Patent ID: 7011453

Claim:
A method of detecting degradation of a fiber optic cable connector wherein the fiber optic cable has at least two connectors, the method comprising: transmitting a first optical pulse in a first direction along the fiber optic cable in a manner such that at least a first portion of the first optical pulse is at least one of absorbed or reflected back along the fiber optic cable in a second direction opposite the first direction by the degradation; determining a location of the degradation within at most two connectors of the at least two connectors based on the first portion of the first optical pulse; if the at most two connectors is only one connector, then determining that the location of the degradation is within the only one connector; and if the at most two connectors is two connectors then transmitting a second optical pulse in the second direction along the fiber optic cable in a manner such that at least a second portion of the second optical pulse is at least one of absorbed or reflected back along the fiber optic cable in the first direction by the degradation, and determining the location of the degradation within the only one connector based on the first portion of the first optical pulse and the second portion of the second optical pulse.