Method and system for automatically analyzing and modifying cable
Contents
1. amplitude location etc In step 104 the data is uploaded to a computer for processing In step 106 the computer performs data processing opera tions which may include performing a leak analysis and or using Doppler based calculations to isolate a leak s location In step 108 work orders may be generated based on the processed data and made available to a user through email a web page etc In addition street maps may be generated based on the processed data to indicate the locations of leaks The map generation may include automatically sizing and labeling the maps and making the maps available to the user In steps 110 and 112 leak repair data may be uploaded and the work orders associated with the uploaded data may be closed It is understood that the method 100 is only one example and that many of the steps may be completed in a different order and steps may be added or omitted For example the method 100 may generate reports using the data and elec tronically file the reports with the Federal Communications Commission FCC Referring to FIG 2 one embodiment ofa detection system 200 such as may be used in step 102 of FIG 1 is illustrated US 7 548 201 B2 3 The detection system 200 includes a control unit 202 an antenna unit 204 an automated direction finding ADF unit 206 and a Doppler unit 208 The control unit 202 antenna unit 204 ADF unit 206 and Doppler unit 208 may be mounted in a vehicle not shown2. For example the control unit 202 may be mounted in a docking station 210 in the passenger compartment of the vehicle with the Doppler unit 208 mounted to the back of the docking station 210 The antenna unit 204 may be secured to the roof of the vehicle and the ADF unit 206 may be fastened to the antenna unit 204 In the present example the various components 202 204 206 208 are connected by cables 212 but it is understood that wireless optical or other connection means may also be used The control unit 202 includes a processor microcontroller 214 a memory 216 a global positioning system GPS unit 218 a user interface 220 a communications interface 222 and an RF meter 224 A bus system 226 may be used to connect the various components 214 216 218 220 222 224 The processor 214 is connected to the memory 216 GPS unit 218 which may be associated with an antenna user interface 220 communications interface 222 RF meter 224 and Dop pler unit 208 through the docking station 210 The processor 214 receives bearing information from the Doppler unit 208 position information from the GPS unit 218 user input infor mation from the user interface 220 and RF intensity infor mation from the RF meter 224 The processor 214 also stores data in the memory 216 The memory 216 may include per manent memory removable media e g floppy disks CD ROMs flash cards etc and dynamic memory e g random access memory RAM
3. value that is used to determine a scaling factor for a detected magnitude of the leak 1304a Scale the leak magnitude using 1306a the scaling factor US 7 548 201 B2 Page2 OTHER PUBLICATIONS DDF6100D Radio Direction Finder User Manual Doppler Sys tems Inc Copyright 1997 pp 1 70 Series 5900 Radio Direction Finders Product Description Dop pler Systems Inc http www dopsys com ser5900 htm printed Jul 31 2008 Series 6000 Radio Direction Finders Product Description Dop pler Systems Inc http www dopsys com ser6000 htm printed Jul 31 2008 Series 6100 Radio Direction Finders Product Description Dop pler Systems Inc http www dopsys com ser6100 htm printed Jul 31 2008 Tec Trac Cable Plant Operations Information www tec trac com Copyright 2002 2008 Sunrise Telecom Press Release Sunrise Telecom to Acquire the CaLan Cable TV Test business from Agilent Technologies Jan 24 2002 CaLan 3010 2010 Signal Sweep Measurement System Product Description Aug 2002 Locating Cable TV Leaks using Dopler Radio Direction Finding Systems Mar 15 1994 cited by examiner U S Patent Jun 16 2009 Sheet 1 of 9 US 7 548 201 B2 100 102 PERFORM RIDE OUT TO OBTAIN LEAKAGE DATA 104 UPLOAD DATA FOR PROCESSING 106 PERFORM PROCESSING LEAK ANALYSIS ETC GENERATE WORK 108 7 ORDERS MAPS ETC 110 UPLOAD LEAK REPAIR DATA CLOSE OUT ASSOCIATED 112 WO
4. 12 United States Patent Eckenroth et al US007548201B2 US 7 548 201 B2 Jun 16 2009 10 Patent No 45 Date of Patent 54 75 73 Q1 Q2 65 63 51 52 58 56 METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY ANALYZING AND MODIFYING CABLE TELEVISION SIGNAL LEAK INFORMATION Inventors Kenneth J Eckenroth Rowlett TX US Michael E Ostteen Rowlett TX US Assignee Cable Leakage Technologies Inc Wylie TX US Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 927 days Appl No 10 843 798 Filed May 12 2004 Prior Publication Data US 2004 0210938 A1 Oct 21 2004 Related U S Application Data Continuation in part of application No 10 414 771 filed on Apr 16 2003 now Pat No 6 801 162 Int Cl GOLS 3 52 2006 01 HO4N 7 00 2006 01 DS Ch uya S u tas 342 418 725 107 Field of Classification Search 342 417 418 342 450 458 460 725 107 124 125 348 192 See application file for complete search history References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 072 899 A 2 1978 Shimp 1300 Identify a leak location in a cable system Automatically identify a range value that is used to define a distance from the cable system to the detection system Modify a magnitude of the leak based on the range value 4 612 797 A 9 1986 Barkhoudarian 73 40 5 R 5
