Claims
- 1. A method of transporting a jumper pin, by means of a pin picking and placing mechanism, to and from individual junction locations in a switching matrix, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) moving said mechanism selectively in either of two opposite directions along a first path by means of a drive motor; (b) moving said mechanism selectively in either of two opposite directions along a second path by means of said drive motor; and (c) limiting movement of said mechanism to only one of said first and second paths at a time by selectively inhibiting movement of said mechanism along said first and second paths independently; wherein said drive motor is the only source of motion-producing force for said mechanism along said first and second paths, and motion along the selected path is effected by positively blocking motion along the other path in step (c).
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said first and second paths are disposed in a transport plane parallel to said matrix.
- 3. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of:
(d) moving said mechanism in either of two selective opposite directions along a third path disposed perpendicular to said transport plane by means of said drive motor; wherein step (c) includes limiting movement of said mechanism to only a selectable one of said first, second and third paths at a time by selectively inhibiting movement of said mechanism along the other two of said paths; and wherein said drive motor is the only source of motion-producing force for said drive mechanism along said first, second and third paths, and motion along only the selected path is effected by positively blocking movement of the mechanism along the two non-selected paths.
- 4. The method of claim 3 wherein:
step (a) includes translating said mechanism along a first support extending along said first path; step (b) includes translating said mechanism along a second support extending along said second path; step (d) includes rotating said mechanism about an axis oriented parallel to said transport plane; and step (c) includes the steps of:
interengaging said mechanism with said first support to inhibit movement of said mechanism along said first path; interengaging said mechanism with said second support to inhibit movement of said mechanism along said second path; and blocking rotation of said mechanism to inhibit movement of said mechanism along said third path.
- 5. The method of claim 4 wherein steps (a), (b) and (d) include translating a single drive cable by means of said drive motor, and passing said drive cable over a series of idler pulleys secured to said mechanism and defining a cable path.
- 6. The method of claim 5 wherein said first, second and third paths are mutually orthogonal;
wherein steps (a), (b) and (d) include:
wrapping said drive cable along a first pulley rotatable by said drive motor about an axis perpendicular to said transport plane and serving as a drive pulley; extending said drive cable from said first pulley, in a direction parallel to said transport plane, to a second idler pulley rotatable about an axis perpendicular to said transport plane, and bending the cable approximately 180° about said second idler pulley; extending the drive cable from said second pulley to a third idler pulley rotatable about an axis perpendicular to said transport plane and carried by a first block translatable along a first tube serving as part of said first support, and bending the drive cable approximately 90° about said third pulley; extending said drive cable from said third pulley to a fourth idler pulley rotatable about an axis perpendicular to said transport plane and carried by a second block translatable along a second tube serving as part of said first support and extending parallel to said first tube, and bending the drive cable approximately 90° about said fourth pulley; extending said drive cable from said fourth pulley, in a direction parallel to said second tube, to a fifth idler pulley rotatable about an axis perpendicular to said transport plane and carried by said second block, and bending the drive cable approximately 90° about said fifth pulley generally back toward said first block; extending said drive cable from said fifth pulley to a sixth idler pulley rotatable about an axis parallel to said transport plane and carried by a carriage translatable along a third tube secured to and extending between said first and second blocks and serving as part of said second support, and bending said drive cable partially about said fifth pulley; extending said drive cable from said sixth pulley to a seventh idler pulley rotatable about an axis parallel to said transport plane and carried by said carriage, and securing one end of said drive cable on said seventh pulley; securing another end of said drive cable to said seventh pulley and extending that end of the cable to an eighth idler pulley rotatable about an axis parallel to said transport plane and carried by said carriage; extending said drive cable from said eighth pulley to a ninth idler pulley rotatable about an axis perpendicular to said transport plane and carried by said first block, and bending said drive cable approximately 90° about said ninth pulley; and returning said drive cable to said first pulley.
- 7. The method of claim 6 wherein step (c) includes the steps of:
inhibiting movement of said mechanism along said first path by selectively projecting a pin from said first block into a selected slot in a series of slots defined in and spaced longitudinally along said first tube to prevent said block from moving from a position defined by the selected slot in said first series; and inhibiting movement of said mechanism along said second path by selectively projecting a pin from said carriage into a selected slot in a second series of slots defined in and spaced longitudinally along said second tube to prevent said carriage from moving from a position defined by the selected slot in said second series.
