SIMPLIFIED ACTUATORMODULE DESIGNED FOR INTERCEPTING THE PAIRS OF METAL TELEPHONE CONDUCTORS ALREADY TERMINATED IN TELEPHONE EXCHANGES OR IN LINE

DISTRIBUTION FRAMES

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The present invention relates to the sector of fixedtelephony, and inparticular regards an actuator module characterized by a particularly simplified layout, which is designed for intercepting the pairs of metal telephone conductors already terminated in telephone exchanges or in line distribution frames

(for optical/electrical transition) and is designed to be mechanically constrained to the respective termination strip and equipped with a plurality of fixed laminas, which are inserted in a stable way directly in the known sectioning points of the network termination already existing at the moment of installation of the actuator module itself on the copper termination strip of the telephone network. Currently, there are already known some types of actuator modules designed for intercepting one or more pairs of metal telephone conductors to be tested, which, albeit achieving the pre-set purposes, present the disadvantage of requiring at least two drivemotors and electrical connections to enable execution of the various control operations.

Consequently, the main purpose of the present invention is to overcome said disadvantage by providing an actuator module designed for intercepting one or more pairs of metal telephone conductors to be tested, which requires only one motor

for driving the moving parts.

It shouldbe notedthat the reduction of the number of motors necessary leads not only to an economic advantage, but also to an advantage in terms of reliability of the system, because the smaller the number of mobile parts, the smaller the possibility of malfunctioning.

The above has been obtained, according to the invention, by providing an actuator module to be installed on the corresponding termination strip of the exchange or of the line distribution frame, comprising:

- a plurality of fixed intercepting means, each of which is designed to be inserted in a stable way in the corresponding sectioning point of the termination strips or of the network terminations and is equipped with contacts for intercepting the known jacks of each pair of telephone conductors, exchange side and user side or network side; T one or more cables of a flat type, designed to connect said pairs of telephone conductors with the PCB of the actuator module itself;

- one pair of contact pads set on the main PCB and connected to the user side or network side of each telephone conductor: one for sniffing and one for short-circuiting the user side or network side with the exchange side;

- two contact paths, which can be connected to a first test bus (network side) via respective first double-swi'tch relays, are arranged on the upper side of the PCB, and can be connected to the network

side of each telephone conductor via said sliding contacts;

- two contact paths , which canbe connectedto a second test bus (exchange side) via respective second switch relays, are arranged on the upper side of the PCB, and can be connected to the exchange side of each telephone conductor via said sliding contacts;

- one pad for each telephone conductor on the underside of the PCB, short-circuited to a corresponding pad on the upper side of the PCB connected to the exchange side, said pad being connectable to the network side or user side via one of said flexible sectioning means; -one mobile selector equipped with sliding contacts , designed to slide on said paths and on said pads to select the pairs of telephone conductors onwhich sniffing or the required measurements are made;

- flexible sectioning means for each pair of telephone conductors, which are connected to the user side or network side, and are designed to be displaced from a resting position, in which the contacts, exchange side and user side, of the pair are short-circuited, to an operative position, in which the same contacts are short-circuited via the sliding contacts of the selector and are disconnectable - via said relays - for sniffing or for sectioning proper, in which the network side and/or the exchange side of each pair of metal telephone conductors is connected exclusively to an apparatus for localmeasurement (of a known type)

of the pairs to be analysed, intercepted by the laminas themselves for testing the desired pair, via said first test bus; wherein said slidingmeans of the selector are designed to displace said flexible sectioning means from the resting position to the operative position and vice versa, and comprise, for each conductor "a" and "b" of each telephone pair, two laminas for continuity of the wire, exchange side, with the bus, exchange side, which are connected together, as well as two laminas for sectioning and connection with the bus, network side, which are connected together.