5. 294 937 A 3 1994 Ostteen et al 5 589 631 A 12 1996 Spring et al 73 49 2 5 608 428 3 1997 Bush 5 625 150 4 1997 Greene et al 73 649 5 777 662 7 1998 Zimmerman 6 005 518 A 12 1999 Kallina 6 337 711 Bl 1 2002 Dickinson et al 6 437 740 Bl 8 2002 De Champlain et al 6 833 859 12 2004 Schneider et al 2003 0022645 Al 1 2003 Runzo OTHER PUBLICATIONS 2010B SLM Plus Cable TV Analyzer Product Descrip tion Sunrise Telecom Broadband Copyright 1991 2003 N1776A Network Profiler Product Description Sunrise Telecom Broadband Nov 2003 GeoSniffer System User s Guide ComSonics Inc Copyright 1995 1999 Continued Primary Examiner Dao L Phan 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Haynes and Boone LLP 57 ABSTRACT Provided are a system and method for modifying detected radio frequency RF leak information in a cable television system In one example the method includes identifying a leak location and a leak magnitude in the cable television system using a detection system A predefined range value may be automatically identified based on the leak location where the range value is used to define an approximate dis tance between the cable television system and the detection system The leak magnitude may then be modified based on the range value 29 Claims 9 Drawing Sheets 1302 1304 1306 Automatically identify range
6. Doppler based triangulation process to iden tify the leak location and selecting the first or second range value closest to the identified leak location 22 The computer system of claim 17 further comprising instructions for generating a map based on the leak location 23 The computer system of claim 17 further comprising instructions for identifying a street segment associated with the first range value wherein the street segment defines a specific portion of a street at which the detection system is located 24 A method for modifying detected radio frequency RF leak information of a cable television plant the method com prising analyzing a location of a leak automatically identifying a range value based on the leak location wherein the range value is used to determine a scaling factor for a detected magnitude of the leak and scaling the leak magnitude using the scaling factor US 7 548 201 B2 17 25 The method of claim 24 further comprising determin ing whether the leak magnitude should be scaled based on the range value prior to scaling the leak magnitude 26 The method of claim 24 wherein the scaling factor is based on a distance between the leak location and a leak detection system 27 The method of claim 24 wherein the range value is predefined 18 28 The method of claim 24 wherein the range value is dynamically identified 29 The method of claim 24 further comprising identifying a street segment
7. INTERFER ENCE such as erroneous RF transmissions In the present example the following default values which may be changed by a user are in use 1 200 1 200 2 150 2 150 3 100 3 100 4 50 4 50 Leak levels uV m Search radii m The spectral analysis may model the physics of a leak because leaks with larger values radiate further than leaks with smaller values For example it would be difficult to find a 50 uV m leak that is close to a 200 uV m leak because the 200 uV m leak would mask the 50 uV m leak This relation ship is reflected in the spectral analysis During the spectral analysis an initial leak parameter is used to identify level 1 leaks e g leaks of 200 uV m and higher 200 meter leak circle based on the search radii is drawn with its origin the source of the highest leak level It is understood that a leak circle may not actually be drawn but that a drawn circle is useful for purposes of illustration Within the leak circle the data may be analyzed to identify attributes from which spec tral indicators may be derived For example spectral indica tors may be used to identity whether a detected RF signal is from a cable leak a power source or noise For purposes of illustration the following spectral indicators are used INTERFERENCE 4 POWER In the case of power the data may be analyzed to identify spikes that rise from a noise floor If a spike is high enough wh
8. This provides sets of four readings e g data points that may then be processed by the Doppler unit 208 to provide bearing information based on the strength of the reading from each vertical element 306 308 310 and 312 As the antenna unit 204 moves relative to a leak additional bearing informa tion may be obtained that provides additional information regarding the leak s location through for example triangu lation US 7 548 201 B2 7 The method 500 then proceeds to step 518 where the processor 214 stores the power measurement read at step 508 the longitude and latitude geographic information read at step 514 and the bearing information read at step 516 into the memory 216 within the control unit 202 In the present example the information is stored as a comma delimited text file e g power longitude latitude bearing The processor 214 then forms a continuous processing loop by proceeding back to step 508 The processing loop which may include steps 508 through 518 may execute at predetermined inter vals such as once per second Thus every second the control unit 202 reads a power measurement from the RF meter 224 geographic information from the GPS unit 218 bearing infor mation from the Doppler unit 208 and stores the power measurement the longitude and the latitude and the bearing into a comma delimited text file This process continues until the control unit 202 is turned off paused or until an end comman
9. associated with the range value wherein the street segment defines a street location from which the leak was detected UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO 7 548 201 B2 Page 1 of 1 APPLICATION NO 10 843798 DATED June 16 2009 INVENTOR S Kenneth J Eckenroth et al It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below Column 10 Line 44 the word maybe should read may be Column 13 Line 6 after e g 4 insert the following Step 1304a Accordingly the leak magnitude may be scaled using the scaling factor Step 13063 Signed and Sealed this First Day of September 2009 py D tape David J Kappos Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
