CA2313915A1 - Network interface device - Google Patents

Abstract

A network interface device (NID) has provider wires electrically connected to customer wires at a junction. A switch is provided in the proximity of the junction to connect disconnect the provider wires from the customer wires and connected the provider wires to test contacts upon activation of the switch. The NID, which can support a plurality of provider and customer wires, has a corresponding number of test buttons that allow the customers to test their wires. The buttons can be locked to prevent tampering and inadvertent disconnection.

Description

PATENT
NETWORK INTERFACE DEVICE
Cross Reference to Related Applications The present application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Application Serial Number 60/143,949, filed on July 15, 1999.
Background of Invention Descriution of Related Art Current multi-line NIDs (Network Interface Devices) usually contain an assembly for many telephone lines with a stub input, an RJ-11 jack and plug for each of the lines, and screw terminal outputs. The NID is mounted on the side of a house or in a basement to of a building and functions as a demarcation point that separates subscriber-owned wiring from telephone company-owned (telco) wiring. The plug-and jacks in the NID
function as the actual demarcation point for each of the lines. If the plug is removed from the jack, then the subscriber wires are physically and electrically disconnected from the telco wires. The plug-and jack allows the subscriber to plug his/her own telephone into the ~5 jack to determine if the telco wires are working correctly. If there is a dial tone at the Nll~ but not in the subscriber's house or building, then the problem lies between the NID
and the jack in the house or building. The subscriber is then responsible for fixing the problem. Alternatively, if there is no tone at the NID, then the telephone company has a problem with the line carrying signals to the NID. Therefore, the Nff~ allows 20 subscribers to determine if there are any problems on their line, whose problems they are, and potentially how to get them corrected.

PATENT
The telco connection in the prior art N1D is also accomplished by means of either an RJ-21 connector on the rear of the unit or a stub. The NID usually includes a hinged cover with instructions on how to test the lines. There are also specific areas for recording identification or location numbers for each line. However, such design causes problems because, especially in the multi-line NIDs, the cost of the plugs and jacks is high; the subscriber may forget to plug the jack back in after testing, thereby interrupting service; and each of the lines is subject to being tampered with by others at the connection point.
Summary of the Invention t 0 Accordingly, a network interface device is needed that alleviates the problems noted above by providing a more secure and lower cost device. Features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
The objectives and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the assembly 15 particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof, as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages, and in accordance with the purpose of the invention as embodied and broadly described herein, the present invention is directed to a network interface device including at least one pair of provider wires, at least one pair of 20 customer wires, the customer wires being electrically connected to the provider wires at a junction, a switch in the proximity of the junction, and a pair of test contacts having a PATENT
first end that is configured to be connected to a testing device and a second end in the junction, whereby the pair of provider wires is disconnected from the pair of customer wires and is electrically connected to the second end of the test contacts upon activation of the switch.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate t o one or several embodiments of the invention, and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
Brief Descriution of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a NID constructed in ~ 5 accordance with the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a schematic of a portion of the NID of Fig. 1 illustrating the connections in the NID in a normal position.
Fig. 3 is a schematic of the test button of Fig. 2, with the test button in a test position (with the button depressed), thereby connecting the test circuit.