- 8. The method of claim 6 wherein step (c) includes the steps of:
inhibiting movement of said mechanism along said first path by selectively preventing movement of said first block along said first tube; and inhibiting movement of said mechanism along said second path by selectively preventing movement of said carriage along said second tube.
- 9. The method of claim 2 wherein:
step (a) includes translating said mechanism along a first support extending along said first path; step (b) includes translating said mechanism along a second support extending along said second path; and step (c) includes the steps of:
interengaging said mechanism with said first support to inhibit movement of said mechanism along said first path; and interengaging said mechanism with said second support to inhibit movement of said mechanism along said second path.
- 10. The method of claim 9 wherein steps (a) and (b) include translating a single drive cable with said drive motor, and passing said drive cable over a series of idler pulleys secured to said mechanism and defining a cable path.
- 11. The method of claim 5 wherein said first and second paths are perpendicular to one another;
wherein steps (a) and (b) include:
wrapping said drive cable along a first pulley rotatable by said drive motor about an axis perpendicular to said transport plane, and serving as a drive pulley; extending said drive cable from said first pulley, in a direction parallel to said transport plane, to a second idler pulley rotatable about an axis perpendicular to said transport plane, and bending the cable approximately 180° about the second pulley; extending the drive cable from said second pulley to a third idler pulley rotatable about an axis extending perpendicular to said transport plane and carried by a first block translatable along a first tube serving as part of said first support, and bending the drive cable approximately 90° about said third pulley; extending the drive cable from said third pulley to a fourth idler pulley rotatable about an axis perpendicular to said transport plane and carried by a second block translatable along a second tube serving as part of said first support and extending parallel to said first tube, and bending the drive cable approximately 90° about said fourth pulley; extending said drive cable from said fourth pulley, in a direction parallel to said second tube, to a fifth idler pulley rotatable about an axis perpendicular to said transport plane and carried by said second block, and bending the drive cable approximately 90° about said fifth pulley generally back toward said first block; extending said drive cable from said fifth pulley to a sixth idler pulley rotatable about an axis perpendicular to said transport plane and carried by said first block, and bending said drive cable approximately 90° about said sixth pulley; and returning said cable to said first pulley.
- 12. The method according to claim 11 wherein step (c) includes the steps of:
inhibiting movement of said mechanism along said first path by selectively projecting a pin from said first block into a selected slot in a series of slots defined in and spaced longitudinally along said first tube to prevent said block from moving from a position defined by the selected slot in said first series; and inhibiting movement of said mechanism along said second path by selectively projecting a pin from said carriage into a selected slot in a second series of slots defined in and spaced longitudinally along said second tube to prevent said carriage from moving from a position defined by the selected slot in said second series.
- 13. The method of claim 11 wherein step (c) includes the steps of:
inhibiting movement of said mechanism along said first path by selectively preventing movement of said first block along said first tube; and inhibiting movement of said mechanism along said second path by selectively preventing movement of said carriage along said second tube.
- 14. An interconnection matrix system comprising:
a first circuit board having a first surface with a first array of multiple electrical conductors thereon, said first circuit board having multiple matrix holes defined therethrough and through said electrical conductors at predetermined locations along said conductors in said first array; a second circuit board having a first surface with a second array of multiple electrical conductors thereon, said second circuit board having multiple matrix holes defined therethrough and through said electrical conductors in said second array at predetermined locations along said conductors in said second array, wherein a matrix hole in said first circuit board are concentrically aligned with corresponding matrix holes in said second circuit board; wherein each of said arrays is sub-divided into a plurality of electrically unconnected sub-arrays in which the conductors in each sub-array are co-planar, wherein each conductor in each sub-array is electrically isolated from but co-linearly aligned with a respective conductor in another sub-array, wherein each sub-array on the first circuit board is aligned in juxtaposition with a corresponding sub-array on the second circuit board, and wherein the aligned sub-arrays define a respective plurality of electrically isolated sub-matrices.
- 15. The matrix system of claim 14 wherein said first and second sub-matrices are separated by a plane extending perpendicular to said arrays and diagonally to said conductors.