10. identified and or pre defined range values The method 1300 may be contained within and executed by the cable leakage detection system 200 another computer e g the computer 600 of FIG 6 or may be distributed between multiple processing devices For example portions ofthe method 1300 may be executed by the cable leakage detection system 200 e g the leak detection while other portions may be executed by the computer 600 e g further processing of the leak information Further more portions of the method 1300 may be stored on one device and executed on another device In step 1302 a leak location may be identified in a cable system as previously described In step 1304 a range value may be identified In some embodiments this range value may be selected from a set of predefined values that are used to define a distance from a point on the cable system to the cable leakage detection system For example the cable leak age detection system may be in a vehicle on a nearby road and each distance may indicate the distance from the cable system to the road In other embodiments the range value may be dynamically identified e g using a Doppler system to identify the leak location using triangulation In still other embodiments a combination of predefined and dynamic range values may be used For example a Doppler system may be used to triangulate the leak location and the Doppler identified location may be used to identify a ne
11. output device 606 and a network interface 608 The components 602 604 606 and 608 are interconnected by a bus system 610 It is under stood that the computer may be differently configured and that each of the listed components may actually represent several different components For example the CPU 602 may actually represent a multi processor or a distributed process ing system the memory unit 604 may include different levels of cache memory main memory hard disks and remote storage locations and the I O device 606 may include moni tors keyboards and the like The computer 600 may be connected to a network 612 Because the computer 600 may be connected to the network 612 certain components may at times be shared with other computers and digital devices 614 Therefore a wide range of US 7 548 201 B2 9 flexibility is anticipated in the configuration of the computer Furthermore it is understood that in some implementations the computer 600 may act as a server to other computers 614 Referring now to FIG 7 in another embodiment a method 700 illustrates using the computer 600 of FIG 6 to process data that was collected using the method 500 of FIG 5 In the present example the computer 600 is a server and may be accessed by other computers 614 In step 702 data is uploaded to the server 600 for processing The data may be uploaded to the computer server in a variety of ways For example the data may be
12. the line or in the building 14 The computer executable method of claim 1 wherein identifying the leak location includes using leak data that includes a plurality of data sets wherein each data set includes a longitude a latitude and Doppler based bearing information the method further comprising analyzing the bearing information associated with the leak discarding erroneous bearing information that results from multi path and calculating the leak location using a triangulation process based on the longitude latitude and bearing information of at least two of the plurality of data sets 15 The computer executable method of claim 1 further comprising identifying a street segment associated with the first range value wherein the street segment defines a specific portion of a street at which the detection system is located 20 35 45 50 55 60 65 16 16 The computer executable method of claim 15 wherein the street segment includes at least one ofa street name and a range of addresses located on the street 17 A computer system for automatically modifying a detected leak amplitude of a cable television plant leak using at least one predefined range value the system comprising a processor amemory accessible to the processor wherein the memory is operable to store the predefined range values and a plurality of instructions for processing by the processor the instructions for automatically identify
13. user may toggle between program execution and program pause by pressing one or more keys associated with the user interface 220 If the method 500 is already being executed pressing the key may cause the method to pause or suspend execution A sixth interrupt may provided at step 530 that allows a user to set the speed at which power position and bearing information are read from the RF meter 224 GPS unit 218 and Doppler unit 208 and stored in the memory 216 The speed may be entered via the user interface 220 by entering a desired time interval or by selecting a time interval from a predetermined range The processor 214 then logs data at a rate corresponding to the entered speed In addition to the above interrupts a supervisory interrupt not shown may be provided that produces an error log of particular error conditions that may occur within the control unit 202 For example an error condition may result from the failure of any one ofthe RF meter 224 GPS unit 218 Doppler unit 208 or user interface 220 to communicate with the processor 214 within the control unit 202 The error log may bea text file that details the nature ofthe error and is stored in the memory 216 Referring now to FIG 6 in another embodiment an exem plary computer 600 such as may utilize leakage data col lected using the method 500 of FIG 5 is illustrated The computer 600 may include a central processing unit CPU 602 a memory unit 604 an input