PATENT
Figs. 4A and 4B show an alternate embodiment of the test button with the test button in an open position in Fig. 4A, and the test button depressed in Fig.
4B, thereby connecting the test circuit.
Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of the invention that involves the use of a push button switch and a printed circuit board.
Fig. 6 is a schematic of three test circuits constructed in accordance with the invention, the circuits being connected to a common ring test buss and tip test buss, which in turn connect to a single test port.
t o Detailed Description of The Invention Fig. 1 shows a network interface device (N)?7) 10 that typically has a molded thermoplastic housing 15 having a first top surface 11 and second top surface 12, a first 13 and second 14 end surface, a first 16 and second 17 side surface and a bottom surface 18. Typically, the N1D also has a cover (not shown) that is hinged about one side to 15 protect the subassembly 10 of the NID from the elements, tampering, etc.
The cover may also have instructions on the use of the NID, either attached or molded to the cover.
Sheet metal or structural plastic parts fastened together by conventional methods well known in the art could be used to create a viable housing as an alternative to a molded thermoplastic housing. Two tamper proof screws 20 are used to hold the subscriber list 20 30 in place on the first top surface 12 of the housing to identify the lines. A test jack 50 is shown with a dummy plug 52 inserted into the jack. A plurality of test buttons 60 are PATENT
shown adjacent the list 30, each test button having a top surface 61 and a hole 62 that extends through the test button to provide a channel for inserting a padlock 80 to lock an individual subscriber line by preventing the test buttons 60 from being pushed downward, as described in detail below. The test buttons are inserted through the top surface of the housing 15 to engage the wiring as discussed in detail below. Customer wires 65 (see Fig. 6) are inserted into holes 90 of wire connectors 70, which are on the second top surface 12. Wire connectors 70 are shown in Fig. 1 in a representative way and may take many forms, including tool-less insulation displacement contacts (lDCs) and screw terminals, among others. The wire connectors 70 can attached to the housing 15 in a variety of ways, including, for example, integrally molded, snap fit, etc., depending upon design preference.
Fig. 2 schematically shows the wire connectors 70 connect to the test button with tip-out wire leads 120 and ring-out wire leads 140. Wire leads 120,140 can also be circuit trace leads or any other type of electrical conductors. The terminals 70 also connect on the outside with the subscribers' equipment as shown, for example, in Fig. 6.
Provider leads 110 and 130, which come from the provider's central office, mechanically and electrically connect to tip-out wire 120 and ring-out wire 140 to provide telecommunications service to the subscriber through junction 166. When the subscriber's service is interrupted, the location of the interruption must be determined;
whether it is within the subscriber's (customer's) equipment or the provider's line. If the subscriber can test the provider's signal up to the Nm and the provider's lines are PATENT
working, then the subscriber will know that the fault lies within the subscriber's own equipment or wiring. A test jack 50 having a pair of contacts is provided to allow a subscriber to directly connect to the provider's lines at the NID. To perform the check, the subscriber would remove dummy plug 52 from the test jack 50 and plug in a telephone or other appropriate device. The plug 52 is a dummy plug in that, contrary to the prior art, it does not function to connect the provider's lines to the subscribers' lines.
Rather, it has no electrical contacts and its only function is to keep dust, dirt, and other contaminants out of the test jack 50. Since the plug 52 is a dummy plug, if the subscriber forgets to plug it back in after testing the line, the only adverse affect is that dust, dirt, and other contaminants could get into the test jack. In the prior art, since the plug-and-jack connected the provider's lines to the subscribers' lines, if the subscriber forgot to re-insert the plug, there would be no service on the subscriber's line until the plug was re-inserted into the jack.
As an alternative embodiment, the jack 50 could be a dummy jack and the plug 15 could have the pair of contacts or connections. In this embodiment, the subscriber would insert the plug into the device to see if the signal was present on the provider's lines. The dummy jack's function would then be to hold the plug to protect it from contaminants.
In order to perform the test as mentioned above, a test button 60 is provided in the N1D. As illustrated in Fig. 2, which shows the normal operating position of test button 20 60, the test button 60 has two prong contacts 165, each positioned adjacent a junction 166. The junction 166 comprises an engagement of the tip-in wire 110 with tip-out wire PATENT
120 and ring-in wire 130 with ring-out wire 140. One side of each contact 165 is an insulator 150 and the other side is a conductor 160. When test button 60 is depressed as illustrated in Fig. 3, insulator 150 on contacts 165 make contact with tip-out wire 120 and ring-out wire 140, and conductor 160 make contact with tip-in wire 110 and ring-in wire 130. This breaks the connection between tip-in wire 110 and tip-out wire 120 and also between ring-in wire 130 and ring-out wire 140. The contacts 165 push the flexible junction 166 apart, causing tip-in wire 110 and ring-in wire 130 to connect to a buss bar 100 via tip test wire 180 and ring test wire 170, respectively. Buss bar 100 can be either a pair of wire leads or trace leads that extend the length of the housing 15 (see Fig. 1) to to connect with terminals (not shown) in the general area of the customer wire leads. Test wires 170 and 180, could also be traces or any other electrical conductor to make electrical connection to buss bar 100. Buss bar leads 172 and 182 in turn connect the buss bar 100 to test jack 50. Buss leads 172 and 182 could also be wires, traces, or any other electrical conductors. Since the signal from the provider lines 110, 130 are now connected to the test jack 50 rather than to the subscriber's lines, a subscriber/user can insert a telephone or other appropriate device in the jack 50 to ensure that the provider lines 110, 130 are working correctly. The subscriber would then remove the plug from the test jack 50 and replace the dummy plug 52 after testing. The subscriber would also replace the lock 80 inserted through the holes b2 in the test button 60 The lock 80 2o prevents others from pushing down on the test button 60 and disconnecting the subscriber's line from the provider's line.

