CA2264130C - Pinpointing interruptions in communication links - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for pinpointing an interruption in a link for transmitting digital signals between a first station and a second statio n on the basis of the times of occurrence of signal changes on the link. In accordance with the invention, the method is characterised by generating signal changes after the link has been restored. Preferably, the time of restoration is determined on the basis of data signals received, and a detection signal is fed to the link after the determination of the time of restoration. On the basis of the difference in time of observing restoration and of receiving a detection signal, the location of the interruption is determined. For this purpose, the length of the link need not be known.</SDO AB>

Description

101520253035CA 02264130 1999-02-24W0 98/18226 PCT/EP97/05708PINPOINTING INTERRUPTIONS IN COMMUNICATION LINKSA. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe invention relates to a method for pinpointing temporaryinterruptions in links, such as communication links, for transmittingdigital signals, a device for implementing the method, and a systemand communications network in which the method is used.More in particular, the invention relates to a method forpinpointing a temporary interruption in a link between a first stationand a second station on either side of the link, based on the pointsin time at which signal changes on the link reach the stations. Inparticular, the distance of said stations to the point where theinterruption has occurred is determined in this manner. Below, theterm "interruption" will always be used to designate the cause of thesignal changes, even if no complete interruption is involved here -i.e., no complete loss of a signal transmitted over the link — or ifthe interruption is only momentary.Many of the (temporary) interruptions in communication linksarise during maintenance or management activities. There may bethought of, e.g., a temporary rerouting of a link, or of a (momentary)withdrawal of a printed-circuit board in an amplifier station. Forattributing the responsibility for the failure caused in theinformation traffic by the interruption, it is of importance todetermine where the interruption took place.Admittedly, in the Japanese patent application JP-A—4—3732l[ref. 1] there is disclosed a method to determine the location of aninterruption on the basis of the propagation delay of signal changes.In the event of said known method, however, a signal changespecifically consists of the (substantial) loss of a carrier wave orinformation signal on the link, and said loss will generally be thedirect result of an interruption, or at any rate a failure, in thelink.of occurrence of a change in the analogue signal value, determined onThe method is based on determining the difference in the timeeither side of the link. Use is made of the fact that on the analoguetransmission path in question there is a signal which in the event ofan interruption occurring in said transmission path is completely orsubstantially lost. The point in time of such loss of a signal cannotbe determined exactly with simple means, although such should in fact1015202530CA 02264130 2002-05-2825890-1372be done on either side of the link in order to be capable ofdetermining the difference with sufficient exactness. Whendigital signals are transmitted by way of the transmissionpath, special provisions should be installed to derive asignal from the digital signals which, in the event of aninterruption in the link, undergoes such a characteristicchange as in the known method. In addition, in the event ofthe known method, measured values, namely, times ofoccurrence of changes in the signal value between stationson either side of the link, must be exchanged and comparedto one another. This is possible only by way of anotherlink between the stations existing at that moment, or afterrestoration of the link on the basis of relativelyinaccurate measured values determined earlier. Moreover,for determining the location of the interruption, theoverall length of the link, designated by L in JP—A—4—3732l,must be known.B. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe object of the invention is to provide a methodfor pinpointing interruptions in links for transmittingdigital signals, which is not only very reliable, but inwhich there need not be exchanged, between the stations,measured values depending on the location of theinterruption, and the length of the link need not be known.Another object of the invention is to provide amethod for pinpointing interruptions in links, which makesit possible to determine the location of the interruption ineach of the stations separately, so that it is possible tocheck the determination of the location.An additional object of the invention is toprovide a method for pinpointing interruptions in links10152O2530CA 02264130 2002-05-2825890-137which makes it possible to measure the length of the link orto check it, as the case may be.According to the invention there is providedmethod for pinpointing a temporary interruption in a linkfor transmitting digital signals between a first station anda second station on either side of the link on the basis ofthe times of occurrence of signal changes on the link, themethod comprising the following steps: awaiting arestoration of the link in both stations, the restorationbeing indicated by digital signals being transmitted betweenthe first station and the second station following saidtemporary interruption; upon observing restoration of thelink in the first station, generating a first detectionsignal in the form of predetermined signal changes in thatstation and transmitting those signal changes to the secondstation; upon observing restoration of the link in thesecond station, generating a second detection signal in theform of predetermined signal changes in that station andtransmitting those signal changes to the first station:determining, from the