14. 0 1 200 2 150 2 150 3 100 3 100 4 50 4 50 The leak analysis may model the physics of a leak because leaks with larger values radiate further than leaks with smaller values For example it would be difficult to find a 50 uV m leak that is close to a 200 uV m leak because the 200 uV m leak would mask the 50 uV m leak This relationship is reflected in the leak analysis In steps 802 and 804 the method 800 begins with an initial leak parameter and identifies level 1 leaks e g leaks of 200 uV m and higher In step 806 a 200 meter leak circle based on the search radii is drawn with its origin at the source ofthe highest leak level It is understood that a leak circle may not actually be drawn but that a drawn circle is useful for pur poses of illustration The method 800 then proceeds to step 808 where symbols are derived based on spectral indicators such as those assigned in step 510 of FIG 5 as is illustrated in greater detail in FIG 9 Referring also to FIG 9 a method 900 assigns symbols based previous spectral analysis It is understood that the spectral analysis may be performed as part of the present step if desired The symbols are designed to indicate whether a detected RF signal is from a cable leak CABLE a power source POWER or noise INTERFERENCE such as erro neous RF transmissions The leak analysis using the results ofthe method 900 and the previously determined amplitudes and spectral i
15. 310 312 are positioned on the upper surface 302 so that one vertical ele ment is at each corner and oriented perpendicular to the planar surface of the base 300 Each vertical element 306 308 310 312 is the same length which may be generally between eighteen and twenty four inches long The actual length selected for the vertical elements depends on the wavelength of the signals to be detected For example each vertical ele ment may be approximately 1 4 wavelength of the target sig nal Cable RF signals used for signal leakage are generally in the range of 108 150 MHz As is known in the art the 1 4 wavelength for the 150 MHz signal may be calculated as 11811 inches 150 4 19 685 inches Accordingly a length may be selected for the vertical elements 306 308 310 312 that maximizes performance over the desired range of fre quencies Furthermore the vertical elements 306 308 310 312 may be spaced to avoid undesirable intercoupling which may occur with a spacing of 1 4 wavelength The base 300 includes four corners 314 316 318 320 One of four horizontal elements 322 324 326 328 is attached to each corner and oriented parallel with the planar surface of the base 300 In some embodiments each corner may be bent upwards or downwards so as to present a small surface that is approximately perpendicular to the planar surface of the base 300 The horizontal elements 322 324 326 328 may then be attached to the small perpendicu
16. Dee NSPS ETS 13555 ANAL INV GINYNNN JIM MILLER HVIS 39vTIIA dVIA NIVIA T 202L age U S Patent 1300 Jun 16 2009 Sheet 8 of 9 US 7 548 201 B2 1302 Identify a leak location in a cable system Automatically identify a range value that is used to define a distance from the cable system to the detection system 1304 1306 Modify a magnitude of the leak based on the range value Automatically identify a range value that is used to determine a scaling factor for a detected magnitude of the leak 1304a 1306a Scale the leak magnitude using the scaling factor Fig 13 U S Patent Jun 16 2009 Sheet 9 of 9 US 7 548 201 B2 1400 1404 1410a 1 1408 1402 Fig 14 US 7 548 201 B2 1 METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY ANALYZING AND MODIFYING CABLE TELEVISION SIGNAL LEAK INFORMATION CROSS REFERENCE This application is a continuation in part of U S patent application Ser No 10 414 771 filed on Apr 16 2003 and entitled DOPPLER BASED AUTOMATED DIRECTION FINDING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LOCATING CABLE TELEVISION SIGNAL LEAKS BACKGROUND Cable television is a system e g a cable plant for delivering television signals to subscribers or viewers by means of coaxial cable When signals above a certain power level leak from the cable plant into the atmosphere they may conflict with those used by the aviation indust
17. ED ON HIGHEST IDENTIFIED LEAK LEVEL DERIVE SYMBOLS FROM SPECTRAL INDICATORS SEPARATES CABLE LEAKS FROM RF SIGNALS PRODUCED BY POWER SOURCES AND NOISE OBTAIN NEAREST STREET ADDRESS TO HIGHEST IDENTIFIED LEAK LEVEL REMOVE ALL DATA POINTS EXCEPT HIGHEST IDENTIFIED LEAK LEVEL 806 808 810 812 HAVE ALL ITERATIONS BEEN PERFORMED SELECT NEXT LEAK PARAMETER 814 816 U S Patent Jun 16 2009 Sheet 5 of 9 US 7 548 201 B2 START 900 902 a ARE ALL SPECTRAL INDICATORS E OR EQUAL ARE THERE MORE OR EF 2 NUMBER CREATE POWER SYMBOL TRIANGLE CREATE INTERFERENCE SYMBOL CIRCLE CREATE RFLEVELS SYMBOL SQUARE Fig 9 1000 IDENTIFY BEARINGS FOR A LEAK DRAW LINES FROM LEAK FOR EACH BEARING DETERMINE POINTS OF INTERSECTION FOR THE LINES REJECT LINES THAT DO NOT MATCH CALCULATE DISTANCE BASED ON TRIANGULATION Fig 10 U S Patent Jun 16 2009 Sheet 6 of 9 US 7 548 201 B2 1100 Workorder 6062 Latitude 32 730213 Longitude 96 688451 RF 68 00 Address 111 Anywhere Dr Detect Time 09 00 00 Detect Date 2003 03 28 Repair Time 00 00 00 Repair Date US 7 548 201 B2 Sheet 7 of 9 Jun 16 2009 U S Patent Cl 78914 WHITLEY CREEKSIDE EI HOUGHTON PRICHARD JOAN GELESTE A31QVH JIM MILLER o ES
18. IG 3 via connections 412 The ADF antenna board is also connected to the Doppler unit 208 via a coaxial cable 414 and a multiple conductor wire 416 In operation the US 7 548 201 B2 5 pin diodes may be switched on and off relatively quickly by the Doppler unit 208 enabling the coaxial cable 414 to sequence through the vertical elements 306 308 310 312 In the present example sixteen points of resolution are pro vided with each point representing a direction It is under stood that more points of resolution e g thirty two or sixty four may be used to provide additional directional detail Referring now to FIG 5 a method 500 representing a software program may be used by the cable leakage detec tion system 200 of FIG 2 to detect and store leakage data In general the method 500 reads signal bearing information from the Doppler unit 208 as detected by the antenna unit 204 and ADF unit 206 geographic location information e g longitude and latitude from the GPS unit 218 and signal strength information e g power from the RF meter 224 The method 500 then extracts the read information and stores it in a file in the memory 216 In the present example the information is stored in one of four comma delimited text files The four files pertain to a range of signal strengths For example the four files may pertain to signal strength ranges 1 0 19 uV m 2 20 49 uV m 3 50 149 uV m and 4 150 uV m and up Af
