Abstract:
A cable testing assembly includes a plurality of different connectors thereon. The different connectors can be automatically used to automatically test a wire by coupling the cable between two different connectors. The testing then switches power to different pins in the connectors and automatically detests continuity and short-circuit among those connectors. The results can be displayed and/or printed on a label. In addition to the continuity test, the system can automatically detects things like wrong gauge, pin placement, links, and capacitance. The connectors can be arranged by power handling connectors, and signal handling connectors.

Description:
[0001]    The present application claims priority from Provisional application No. 60/866,029, filed Nov. 15, 2006, the disclosure of which is herewith incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND  
       [0002]    Stage lighting equipment is often rented. A rental company may maintain a stock of products and accessories intended for rental to customers. A customer doing a show rents the parts that they want. At the end of the show, all of the parts and materials are returned to the rental company. The rental company will rerent them. 
         [0003]    The rental company must maintain a significant stock of parts and accessories in order to support any desired rental contract. Many of the parts and accessories had been previously used by other customers, and hence must be tested prior to being re-rented. 
       SUMMARY  
       [0004]    The present application describes a cable tester for use in an environment that automatically tests cables of different types as part of rental company inventory. The tested cables can then be automatically characterized and can be re-rented. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
         [0005]    These and other aspects will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: 
           [0006]      FIG. 1  illustrates a block diagram of a cable testing system; 
           [0007]      FIG. 2  illustrates a flowchart of operation of the cable testing system; and 
           [0008]      FIG. 3  shows an exemplary cable tester panel for a rack mount. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0009]    The general structure and techniques, and more specific embodiments which can be used to effect different ways of carrying out the more general goals, are described herein. 
         [0010]    The basic concept of the system uses a tester with a breakout box and an automatic computer monitoring the different cables connected to the different connections. 
         [0011]      FIG. 1  illustrates an embodiment. A panel  100  is formed with a number of cable connections of various types. The panel is divided into input side  102  and output side  104 , although it should be understood that the input and output are relative, since cables are almost exclusively bidirectional. A cable is connected between one of the connectors on side  102  and one of the connectors on side  104 . 
         [0012]    The connectors on the different panels may include every connector that is within the rental company&#39;s inventory. For example, this may include, without limitation, XLR connectors, 19 way Socapex connectors, 3 way connectors, Edison connectors, “stage pin” connectors, coupled twist lock connectors, microphone connectors, computer connectors, and ethernet and other RJ style connectors. The panels  102  and  104  can include, without limitation, each of these connectors. More generally, the panel may include round data style connectors such as the XLR connectors shown as  110 ; rectangular multi-pin connectors shown as  112 ; round multipin power and/or power and signal connectors shown as  114  and square data style connectors shown as  116 . For maximum usability, each connector on the input side  102  is replicated on the output side  104 . 
         [0013]    A power supply  120  is connected to the panel, and the panel is also connected to a meter  130 . The power supply supplies power, for example, to pins of the input connectors, and the meter  130  receives the resulting power output from the output connector. The power supply  120  and meter  130  are preferably digitally controllable and/or monitorable. Switch box  125  switches the output of the power supply to pin or pins of connectors on the input panel  102 . Analogously, switch box  135  switches corresponding pins from the output panel  100  to the meter  130 . 
         [0014]    A personal computer  140  controls the output power from power supply  120  and controls the switching from switchboxes  125  and  135 . The PC operates the flowchart shown in  FIG. 2  herein. The PC may also be connected to a label printer  145  which prints labels for the cables once they are connect-tested. 
         [0015]    The PC  140  controls the operation according to the flowchart of  FIG. 2 . At  200 , a cable connection is detected. This may be detected manually, for example by pressing a start button, or can be done by an automatic polling technique where each pin of each connector is applied with a small voltage (for example 5 V) and each pin of each connector on each side is tested for a conducted response. This automatically detects a cable unless the cable is completely open-circuited; in which case no detection would be made. 
         [0016]    Once the cable is detected, each wire in each side of the connector is tested for various things. According to  FIG. 2 , each wire is to be tested for: 
         [0017]    Bad shield. This may operate by testing for a connection between the wire and the shield, a connection between any of the wires and ground, or by producing an RF signal to a cable, detecting whether an RF output has been produced. Other techniques of detecting a bad shield may also be used. 
         [0018]    Wrong gauge wire. A conventional test for wire gauge may be used. For example, this may use an AC current, a voltage drop test, or the like. Since the computer has information indicating the connector type, it also can use that information to determine the desired gauge. The detected gauge from this test is compared against the desired gauge. 