time when the restoration is observedby the first station and the time of receipt by that stationof the predetermined signal changes transmitted by thesecond station, the distance between the interruption andthe second station, and determining, from the time when therestoration is observed by the second station and the timeof receipt by that station of the predetermined signalchanges transmitted by the first station, the distancebetween the interruption and the first station.In a preferred embodiment of the method, adetection signal is generated only after a predetermineddelay time.l0152025CA 02264130 2002-05-2825890-1373aThe detection signal preferably consists of a datasignal having a characteristic pattern of zeros and ones,not inherent to the data to be transmitted, for example atleast 256 consecutive ones.According to another aspect the invention providesapparatus for pinpointing a temporary interruption in a linkfor transmitting digital signals between a first station anda second station, the apparatus incorporated in the firststation and the second station, each being provided withfirst means for passing on digital signals, with the firstmeans also generating signals which are indicative of thepresence of an interruption in the link between the firstand the second station and of a restoration of the link, therestoration being indicated by digital signals beingtransmitted between the first station and the second stationfollowing said temporary interruption, the stations eachbeing provided with second means for, in response to thesignals indicative of the restoration of the link,generating a detection signal which is fed to the link, andwith third means for, as a function of the signalsindicative of the restoration of the link, generated in aparticular station, and the detection signal received fromthe station at the other end of the link, generating ameasured—value signal which is indicative of the distancebetween the location of the interruption in the link and thestation at the other end of the link.C. REFERENCE[l] JP—A~4—3732l Cable Fault Point Locating System.l0IS2025CA 02264130 2002-05-2825890-1373bD. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe invention will be explained in greater detailby means of a description of an exemplary embodiment,reference being made to a drawing in which:FIG. 1 schematically shows a link, such as acommunication link for transmitting digital signals, havingstations on either side, designated by A and B,respectively;FIG. 2 schematically shows a possible embodimentof a station;FIG. 3 shows a time diagram for the relevantsignals.E. DESCRIPTION OF AN EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTIn FIG. l, (l) is a duplex communication link(2),there are located stations A and B.including intermediary stations while on either side ofthe link (1) Theintermediary stations customary in such communication linkscomprise amplifier units. In this case, there are drawnthree intermediary stations, but this number is just anexample. The users of the link are designated by GA and GB.The location of the interruption, which may be pinpointed bythe method to be described, is designated by (3). Thedistance of the interruption (3) to station A is called toX, the distance to station B is called Y. Of course, thelocation of an interruption indicated in FIG. 1 is only oneof the possible locations. Another possible location is alocation between an intermediary station and one of thestations A and B.CA 02264130 2002-05-2825890—l373cIt is customary that, in the event of observing,in an intermediary station (2), an interruption in thetransmission path, there is transmitted an “Alarm IndicationSignal” (AIS) in the direction of the ends of the link.Thus, in the situation shown in10152025A3035CA 02264130 1999-02-24W0 98/ 18226 PCT/EP97/057084 -FIG. 1, the intermediary post to the left of the interruption (3)transmits an AIS in the direction of station A, and the intermediarystation to the right of the interruption (3) transmits an AIS in thedirection of station B. Such an AIS consists of a sequence ofsubstantially ones. In response thereto, the stations A and B set aflag Q; in other words, to a signal Q there is assigned the digital"1".In the method according to the invention, the restoration of thevaluelink is awaited to determine the location of the interruption. As aresult of the finite transmission speed of signals, some time aftersaid restoration there are once again received, in the stations A andB, signals or data containing information, originating from the usersGB and GA.will differ from one another for the stations A and B; only when theGenerally, the times of observing restoration of the linkdelay times of signals from the point of the interruption to thestations A and B are equal, the restoration-observation times,hereinafter designated by tA and tn respectively, will be equal. If itis assumed that restoration of the link takes place at the time to, thefollowing applies:tA-= to + tx,where tx designates the period of time required for thepropagation of a signal over a distance X from the point of theinterruption to the station A.Thus, the following likewise applies:tB- t0+ CY.At the times tA and t3, clocks are started in station A andstation B, respectively. Then there is transmitted, after apredetermined delay tn, by stations A and B, a momentarilycharacteristic pattern of zeros and ones, preferably a pseudo-AISIn either station, there is then awaitedAt thehaving substantially ones.the receipt of the momentary pseudo-AIS from the other side.time of receipt of said pseudo-AIS, all data for pinpointinginterruptions is available. At that point in time, in the station A101520253035CA 02264130 1999-02-24W0 98/18226 PCT/EP97/057085or station B, respectively, the signal Q is given the digital valueIIOII ‘and B is designated by tmA and tmm, respectively, the followingIf the times of receipt of the momentary AIS for the stations Aapplies:to“ = to + ty + tn + cm,and:In station A, the difference between tA and