19. If a configuration file exists on the removable memory device the method 500 proceeds to step 504 At step 504 the configuration file is read into the memory RAM of the control unit 202 The designated parameters associated with the configuration file are then transferred by the processor 214 to the RF meter 224 Upon receipt of the parameters the RF meter 224 begins measuring the desig nated frequency and calculates the power of the designated frequency according to the distance parameter provided If at step 502 a configuration file does not reside in the removable memory device a default configuration file is read at step 506 from the memory 216 and transferred to the RF meter 224 as above The method 500 then proceeds to step 508 At step 508 the processor 214 ofthe control unit 202 reads the power measurement from the RF meter 224 Typically this power measurement is in numerical units such as 50 uV m The power measurement is based on the distance between the RF meter 224 and the source of the measured signal and relates to the designated frequency band The method 500 then proceeds to step 510 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 At step 510 a spectral analysis is performed to identify spectral indicators based on the power measurements obtained in step 508 The spectral analysis is designed to determine whether a detected RF signal is from a cable leak CABLE a power source POWER or noise
20. RK ORDER S Fig 1 210 CONTROL UNIT 22 COMMUNICATION INTERFACE 202 U S Patent Jun 16 2009 Sheet 2 of 9 US 7 548 201 B2 204 N UPPER 306 SURFAGE LOWER 204 SURFACE 304 ADF ADF UNIT ANTENNA BOARD 410 U S Patent 500 520 INTERRUPTS ENTER MEASUREMENT DISTANCE ENTER FLAG INFORMATION END PROGRAM START PAUSE OR RESTART PROGRAM SET DATA LOGGING SPEED 922 924 526 528 530 Jun 16 2009 Sheet 3 of 9 PIE gt POWER ON 502 IS CONFIGURATION FILE IN MEMORY YES READ CONFIGURATION FILE READ POWER MEASUREMENT FROM RF UNIT SPECTRAL ANALYSIS IS PERFORMED RESULTING IN OR SPECTRAL INDICATORS DISPLAY POWER MEASUREMENT ON USER INTERFACE READ POSITION INFORMATION FROM GPS UNIT READ BEARING INFORMATION FROM DOPPLER UNIT STORE POWER POSITION AND BEARING INFORMATION IN MEMORY US 7 548 201 B2 UTILIZE DEFAULT CONFIGURATION U S Patent Jun 16 2009 Sheet 4 of 9 US 7 548 201 B2 700 UPLOAD DATA FOR 702 PROCESSING PERFORM PROCESSING LEAK ANALYSIS DOPPLER ROUTINES 104 600 612 GENERATE WORK ORDERS 706 DCE GENERATE MAPS Fig 6 s GENERATE MAPS 708 Fig 7 800 802 SELEGT INITIAL LEAK PARAMETER 804 IDENTIFY LEAKS BASED ON SELECTED PARAMETER DRAW LEAK CIRCLE BAS
21. The communications interface 222 may provide a communications channel between the control unit 202 and the docking station 210 The communications interface 222 may also include components for use in wired or wireless communications with other devices not shown Although not shown in detail the user interface 220 may include buttons switches a keypad a touch screen or similar interactive controls that let a user interact with the control unit 102 as well as a screen display or other output portion The RF meter 224 may be configured to measure signals in a broad spectrum of bandwidths and may also be configured to display the measured signal strength ina variety of formats For example cable television operators generally monitor carrier signals in the frequency bands 108 150 MHz The RF meter 224 may be configured to monitor the signal strength of carrier signals in these frequency bands In addition the RF meter 224 may be configured to calculate signal strength measurements based on the distance between the RF meter 224 and the source of the measured signal The RF meter 224 or the processor 214 may make adjustments to detected leak levels based on a user defined multiplier that is entered into the control unit 202 through the user interface 220 For example the control unit 202 may enable the user to indicate a distance from the RF meter 224 to a cable The distance may be entered or may be selected from a range of distances The mul
22. ality may be incorporated into the method 700 as desired For example a user may access a map or list of ride outs along with leaks that were detected during each ride out A user may also define leak parameters that are used for processing the data as well as flags and other information In addition the method 700 may be used to generate summa ries reports or other compilations of data to enable users to more accurately estimate repair costs equipment upgrades personnel needs and perform other planning tasks Further jak 5 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 more the method 700 may incorporate the data into a report such as is required by the FCC and automatically file the report Referring now to FIG 13 in still another embodiment a method 1300 illustrates the use of predefined range informa tion with the collection processing and provisioning of data that is obtained using a cable leakage detection system As previously described in some embodiments a user may make adjustments to a control unit e g the control unit 202 of FIG 2 to indicate a distance from an RF meter to a cable The method 1300 enables the control unit and or the computer 600 to automatically adjust the recorded leak magnitude to account for variations in distance between the RF meter and the source of the leak In the present embodiment distance variations may be handled without user intervention by applying one or more dynamically