It should also be noted that the ^" simultaneous action of the aforesaid relays can advantageously enable supply to the test head both the network side and the exchange side, in break mode. In the known DXT driver there is preferably present a small matrix that enables addressing of one of the two test buses (sniff or break) , or else both, to the test head. A better understanding of the invention will be gleaned from the ensuing detailed description with reference to the annexed figures, which illustrate a preferred embodiment purely by way of non-limiting example . ' In the drawings :

Figure 1 shows the electrical diagram of principle of the invention in the case where the selector has intercepted a telephone pair;

Figure 2, which is similar to the previous one, shows the selector in an intermediate position between two adjacent telephone pairs;

Figure 3 is a schematic front view of an actuator module according to the invention;

Figures 4 and 5 are enlarged 3D details of Figure 2/ Figure 6 is a schematic illustration of 'the underside of the module of Figure 2 showing the flexible sectioning means of the telephone pairs;

Figure 7 is a 3D view from beneath, which is similar to that of Figure 5, showing the sliding contacts of the selector;

Figure 8 is a 3D view, which is a schematic illustration of a backplane of exchange for IDC terminations, installedonwhich are fourmodules with

25 pairs each: two modules for the even pairs, and two for the odd pairs; and

Figures S and 10 show enlarged details of Figure 8.

With reference to the above figures, the invention envisages an innovative actuator module MA, which enables the function of selection of a telephone pair to be performed in sniff or break mode using only one motor M.

In this regard, it should be noted that each termination is with 100 pairs, and consequently four modules MA with 25 pairs each are used, which also enables selection of two pairs simultaneously.

According to a peculiar characteristic of the invention, there has beenpurposely devised a selector S, designed to section each pair as it moves, so making the selection.

With reference to Figures 1 and 2, the selector

S is equipped with four laminas with two arms each, two for making an electrical connection between a path and pads set on the upper face of the PCB, and two for moving a respective flexible plate, positioned on the under face of the PCB itself and connected to the network side, making the electrical connection with a further path.

The flexible plates positioned on the under face of the PCB (see Figure 6) have the function of ensuring continuity of the telephone pairs in so far as, in the resting position, the network side of each individual wire is connected to the exchange side through the pads set on the under face of the PCB.

The flexible plates (Figures 1 and 2) areL-shaped and proj ect through holes made on the PCB, on the upper face, where the selector S slides.

According to the invention, when the selector sets itself on the pair selected (Figure 1) , one arm of the sectioning lamina presses on the flexible plate, which drops down- and opens the contact between the network side and the exchange side, but thanks to the fact that the remaining arm of the lamina itself slides on a path that can be connected to the first test bus Bl or to the exchange side, the lamina itself of the selectormakes the connection between the network side of the pair selected and the bus. The continuity of the pair is ensured by the action of the continuity lamina of the selector, which connects the pad, exchange side, with the bus, exchange side, and by a first continuity relay Rl that connects the bus, network side, with the bus, exchange side. Opening

of the aforesaid first continuity relay Rl enables, when necessary, measurements to be made in breakmode, network side, whilst the action of a second relay R2 enables measurements to be made in sniff mode. With this peculiar technical solution, the target of drastically reducing encumbrance, both horizontally and longitudinally, of the entire apparatus has been achieved to the point where, for operation of each individual module with 25 pairs, just one motor M is sufficient.

Advantageously, the same inventive idea can be applied to provide a module with 100 pairs, driven by just two motors: said solution is technically possible without any problems. From the standpoint of implementation, it has been chosen to use the modularity with 25 pairs in order to be able to use the same type of module both in the exchange and in the line distribution frames, where there is less space. Furthermore, this choice, which is purely of a constructional nature, limits the number of the dies or moulds necessary.

A further peculiar characteristic of the invention lies in the fact that the mobile slider or selector S is constituted substantially by a carriage, which is set in motion by a worm screw V set longitudinally with respect to the actuator module MA, which is always engaged within an internal thread fixedwith respect to the body of the selector S itself, set preferably in a central position. A further peculiar characteristic of the invention lies in the fact that the body of the selector

S has two side walls parallel to the axis of the worm screw V, which rest upon an outer box-shaped guide frame T, which functions also as support for the motor M and for the possible gears of the kinematic chain for motion demultiplication.

In the preferred embodiment described herein, the side walls of the selector S slide along the box-shaped guide frame Tbymeans ofpurposelyprovided runners ( Figures 5 and 7 ) , which advantageously reduce the friction between the selector S and the guide frame T.

Said motor M may, for example, be of the stepper or piezoelectric type, with or without kinematic demultiplication chain. With particular reference to Figure 7, another peculiar characteristic of the invention regards the fact that the arms of the continuity laminas are flexible, whilst the arms of the sectioning laminas are different from one another: one is flexible like those of the- continuity laminas, whereas the one for pressing on the flexible plate is preferably rigid and does not slide on the PCB like all the flexible arms of the laminas .

From what has been said so far, the present . invention enables sniffing of the pairs of telephone conductors to be performed simply by causing the worm screw V to turn to displace the slider in such a way that its bottom sliding contacts constituted by the continuity and sectioning laminas, by displacing, come into electrical contact with the flexible plates , and with the pads on the main PCB corresponding to

said pairs .

Only in the case of effective need is it possible to perform sectioning of the pair of telephone conductors by simple operation of the first double-switch relays Rl so as to connect the flexible plate to the first test bus.

Advantageously, as compared to the actuator modules so far known, according to the present invention the number of laminas per pair and the number of wires for the measurements is substantially halved.

Furthermore, also the moving parts are reduced in number, as likewise the number of motors necessary is limited to just one motor for every 25 pairs.

In practical use, the actuator module MA so far described is mounted on a so-called backplane BP to be installed on the termination strips of the telephone exchanges. Each backplane BP that takes to an IDC termination with 100 telephone pairs is made up of 4 modules MA with 25 pairs each (Figure 8) . To enable execution of multiple measurements, to each module MA there are connected, respectively, only the even pairs or only the odd pairs. This means that each backplane with 100 pairs is connected to the known DXT-driver apparatus with two test buses. Each actuator module MA with 25 pairs is equipped with just one motor M, a mobile slider or selector S, a threaded rotary shaft V, and 50 flexible plates MS, i.e., one for each telephone conductor.

The motor M, mechanically connected to the threaded shaft V, governs displacement of the selector S in a position corresponding to the plates MS of the

telephone pair selected.

As has already been pointed out, according to the invention, in this position the sliding contacts are already connected in parallel to the telephone pair selected, and consequently, via the action of two purposely provided second double-switch relays R2 for connection to the second test bus B2, it is possible to make all the measurements that do not require sectioning of the pair itself (sniffing). The action of the first double-switch relays Rl, instead, determines sectioning of the pair itself for execution of the required measurements via the first test bus Bl.

From what has been said, the action of the first relays Rl interrupts the electrical continuity of the telephone pair between the exchange and the user network. The latter, user side, continues to be connected to the first of the two- test buses of the DXT driver via the sliding contacts of the selector S, whilst the exchange side of the pair can be connected to the second test bus B2 via the respective continuity laminas that rest on the purposelyprovided electrical contact pads provided on the upper side of the PCB.

As may be seen from Figur.e 8 , each actuator module MA is connected, via purposely provided flat cables F, to as many sectioning points of the termination strips under which the telephone pairs, exchange side and user side, come.

In the example of implementation illustrated, the backplane BP can preferablybe installed laterally to the termination strips for reducing the encumbrance

and for leaving free access to the sectioning points of the termination strips .

The present invention has been described and illustrated according to a preferred embodiment, but it is evident that any person skilled in the branch may make technically and/or functionally equivalent modifications and/or replacements thereto, without thereby departing from the sphere of protection of the present industrial patent right.