PATENT
Figs. 4A and 4B illustrate an alternative embodiment of the present invention.
In this embodiment, as shown in Fig. 4A, the test wires are connected directly to the conductor 160 of contacts 165. When the test button 60 moves from the normal position to the test position (Fig. 4B), the junction 166 between the provider and customer is broken and the test wires 170, 180 are directly connected to the provider's lines 110,130 through the contacts 165. Again, as with the embodiment above, the provider lines 110, 130 can be tested by inserting a jack from a telephone or other appropriate device into the test jack 50. While the conductors 160 are shown coming from the top in Figs.

2 and 3 and the bottom in Figs. 4A and 4B, the conductors could come from any orientation and still fall within the scope of the invention.
Fig. 5 illustrates in a representative fashion an alternative embodiment of the present invention. A printed circuit board 250 has a representative button 220 that is manually operated (e.g., a push button, a slide switch, etc.) that connects to provider wires 110,130 by provider tip and ring traces 214,216 on one side and to subscriber wires 15 120,140 by tip and ring traces 210,212 on the other side. The button 220 is also connected to buss bar 100 by tip and ring traces 222,224. While only one button is shown for clarity purposes, the number of buttons that correspond to the lines in the N1D, e.g., twenty five such buttons for twenty-five lines, would be mounted on a board 250. When operated, button 220 activates a double pole, double throw switch, to connect the 20 provider wires 110,130 to test jack 50 via the buss bar 100 and traces 222,224. The buttons 220 are commercially available from a number of vendors.

PATENT
Fig. 6 shows a schematic of another embodiment of the present invention that includes the possibility of optional electronics included in the NID. The schematic illustrates three sets of wire connectors 70 (again, in a standard configuration there would be 25 wire connectors and associated circuits) to connect customer wires 6S to provider wires 110,130. In this embodiment, the switch 230 is the same as or similar to that illustrated in Figs. 2-5 and uses the button 60 discussed above to provide connection to the test port 50 by buss bar 100, through wires 170,180. This embodiment, however, includes optional electronics 240 in parallel to the rest of the circuit. The optional electronics may include a half-ringer, splitter circuit, maintenance termination unit, etc.
If no electronics are provided, then the optional electronics circuit is an open circuit. The provider wires 110,130, typically in an outer covering or sheath 280, enter the NID from the building or from an outside location.
It will be understood that various changes in the details, materials and arrangements of parts which have been herein described and illustrated in order to ~ 5 explain the nature of the invention, may be made by those skilled in the art within the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

Claims (12)

1. A network interface device comprising;
at least one pair of provider wires;
at least one pair of customer wires, the customer wires being electrically connected to the provider wires at a junction;
a switch in the proximity of the junction; and a pair of test contacts having a first end that is configured to be connected to a testing device and a second end in the junction;
whereby the pair of provider wires is disconnected from the pair of customer wires and is electrically connected to the second end of the test contacts upon activation of the switch.

2. The network interface device of claim 1, wherein the switch comprises a test button, the test button having two contacts, each contact having a conductive first side and non-conductive second side.

3. The network interface device of claim 2, wherein the conductive first side of each contact engages the provider wire to make electrical contact with the test wires and the non-conductive second side of each contact engages the customer wires.

4. The network interface device of claim 1, wherein the switch comprises a test button having two contacts and the contacts on the switch are electrically connected to test wires.

5. The network interface device of claim 1, wherein the switch is double pole, double throw switch.

6. The network interface device of claim l, wherein the first end of the test contacts are mounted in a plug.

7. The network interface device of claim 1, wherein the first end of the test contacts are mounted in a jack.

8. The network interface device of claim 1, wherein the switch can be locked.

9. The network interface device of claim 1, wherein the switch comprises a test button, and the button has a channel through which a lock can be inserted.

10. The network interface device of claim l, further comprising an electrical circuit, the electrical circuit being electrically in parallel and electrically connected to the provider's wires during activation of the switch.

11. The network interface device of claim 10, wherein the electrical circuit is one of a half ringer, a splitter circuit, and a maintenance termination unit.

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