23. arest pre defined range value Accordingly is it understood that the range value may be identified using a number of different techniques ora combination of such techniques and that each technique may use predefined and or dynamically identified information In step 1306 the leak magnitude may be modified based on the range value For example the leak magnitude may be scaled as previously described with respect to the operation of the control unit 202 and the second interrupt step 522 ofthe method 500 Accordingly the leak magnitude may be cor rected based on the predefined distance information It is understood that some embodiments may include determining whether such a modification is needed For example a scaling value associated with the range value may be checked to determine whether the leak magnitude needs to be modified and the modification may occur only if the check indicates that the leak magnitude needs to be scaled e g if the distance indicates that the detected leak magnitude 1 not correct The predefined range values may be provided in multiple ways For example a user may directly input this information or previously collected rideout data may be used to automati cally extrapolate previously input distance values e g from step 522 of the method 500 It is understood that the term range value is used to represent many possible values that may be used in the method 1300 For example a range value may incl
24. ased on the range value BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a flow chart of an exemplary method for collect ing processing and provisioning cable leakage data to an end user FIG 2 is a block diagram illustrating components of an exemplary Doppler based leak detection system that may be used in the method of FIG 1 FIG 3 is a perspective view of an antenna from the system of FIG 2 FIG 4 is an underside view of the antenna of FIG 3 FIG 5is a flow chart ofan exemplary method for collecting and storing cable leakage data using the leak detection system of FIG 2 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 FIG 6 is an exemplary computer system that may be used to process and provision data collected using the method of FIG 5 FIG 7 is a flow chart of a data processing method that may be performed using the computer system of FIG 6 FIG 8 is a flow chart of a leak analysis that may be per formed by the method of FIG 7 FIG 9 is a flow chart of one method by which radio fre quency sources may be assigned symbols by the method of FIG 7 FIG 10 is a flow chart of a Doppler routine that may be performed by the method of FIG 7 FIG 11 is an exemplary screen shot of a work order that may be generated by the method of FIG 7 FIG 12 is an exemplary screen shot of a map that may be generated by the method of FIG 7 FIG 13 is a flow chart ofan exemplary method that may be used to mo
25. comma delimited text files according to his own criteria The other text files are termed flag files and contain a flag letter e g A B or C as well as longitude latitude and bearing This capability allows a user to log to the memory 216 location information of particular observ able information such as a broken cable flag A a damaged pedestal flag B etc The files may be created using the user interface 220 The processor 214 stores the flag along with the most recently read longitude and latitude into a comma delimited text file in the memory 216 The processor 214 may append subsequent flag entries into existing text files in the manner described above A fourth interrupt is provided at step 526 which allows a user to end the method 500 and thus end the logging of power measurements to the memory 216 The user can end the method 500 for example by pressing a key associated with the user interface 220 The key press is transmitted to the processor 214 Upon receipt the processor 214 stores the existing text files into the memory 216 discontinues reading information from the Doppler unit 208 GPS unit 218 and RF meter 224 and halts program execution In some embodi ments the control unit 202 may not be able to restart execu tion until power is turned off and then back on A fifth interrupt is provided at step 528 that allows a user to start pause or restart the method 500 from the user interface 220 For example the
26. d is entered as discussed below The software program embodying the method 500 may include several interrupt routines that are designated as steps 520 through 530 The first step 520 may be used if the comma delimited text file is stored in temporary memory e g RAM in step 518 or if a backup copy is to be made For example the routine may interrupt the continuous loop of steps 508 through 518 at predetermined intervals e g every two minutes for the purpose of storing the comma delimited text file into the memory 216 from RAM or writing the file to a backup disk suchas a floppy disk This step provides data backup to the control unit 202 such that if power is lost no more than two minutes or another predetermined time inter val of data will be lost In some embodiments the processor 214 may perform processing on the comma delimited text file before storing it For example the processing may begin when the processor 214 examines the text file to determine the value of the mea sured power signal for each second of time The processor 214 extracts the comma delimited text file into one ofthe four different text files discussed above according to predefined signal strength criteria For example onetext file may contain power longitude and latitude and bearing for power mea surements between 0 and 19 um a second text file may contain power measurements between 20 and 49 uV m a third text file may contain power measurements be
27. dify leak information based on a predefined range value FIG 14 illustrates an exemplary environment within which the method of FIG 13 may be implemented DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present disclosure relates generally to detecting cable leakage and more specifically to a system and method for locating and identifying cable television signal leaks It is understood however that the following disclosure provides many different embodiments or examples Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to sim plify the present disclosure These are of course merely examples and are not intended to be limiting In addition the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and or let ters in the various examples This repetition is for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a rela tionship between the various embodiments and or configura tions discussed Referring to FIG 1 in one embodiment a method 100 illustrates the collection processing and provisioning of data that is obtained using a cable leakage detection system As willbe described later in greater detail the method 100 begins in step 102 where a ride out 15 performed During the ride out a vehicle containing the cable leakage detection system traverses a route The cable leakage detection system auto matically stores information about leaks that are detected along the route such as radio frequency RF intensity e g
