Patent ID: 6879628

Claim:
A method for measuring the bit error ratio of a transmission system, comprising: setting and initializing a plurality of buffers, which are capable of accumulating a number of bit errors in a signal of the transmission system at a prescribed interval of time T; storing the number of bit errors generated during the period of time T in the plurality of buffers; determining whether an Excessive Bit Error Ratio (E-BER) alarm has been generated; selecting and monitoring a subset of the plurality of buffers from a current buffer to at least one of a first and second prescribed buffer; determining whether the E-BER alarm should be generated based on an average number of bit errors in the monitored subset of buffers from the current buffer back to the first prescribed buffer after an elapse of the period of time T, if the E-BER alarm has not been previously generated; and determining whether the E-BER alarm should be cleared based on an average number of bit errors in the monitored subset of buffers from the current buffer back to the second prescribed buffer after an elapse of the period of time T, if the E-BER alarm has previously been generated.