tmA is determined;in station B, the difference between t3 and tmm. Thus, for station Asaid measured value tmA is found as:tum “‘3ou'tA"-tO+tY+tD+tx+Y-to-tx-==tY+tD+tx+Y—tx=-=-2.tY+tD,where it has been assumed that the delay time of a signal overpart of the link is directly proportional to the length of saidpart of the link.Likewise, the following applies to station E:Cu" toms ‘ tn "— tn.From the measured value tnA found in station A, there maytherefore be derived — since tn is known — the time required by asignal to pass through the distance from the point of theinterruption to station B. Making use of the fact that the speed,with which signals are propagated over the link, is known, thedistance from the interruption to station B may be determined fromtum.determined from the measured value Q” found in station B.Likewise, the distance from the interruption to station A may beAll thisIn fact, theoverall length of the link may even be derived from a summation ofwithout having to know the overall length of the link.101520253035CA 02264130 1999-02-24W0 98/18226 PCT/EP97/057086measured values in the stations A and B.In FIG. 2, showing a possible embodiment of a station (in thiscase station B of FIG. 1), (I) and (O) are the input and outputsignals of the receiving side of station B, and (I') and (0') are theinput and output signals of the transmission side of station E. Thecomponents referred to in the description of FIG. 2 also figure inIn this embodiment, there are applied "CEPT (El) line[CEPT = Conferencestation A.cards", designated by (4) and (4') in FIG. 2.Européenne des administrations des Postes et des Télécommunications]Such a card, hereinafter designated, for briefness' sake, by "CEPTthe DS2284.The CEPT card (4) generates a signal S1, "receive AIS", which has thecard", is available from, inter alia, the firm Dallas:logical value "1" when at the input I there have been received,during a certain period of time, almost exclusively ones. With asignal S2, derived from S1 by interruption-deciding circuit (5) in away still to be described, a clock (6) is started and stopped. Thesignal S3 represents the measured value for the period of timebetween starting and stopping the clock (6), and is presented byresult display (7) in the form of a number corresponding to the sizeof the distance from station B to the location of the interruption.CEPT card (4') has an input for a signal 54; when S4 has the logicalvalue "1", CEPT card (4') transmits a series of ones by way of output0'. The signal S4 isderived from S2 by pattern generator (8) in such a manner that CEPTThis serves as a pseudo-AIS for station A.card (4'), under control of S4, transmits a specific pattern ofpseudo-AIS, alternated with data, on 0'. Said pattern may consistof, e.g.: a short-time pseudo-AIS, (almost) exclusively ones,followed by data, and closed off by another short-time pseudo-AIS.In the pseudo-AIS pattern, there may possibly be included acharacteristic pattern of zeros. Such a unique, and for stations Aand B identical, AIS/data pattern (detection signal), if it istransmitted by station E, is recognised by the interruption-decidingcircuit (5) in station A and converted into a stop signal for theclock (6) present in station A. Using a unique pattern for thedetection signal has the advantage that a quick alteration of thedecision is avoided, such as when a control circuit is provided withhysteresis. From the above it follows that S2 must be given thestart value (the value at which clock (6) is started) when S1 passes101520253035CA 02264130 1999-02-24W0 98/ 18226 PCT/EP97/057087from a logical "l" to a logical "O" to indicate that the end of theinterruption has been observed. As already mentioned earlier, thesignal S2 must receive the stop value (the value at which clock (6)is stopped) when the unique pattern of AIS and data — the detectionsignal — is recognised.In the above it is assumed that the interruption to bepinpointed is located between two intermediary stations, andtherefore, e.g., at location (3) in FIG. 1. Should the interruptionoccur on the segment between the nearest intermediary station andstation B, and therefore when there is no longer any intermediarystation between the interruption and station B, then station B willreceive no AIS. In this case, the interruption is observed sincestation B observes that there is no longer any signal: "carrierloss". The CEPT card (4) reports this by means of the signal S5(RCL, "Receive Carrier Loss") which then assumes the logical value"1".must S2 be given the start value when S1 passes from a logical "1" toTo be capable of pinpointing such an interruption, not onlya logical "0", but also when S5 is given the logical value "1". Insummary, it may be said that the interruption-deciding circuit (5)takes a decision on the grounds of a number of criteria whose valuesfor S1 and S2 are referred to. Apart from this, in a specific casestill other, implementation-dependent, criteria may be taken intoconsideration, such as the period duration of signals.FIG. 3 offers a time diagram for some of the relevant signals inthe event that the interruption is located between two intermediarystations. Here, it may be seen that at the time t3, corresponding,with a slight difference, to the point in time on which data is againreceived after an interruption, S1 passes from "1" to "0" and thenSignal S2— the start/stop signal for the clock — assumes the start value whenrepresents the unique pattern transmitted from station A.Sl passes from "1" to "0", and the stop value after recognition ofthe unique pattern transmitted by station A. The data originatingfrom the user B is passed on to 0', with the exception of the periodduring which station B is transmitting the unique pattern, to startat the moment tn + tn.It will be understood by those skilled in the art that theinvention is not limited to the embodiments shown, and that manymodifications and amendments are possible without departing from the W0 98/18226scope of the invention.CA02264130 1999-02-24PCT/EP97/05708

