The present invention relates to telephone system test equipment and more particularly to equipment operable by a single craft person or technician remotely to condition telephone lines for testing procedures. Such conditioning previously required either two technicians or other operating personnel stationed at opposite ends of a cable section to be tested or protracted moving back and forth between sometimes widely separated points on the cable to be tested by a single operating technician.
In many situations it is required that various tests be conducted on sections of telephone lines or multi-line cables which sections may be from a few feet to several miles long. The tests are commonly conducted from one end of the section and require that certain of the single lines or pairs be interconnected or switched into various configurations at the ends remote from the end at which testing equipment is connected.
In order for such testing to be conducted by a single technician it has previously been necessary for that technician to travel back and forth between the ends of the section under test in order to arrange the lines into the appropriate configuration for each test. Although it is seemingly a more efficient use of manpower for a team of two technicians, one at each end of the line section, to conduct the tests it has been found that there is sometimes miscommunication between the technicians and so extra time is required to insure that the tests are properly conducted and that the test results are accurate.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds