Patent ID: 8896318
Filing Date: 2014-11-25
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
1. A system comprising: main control circuitry coupled to a pair of conductors; a plurality of monitoring circuits, each coupled to a load and the pair of conductors, each of the monitoring circuits having a diagnostic mode, a disable mode and an operating mode, wherein only one of the plurality of monitoring circuits can be in the diagnostic mode at any given time, and each of the plurality of monitoring circuits can be in the disable mode or the operating mode at any given time, and wherein the disable mode disconnects the load associated with the monitoring circuit from the pair of conductors and the operating mode connects the load associated with the monitoring circuit to the pair of conductors; wherein the main control circuitry is configured to transmit a monitoring signal on the pair of conductors having known magnitude and frequency parameters measure reflected signals on the pair of conductors; and wherein each of the plurality of monitoring circuits is configured to change a reflection parameter to indicate the mode of operation of that monitoring circuit by a reflection of the monitoring signal.