28. e with respect to FIG 5 Another way is to incorporate Doppler data as this allows such benefits as a triangulation However one problem with Doppler based data stems from reflected signals e g multi path These reflected signals may be detected even though they are erroneous Multi path may affect both the amplitude of RF leakage levels and the calculated location of the leaks As will be described below the negative effect of multi path may be overcome while processing the bearing data In step 1002 all bearings for each measured leak are iden tified In step 1004 lines are drawn e g calculated out from each measured leak using the bearing information For example if bearing information is taken on a single leak once a second for three seconds there would be three lines drawn from the leak In steps 1006 and 1008 points of intersection are determined for the lines associated with each leak and if a line does not match it is rejected as being the result of multi path In some embodiments a range of intersecting lines may US 7 548 201 B2 11 be averaged during the processing For example one line that is twenty feet from a point may be averaged with another line that is forty feet from the point to produce a single line that is thirty feet from the point In step 1010 the distance to the leak can be calculated using triangulation The calculated distance may then be used to alter the multiplier for that leak to mo
29. elected In step 812 all the data points in the leak circle are removed except the highest identified leak level In step 814 a determination is made as to whether all of the iterations have been performed e g whether leaks have been identified using the predefined parameters If not the method 800 proceeds to step 816 where the next leak parameter is selected The method 800 then returns to step 804 and identifies leaks performs spectral analysis etc as previously described with respect to steps 804 814 This enables the method 800 to identify and label smaller leaks that were covered by the highest identified leak level After the leak analysis is completed the method 800 ends and the method 700 of FIG 7 may execute a Doppler routine as is described in greater in detail with reference to FIG 10 Referring now to FIG 10 a method 1000 uses bearing information collected via the Doppler unit 208 to more accu rately characterize a leak Although the method 1000 is illus trated for purposes of clarity as a method separate from the leak analysis method 700 of FIG 7 it is understood that the method 1000 maybe integrated into the method 700 Doppler based data may be used to overcome problems associated with determining a source of the leak For example when a vehicle is on a ride out it is difficult to calculate the actual distance from the vehicle to the cable One way to do this is to use an estimated range as was described abov
30. en compared to a predetermined level it is assigned the 4 spectral indicator indicating that the signal is coming from a power source Similarly the data may be analyzed to identify video signatures in which case the source is assigned a spectral indicator If the data has no identifiable charac teristics it may be assigned a default symbol such as the spectral indicator After the spectral analysis is complete the method 500 continues to step 512 At step 512 the processor 214 may display the read power measurement via the user interface 220 At this point a user of the cable leakage detection system 200 can examine a display associated with the user interface 220 to determine the mea sured signal strength of the designated frequency band The method 500 then proceeds to step 514 where the processor 214 reads geographical position information from the GPS unit 218 The geographical position information may include such information as longitude latitude altitude and time The method 500 then proceeds to step 516 In step 516 the processor 214 receives bearing information from the Doppler unit 208 The Doppler unit 208 may obtain and process bearing information from the antenna unit 204 and ADF unit 206 as follows In the present example the Doppler unit 208 rapidly sequences through the pin diodes of the ADF unit 206 and sequentially reads data from each vertical element 306 308 310 and 312 of the antenna unit 304
31. ing a predefined first range value from the predefined range values based on a detected leak location using the first range value to identify a scaling factor determining whether the leak magnitude needs to be modified based on the scaling factor and modifying the leak magnitude based using the scaling factor if the leak magnitude needs to be modified 18 The computer system of claim 17 further comprising instructions for identifying the detected leak location on a map and identifying the first range value from a first map layer associated with the map 19 The computer system of claim 18 further comprising instructions for automatically identifying a predefined second range value from the predefined range values based on the detected leak location identifying the second range value from a second map layer associated with the map and determining whether to use the first or second range value 20 The computer system of claim 19 further comprising instructions for determining whether to use the first or second range value by examining historical data to determine whether the first or second map layer is associated with more previ ously reported leaks and selecting the first range value if the first map layer is asso ciated with more leaks and selecting the second range value if the second map layer is associated with more leaks 21 The computer system of claim 19 further comprising instructions for executing a
