Patent attributes
For tracing multi-conductor cable runs from multiple phone/data locations throughout a building or complex to a junction facility where the cables need to be systematically identified and connected to a terminal panel, rapid tracing and identification are accomplished by deploying a large number of special low-cost senders, e.g. a set of forty eight senders, connecting as many senders as required to energize every cable at each location via its standard modular jack. Each sender delivers a unique identification signal, e.g. a spoken number from 1 to 48, energizing a corresponding phone cable and/or data cable. With all of the cables thusly energized simultaneously and distinguishably, a technician working with a proximity probe in the junction facility can rapidly identify and tag and/or connect all the cables in an uninterrupted session, without requiring the usual assistant and intercom link, and with no time wasted probing unenergized cables. For larger systems beyond the tracing capability of the set number of senders, a range switch provides three additional extension ranges with unique identification numbers to preserve a numerical sequence when more than one session is required. As an optional refinement, one or more of the senders may be further equipped to enable wire-mapping of all active conductors in the cables.