- 16. The matrix system of claim 14 wherein said matrix holes in said first and second circuit boards are disposed in a rectangular grid of columns and rows, the spacing between adjacent columns being the same for all adjacent columns including adjacent columns in the same sub-matrix and adjacent columns in adjacent sub-matrices, and the spacing between adjacent rows being the same for adjacent rows including adjacent rows in the same sub-matrix and adjacent rows in adjacent sub-matrices.
- 17. The matrix system of claim 16 wherein said sub-matrices are four in number, each sub-matrix having a generally rectangular configuration wherein its columns of matrix holes are longitudinally aligned with respective columns of one adjacent sub-matrix, and wherein its rows of matrix holes are longitudinally aligned with respective rows of another adjacent sub-matrix.
- 18. The matrix system of claim 14 wherein said sub-matrices are four in number and are generally rectangular.
- 19. The method of increasing the capacity of the switching matrix of the type having matrix holes for receiving jumper pins to join juxtaposed conductors at different depths of a matrix structure, wherein the matrix holes are arranged in columns and rows, all adjacent columns being substantially equally spaced, all adjacent rows being substantially equally spaced, said method comprising the steps of:
interrupting the continuity of said conductors at the same location at each of said depths to thereby define the electrically insulated sub-matrices with adjacent matrix hole columns of adjacent sub-matrices having the same spacing as adjacent columns within each sub-matrix, and with adjacent matrix hole rows of adjacent sub-matrices having the same spacing as adjacent rows within each sub-matrix.
- 20. In a telephone system wherein cable pairs for premises of subscribers and prospective subscribers are permanently connected to a switching matrix serving the local area of those premises to permit selective connection of each cable pair to respective central office telephone lines, a method for permitting prospective subscribers who are not connected to a central office line to call only the restricted telephone number of a telephone system business office and/or an emergency facility, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) providing at said matrix a restricted central office line arranged to provide soft dial tone permitting only the restricted telephone number to be dialed on the restricted line; (b) connecting a plurality of prospective subscribers to said restricted line at said matrix such that, in response to an off-hook condition at one of those prospective subscribers' premises, soft dial tone is automatically provided to that prospective subscriber; and (c) automatically identifying at said matrix the cable pair for the prospective subscribers' premises that has the off-hook condition.
- 21. The method of claim 20 further comprising the steps of:
(d) in response to identification of the cable pair for the off-hook prospective subscriber in step (c), automatically providing a second parallel connection between the central office and the matrix for the cable pair of the off-hook subscribers' premises; and (e) in response to completion of step (d), automatically removing the cable pair from the off-hook subscriber's premises from said restricted line at said matrix.
- 22. The method of claim 21 further comprising the step of:
in response to identification at the off-hook prospective subscriber's cable pair in step (c), automatically transmitting information including the identified cable pair to the central office.
- 23. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of:
in response to identification at the off-hook prospective subscriber's cable pair in step (c), automatically transmitting information including the identified cable pair to the central office.
- 24. The method of claim 23 further comprising the steps of:
storing at the central office records associated with each of said cable pairs, including the addresses of the premises for said cable pairs; and in response to a prospective subscriber calling the telephone business office pursuant to steps (a), (b) and (c), displaying the calling prospective subscriber's address and other stored information on a computer screen of an operator receiving the call.
- 25. In a remotely controlled telephone line cross-connect switching matrix, the method of testing unused telephone lines connected to the matrix, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) permanently connecting a test bus to at least one conductor in said matrix; (b) in response to a remotely originated command, selectively cross-connecting said test bus to a conductor in the matrix that is permanently connected to an unused telephone line; and (c) automatically testing said unused telephone line from a remote location through said test bus and the cross-connection made in step (b).
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/111,770, filed Aug. 25, 1993 and entitled “Cross Connect System”. The entire disclosure in that patent application is incorporated herein by this reference.
Divisions (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09328440 |
Jun 1999 |
US |
Child |
09854576 |
May 2001 |
US |
Parent |
08408831 |
Mar 1995 |
US |
Child |
09328440 |
Jun 1999 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08111770 |
Aug 1993 |
US |
Child |
08408831 |
Mar 1995 |
US |