Patent ID: 8045479

Claim:
A test controller configured to test a video access device, the test controller comprising: a first port coupled to particular test equipment, wherein the test controller is also coupled to other test equipment; a second port coupled to video access devices, wherein: each video access device includes a particular video access device that is disposed within a housing, wherein the housing is exposed to an outdoor ambient; each video access device having a wideband link and a test port; wherein the test equipment is located within a central office and wherein the video access devices each comprise a switch that directs content from the wideband link towards a customer premise equipment device or to the test port of the video access device and wherein the switch is controlled by a signal received at a control port of the video access device from the element management system; and the particular test equipment and each of the video access devices are remotely located as compared to one another, wherein each set of the other test equipment and the particular test equipment has a separate corresponding set of video access devices, and the test controller corresponds to each of the video access devices; wherein the test controller is coupled to an element management system that is bi-directionally coupled to the video access devices; and a processor that: receives an error message from a first particular video access device; sends a command to connect the test port of the first particular video access device of the video access devices to its corresponding wideband link in response to receiving the error message; and establishes connectivity directly between the particular test equipment and the first particular video access device of the video access devices in response to receiving the error message.