Method and system for testing customer premise equipment devices
View Patent ↗A test system couples various ports of one or more CPE devices to components mounted in a rigid mounting system. The system can test the line card portion of the CPE devices coupled to line card interface equipment for various parameters. Variable RF attenuation in RF interface equipment can adjust power levels to/from the RF port of the CPE devices to account for close proximity and variations between different vendors and models, which are coupled via the RF interface equipment to an included CMTS. Network interface equipment tests network port performance of the CPE devices by coupling a general purpose computer thereto. Switching one of a plurality of CPE devices to be the only one tested at a time and switching an addition RENLOAD is controlled by a provisioning server based on criteria including information in a database of various parameters of the particular device being tested.
1. A system for testing a plurality of CPE devices, comprising:
a hub device;
a CMTS coupled to the hub device;
a provisioning server device coupled to the hub device;
a general purpose computer coupled to the hub device, wherein the CMTS is coupled to the general purpose computer via a direct connection;
a network interface coupled to the general purpose computer device via a plurality of network connections, the network interface including a panel having a plurality of network connection ports coupled to network ports of the provisioning server;
RF interface equipment for transmitting and receiving CPE-side RF ports to and from RF ports of the plurality of CPE devices, wherein the RF interface equipment is coupled to the CMTS via upstream and downstream RF links; and
line card interface equipment for interfacing with line card input/outputs of one or more of the plurality of CPE devices, wherein the line card interface equipment is connected to the RF interface equipment via a first digital connection and to the general purpose computer via a second digital connection.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein the system components claimed in claim 1 are mounted in a rigid mounting system.
3. The system of claim 2 wherein the rigid mounting system is a rack mount system.
4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a video display for displaying a user interface operated by the general purpose computer.
5. The system of claim 1 wherein the RF interface equipment includes variable attenuators coupled between the upstream and downstream links and the CPE-side RF ports, wherein the attenuators have variable attenuation factors that can be varied in response to signals received from the provisioning server device via the second digital connection and the first digital connection.
6. The system of claim 1 wherein the RF interface equipment includes variable attenuators coupled between the upstream and downstream links and the CPE-side RF ports, wherein the attenuators have variable attenuation factors that can be varied in response to control signals that are based on predetermined values corresponding to the CPE devices of various vendors.
7. The system of claim 1 wherein the general purpose computer include a dial-up modem for use in coupling to the line card equipment to simulate a user's telephony device coupled to one of the CPE devices being tested.
8. The system of claim 1 further comprising power supply equipment for providing power to the one or more of the plurality of CPE devices being tested.
9. The system of claim 8 further comprising a variac device for providing adjustable power to the plurality of CPE devices being tested to similar various household current scenarios.
10. The system of claim 8 wherein the power supply equipment includes a separate circuit breaker device for regulating power supplied to each of the CPE devices being tested.
11. The system of claim 1 wherein the line card equipment interface includes a simulated load that can be coupled with a telephony device to simulate the load imposed by a plurality of multiple telephony devices.
12. The system of claim 4 further comprising a switch device to for connecting the video display device to either a video output of the general purpose computer or a to a video output of the provisioning server device.
13. The system of claim 1 wherein the hub device is an IP router.
14. The system of claim 1 wherein the hub device is an IP switch.
15. A system for testing one or more CPE devices, comprising:
a hub device;
a CMTS coupled to the hub device;
a provisioning server device coupled to the hub device;
a general purpose computer coupled to the hub device, wherein the CMTS is coupled to the general purpose computer via a direct connection;
a network interface coupled to the general purpose computer via a plurality of network connections, the network interface including a panel having a plurality of network connection ports coupled to network ports of the provisioning server;
RF interface equipment for transmitting and receiving CPE.side RF ports to and from RF ports of the one or more CPE devices, wherein the RF interface equipment is coupled to the, CMTS via upstream and downstream RF links and wherein the RF interface equipment includes a panel having a plurality of RF communications ports for connecting to a plurality of RF communications ports on the one or more corresponding CPE devices and wherein the RF interface equipment includes a splitter network for coupling the one or more CPE devices coupled to one or more of the plurality of RF communications ports to upstream and downstream links; and
line card interface equipment for interfacing with line card input/outputs of one or more of the one or more CPE devices, wherein the line card interface equipment is connected to the RF interface equipment via a first digital connection and to the general purpose computer via a second digital connection and wherein the line card interface equipment includes a panel having a plurality of line card interface ports for coupling line card interface ports of the one or more CPE devices to at least one line interface port having a telephony device coupled thereto.
16. The system of claim 15 further comprising power supply equipment for providing power to the one or more of the plurality of CPE devices being tested.
17. The system of claim 16 further comprising a variac device for providing adjustable power to the plurality of CPE devices being tested to similar various household current scenarios.
18. The system of claim 15 wherein a rigid mounting system locates components claimed in claim 15 .
19. The system of claim 18 wherein the rigid mounting system is a rack mount system.
20. The system of claim 18 wherein the rigid mounting system meets safety standards.
21. The system of claim 20 wherein the safety standards include UL and CE specifications.
22. The system of claim 15 wherein the LC interface equipment includes circuitry for simulating a load of a predetermined number of telephony devices if the simulated load circuitry is coupled to a CPE device being tested.