         [0019]    Pin placement and assembly. For each pin in the input connector, the wires should extend to the corresponding pin in the output connector. For example, if a wire is connected to pin  1  in input connector  114 , it should correspondingly go to pin  1  in output connector  118 . This test automatically applies a voltage into each wire on the input, and tests to see if the voltage is coming out on the same wire on the output. 
         [0020]    Short-circuit test. As part of the above pin placement and assembly, a voltage is connected to one of the wires on connector  114 . All of the other wires on connector  114 , as well as all the wires in the corresponding output connector  118 , are tested to determine if the same voltage is found on any of those wires. The voltage occurring on the wrong wires indicates that there is a short-circuit. 
         [0021]    Less than complete circuit. Each pin in the input connector receives a voltage, for example 12 V or 100 V. The corresponding pin in the output connector is also tested to determine the voltage. If the output voltage is not close in value to the input, e.g., if the voltage drop is more than 10%, it means that the circuit is less than complete. 
         [0022]    Cross connection. Any pin in one connector must be connected to a corresponding pin in the other connector. A cross connection error occurs when the pins are incorrectly connected. 
         [0023]    Length detection. A conventional length detector can be used to determine the length of the cable. Different techniques of determining cable length are known including time of flight systems, voltage waveform systems, and the like. 
         [0024]    Ethernet test. If the cable includes an ethernet connection, conventional ethernet testing can be carried out. 
         [0025]    Capacitance test. The capacitance of the cable is also tested. Capacitance can be compared against the maximum allowable capacitance for the cable type and/or connector type. 
         [0026]    All of these tests may be automatically conducted. Other tests may also be detected. 
         [0027]    In one embodiment, an off-the-shelf cable tester can be used, such as the Cirrus touch 1 cable tester. In this case, the elements  120 ,  125 ,  130 ,  135  at  140  may be replaced by the cable tester itself. 
         [0028]    The results are displayed on a display screen  141 , which may indicate the results of the test, the type of cable found, pass/fail, and any other relevant characteristics. A special buzzer may sound if the cable fails any crucial tests, to provide audible indication to the tester that the cable cannot be used. 
         [0029]    The system automatically detects the cable characteristics, and a printer  145  may print a label which indicates the type and length of the cable as well as its characteristics. If desired, the printer may also include a barcode printer. 
         [0030]      FIG. 3  shows an exemplary cable tester for a rack mount configuration. In the configuration shown in  FIG. 3 , each of a plurality of different connectors are located having both male and female versions of the connector. The bottommost rack portions  300  includes power connectors, and shows for example a four pin male connector  302  and a four pin female connector  304 . Other kinds and types of power connectors are also provided, with the male version on the top row and the female version on the bottom row. Rack  310  includes numerous multi-pin connectors. Rack  320  includes a number of different signal style connectors, and rack  330  similarly includes signal style connectors. For example, the connectors  331  may be BNC connectors and F-style connectors, the connectors  333  may be DMX style connectors, and the connectors  334  may be ethernet connectors. Each of these connectors can be tested in an analogous way to that described above. 
         [0031]    The general structure and techniques, and more specific embodiments which can be used to effect different ways of carrying out the more general goals are described herein. 
         [0032]    Although only a few embodiments have been disclosed in detail above, other embodiments are possible and the inventors intend these to be encompassed within this specification. The specification describes specific examples to accomplish a more general goal that may be accomplished in another way. This disclosure is intended to be exemplary, and the claims are intended to cover any modification or alternative which might be predictable to a person having ordinary skill in the art. For example, the above describes special kinds of tests, but it should be understood that other tests could also be used. In addition, while the other above describes certain kinds of connectors which are believed to be the most common connectors, it should be understood that other connectors may similarly be used. Moreover, while the above contemplates that most cables lead from one connector type to another connector type of the same type, the system may be used to can detect and monitor characteristics of cables that have different input and output connectors. 
         [0033]    Also, the inventors intend that only those claims which use the words “means for” are intended to be interpreted under 35 USC 112, sixth paragraph. Moreover, no limitations from the specification are intended to be read into any claims, unless those limitations are expressly included in the claims. The computers described herein may be any kind of computer, either general purpose, or some specific purpose computer such as a workstation. The computer may be a Pentium class computer, running Windows XP or Linux, or may be a Macintosh computer. The computer may also be a handheld computer, such as a PDA, cellphone, or laptop. 
         [0034]    The programs may be written in C, or Java, Brew or any other programming language. The programs may be resident on a storage medium, e.g., magnetic or optical, e.g. the computer hard drive, a removable disk or media such as a memory stick or SD media, or other removable medium. The programs may also be run over a network, for example, with a server or other machine sending signals to the local machine, which allows the local machine to carry out the operations described herein.