Claims (4)

CLAIMS:

1. Method for pinpointing a temporary interruption in a link for transmitting digital signals between a first station and a second station on either side of the link on the basis of the times of occurrence of signal changes on the link, the method comprising the following steps:
- awaiting a restoration of the link in both stations, the restoration being indicated by digital signals being transmitted between the first station and the second station following said temporary interruption;
- upon observing restoration of the link in the first station, generating a first detection signal in the form of predetermined signal changes in that station and transmitting those signal changes to the second station;
- upon observing restoration of the link in the second station, generating a second detection signal in the form of predetermined signal changes in that station and transmitting those signal changes to the first station:
- determining, from the time when the restoration is observed by the first station and the time of receipt by that station of the predetermined signal changes transmitted by the second station, the distance between the interruption and the second station, and - determining, from the tame when the restoration is observed by the second station and the time of receipt by that station of the predetermined signal changes transmitted by the first station, the distance between the interruption and the first station.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein a detection signal is generated only after a predetermined delay time.

3. Method according to claim 2, wherein a-detection signal consists eat least 256 consecutive ones.

4. Apparatus for pinpointing a temporary interruption in a link for transmitting digital signals between a first station and a second station, the apparatus incorporated in the first station and the second station, each being provided with first means for passing on digital signals, with the first means also generating signals which are indicative of the presence of an interruption in the link between the first and the second station and of a restoration of the link, the restoration being indicated by digital signals being transmitted between the first station and the second station following said temporary interruption, the stations each being provided with second means for, in response to the signals indicative of the restoration of the link, generating a detection signal which is fed to the link, and with third means for, as a function of the signals indicative of the restoration of the link, generated in a particular station, and the detection signal received from the station at the other end of the link, generating a measured-value signal which is indicative of the distance between the location of the interruption in the link and the station at the other end of the link.