Optical network test instrument including optical network unit identifier capture capability from downstream signals

1. An apparatus connectable to an optical network, the apparatus comprising:

a plurality of optical ports connectable to the optical network to optically couple the apparatus between an optical line terminal (OLT) and an optical network unit (ONU) in the optical network;

an optical receiver coupled to the plurality of optical ports, wherein the optical receiver is to receive a downstream signal transmitted from the OLT via a first port of the plurality of optical ports and convert the downstream signal to a digital data stream;

a burst detector to:

detect upstream signals from the ONU, and

generate a capture enable signal for output, wherein the capture enable signal is set to a value for enabling capture of information from the downstream signal; and

a capture circuit to:

receive the digital data stream from the optical receiver,

extract an ONU identifier from an OLT message from the digital data stream, and

store bytes of the OLT message in data storage based on actions by the burst detector, wherein the OLT message comprises the ONU identifier obtained from the ONU identifier assignment message.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising:

an optical coupler including a plurality of coupler ports and a plurality of drop ports, wherein the downstream signal is received on a first coupler port of the plurality of coupler ports, and the coupler is to output a major portion of the downstream signal power via a second coupler port of the plurality of coupler ports and output a minor portion of the downstream signal power to a downstream data receiver via a first drop port of the plurality of drop ports.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the second coupler port is coupled to a second optical port of the plurality of optical ports, and the second optical port is connected to the ONU, and wherein the major portion of the downstream signal power is output to the ONU via the second optical port.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the apparatus is to receive an upstream signal sent from the ONU to the OLT via the second optical port, and the coupler is to receive the upstream signal via the second coupler port, and the coupler is to output a major portion of the upstream signal power via the first coupler port and output a minor portion of the upstream signal power via a second drop port of the plurality of drop ports.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , comprising:

a burst detector coupled to the dropped minor portion of the upstream signal power, wherein the burst detector is to output the capture enable signal to the capture circuit in response to detecting the upstream signal.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the capture circuit is to start and stop storing the digital data stream to the data storage based on conditions derived from at least one of data patterns found in the digital data stream, a burst detector detecting an upstream signal transmitted from the ONU, and signals from a processor.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising:

a power meter to measure power levels of at least one of the downstream signal and an upstream signal received from the ONU via one of the plurality of optical ports.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is coupled upstream of an optical splitter combiner in the optical network, and the optical splitter combiner is coupled to a plurality of ONUs, wherein the capture circuit is to capture an identifier for each of the ONUs from downstream signals sent from the OLT to each of the ONUs.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the ONU identifier includes an ONU serial number, and the OLT message including the ONU identifier is received from the OLT during an activation procedure of the ONU.

10. A test instrument connectable to an optical distribution network (ODN) of a passive optical network between an optical line terminal (OLT) and at least one optical network unit (ONU), the test instrument comprising:

optical ports coupling the test instrument to a test point in the ODN between the OLT and the at least one ONU;

at least one receiver including a measurement circuit to measure parameters of optical signals received via at least one of the optical ports, wherein the optical signals include a downstream signal transmitted from the OLT to the at least one ONU via the ODN;

at least one detector to:

detect upstream signals from the ONU; and

generate a capture enable signal for output, wherein the capture enable signal is set to a value for enabling capture of information from the downstream signal; and

at least one capture circuit coupled to the at least one receiver, and the capture circuit is to:

receive the downstream signal from the at least one optical receiver, and

extract an ONU identifier of the at least one ONU from an ONU identifier assignment message from the downstream signal, and

store the ONU identifier in data storage based on actions of the at least one detector.

11. The test instrument of claim 10 , wherein the at least one receiver comprises a plurality of downstream receivers to receive downstream optical signals for different passive optical networks.

12. The test instrument of claim 11 , wherein the at least one receiver comprises a plurality of upstream receivers to receive upstream optical signals for the different passive optical networks.

13. The test instrument of claim 10 , comprising:

an optical coupler coupling the optical ports to each other and the at least one receiver,

wherein the optical coupler is to receive the downstream signal from a first of the optical ports, output a major portion of the downstream signal power to a second of the optical ports connected to the at least one ONU, and output a minor portion of the downstream signal power to the at least one receiver via a drop port of the coupler, and the measurement circuit measures the parameters from the minor portion.

14. The test instrument of claim 10 , comprising:

a processor; and

a display, wherein the processor is to present, on the display, the measured parameters or the identifier of the at least one optical network unit (ONU).

15. The test instrument of claim 10 , wherein the at least one ONU comprises a plurality of ONUs connected downstream from the test point in the ODN, and the capture circuit is to capture an ONU identifier for each of the plurality of ONUs.

16. A method comprising:

receiving, via an optical port of a test instrument, a downstream optical signal transmitted from an optical line terminal (OLT), wherein the test instrument is connected to an optical distribution network (ODN) between the OLT and an optical network unit (ONU);

extracting an ONU identifier from an OLT message from the downstream optical signal;

detecting one or more upstream signals from the ONU;

generating a capture enable signal for output; and

storing bytes of the OLT message in data storage based on the detected upstream signals, wherein the OLT message comprises the ONU identifier obtained from an ONU identifier assignment message.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein capturing the identifier of the ONU comprises:

detecting, at the test instrument, an upstream signal transmitted from the ONU to the OLT via the ODN during an activation procedure of the ONU; and

enabling a capture circuit in the test instrument to capture the identifier from in response to detecting the upstream signal.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein capturing the identifier in response to detecting the upstream signal comprises:

capturing the identifier from a first received downstream signal received after the upstream signal is detected.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein capturing the identifier of the ONU from the downstream optical signal comprises:

power splitting the received downstream optical signal:

converting a minor portion of the split optical signal to a digital data stream; and

extracting bytes from the digital data stream that include the identifier of the ONU.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the identifier of the ONU is captured during an activation procedure of the ONU.

21. A non-transitory method computer-readable storage medium having an executable stored thereon, which when executed, instructs a processor to perform the following:

receiving, via an optical port of a test instrument, a downstream optical signal transmitted from an optical line terminal (OLT), wherein the test instrument is connected to an optical distribution network (ODN) between the OLT and an optical network unit (ONU);

extracting an ONU identifier from an OLT message from the downstream optical signal;

detecting one or more upstream signals from the ONU;

generating a capture enable signal for output; and

storing bytes of the OLT message in data storage based on the detected upstream signals, wherein the OLT message comprises the ONU identifier obtained from an ONU identifier assignment message.