can be hard wired to one of the rack controllers 30 (as is shown), or the hand held controller can create a wireless link with a rack controller 30 via infrared or radio signal transmissions. The hand held controller can have its own display, or else it may utilize the display 46 on one of the rack controllers 30 to communicate with the technician.

Since each rack controller 30 has a large display 46 , a technician can easily read information by viewing the various rack controller 30 . This arrangement also enables technicians to receive paperless work orders. If a work order is desired for a particular telecommunications closet, that work order can be read to the telecommunications closet, via a remote computer 56 . A technician can then read that work order directly from the displays 46 of the rack controllers 30 when at the telecommunications closet. If a technician alters the telecommunications closet in a manner not corresponding to the work order, an error message can be automatically displayed to the technician. The same error message can also be sent back to the remote computer 56 .

Since the present invention system contains a rack controller, that can be mounted to an existing telecommunications rack, and tracing interface modules, that can be mounted to existing patch panels, it should be clear that the present invention system can be retroactively added to many different types of telecommunication patch systems. The rack controller is sized to mount in existing racks. The tracing interface modules are designed with very thin profiles. Accordingly, when added to existing patch systems, the components of the present invention are added to an existing patching system, the added components do not require any physical changes to the layout of the telecommunications closet of the position of the patch panels on the racks within that closet.

It will be understood that the embodiment of the present invention specifically shown and described is merely exemplary and that a person skilled in the art can make alternate embodiments using different configurations and functionally equivalent components. All such alternate embodiments are intended to be included in the scope of this invention as set forth in the following claims.