Patent ID: 8086723
Filing Date: 2011-12-27
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. An apparatus comprising: an interface for enabling transfer of status information associated with a plurality of distributed maintenance resources in a distributed communication equipment architecture, the maintenance resources comprising configurable maintenance resources for performing maintenance operations to test one or more target communication system resources, the configurable maintenance resources comprising a plurality of switches controllable to operatively couple a test unit, through a maintenance path, to a communication system resource on which a maintenance operation is to be performed; a resource monitor operatively coupled to the interface and operable to determine, based on status information received through the interface, an operational status of each maintenance resource of the plurality of maintenance resources, the operational status comprising a current configuration of the configurable maintenance resources; and an access controller operatively coupled to the resource monitor and operable to identify each switch of the plurality of switches and each other maintenance resource of the plurality of maintenance resources that is required to perform a particular maintenance operation, to determine a current availability status of each required switch and each other required maintenance resource to perform the particular maintenance operation, and to control access to each required switch and each other required maintenance resource based on the determined operational status and availability status, at least one of the interface, the resource monitor, and the access controller being implemented using hardware.