32. lar surfaces The horizontal elements 322 324 326 328 serve to extend the size of the base 300 while providing flexibility For example if the hori zontal elements 322 324 326 328 are each twenty four inches long an additional two feet may be added to each side ofthe base 300 depending on the orientation ofthe horizontal members Although more than four horizontal elements may be used it has been discovered that four horizontal elements are generally sufficient to gather the wavelength and the resulting amplitude Because the horizontal members 322 324 326 328 are flexible they can return to their original position after being displaced For example the base 300 may be mounted to the roof of a truck that has a ladder rack on each side The base 300 may be mounted on one or more legs not shown that raise the base 300 above the ladder racks Dueto the relatively small footprint of the base 300 not much room is needed However the horizontal elements 322 324 326 328 make the base 300 functionally larger and because they are flex ible they can be displaced by ladders etc and return to their original position Referring also to FIG 4 the ADF unit 206 may be attached to thelower surface 304 oftheantenna unit 104 The ADF unit 106 includes an ADF antenna board 408 that is contained in a housing 410 The ADF antenna board 408 includes four pin diodes that are connected to the four vertical elements 306 308 310 312 F
33. llowing paragraph it is understood that the range values may not be evenly spaced along the cable system 1402 For example one or two range values may be used to indicate a portion of the cable system that is twenty feet from the street while another range value may be used to indicate a point where the cable system is ten feet from the street In other embodiments many range values may be supplied to provide a more accurate represen tation of the position of the cable system In the present embodiment the street 1404 is divided into multiple street segments not shown Each street segment is a line segment with a beginning point and an ending point connected by a line In general the more curved the street 1404 the more street segments will be needed to accurately represent the street Each street segment may contain data such as the name of the street and the address range of that portion of the street e g addresses beginning at 100 or 101 and ending at 198 or 199 Each range value may be associ 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 14 ated with one ofthe street segments As the cable system 1402 changes its range from the street each street segment will have the correct changing range value In some embodiments a triangulation process as described above may be used to provide alternative or addi tional positioning information about a leak location For example triangulation may be used to more accura
34. map layer containing a predefined range value 1412 It is understood that the map layers may not be visible map layers of the map 1400 but may represent data that can be used in conjunction with the map For example the range values may be associated with map grid coordinates longitudinal latitu dinal information etc for positioning purposes A user may directly input the range values into the appro priate map layer using for example a utility e g a software program designed for this purpose or a map editing tool Alternatively or additionally a utility may be used that pro cesses previously collected rideout data automatically extrapolates the range values from previously input distance values and enters them into the appropriate map layer Fur thermore compiled location data e g from a cable company responsible for the cable system may be used to provide the map overlay information In the present example each predefined range value defines an approximate distance from the corresponding point on the cable system 1402 to the cable leakage detection system 1408 assuming that the detection system is on a certain area on the street For example the range value 1410e defines a distance 1414 The range value 1412 defines a distance or a range of distances from the house 1406 to the cable leakage detection system 1408 if the cable leakage detection system was in front of the house Asis described in greater detailinthe fo
35. ncorporated by reference as if reproduced in its entirety Therefore the claims should be interpreted in a broad manner consistent with the present disclosure What is claimed is 1 A computer executable method for correcting radio fre quency RF leak information in a cable television system the method comprising US 7 548 201 B2 15 identifying a leak location in the cable television system using a detection system wherein the identifying obtains a leak magnitude automatically identifying at least a first range value based on the leak location wherein the first range value is used to define an approximate distance between the cable television system and the detection system and modifying the leak magnitude based on the first range value 2 The computer executable method of claim 1 wherein modifying the leak magnitude includes scaling the leak mag nitude using the first range value 3 The computer executable method of claim 2 further comprising determining whether the leak magnitude should be modified based on the first range value wherein the deter mining evaluates a scaling value of the first range value 4 The computer executable method of claim 1 wherein the first range value is predefined 5 The computer executable method of claim 1 wherein the first range value is dynamically identified 6 The computer executable method of claim 1 wherein the first range value includes longitudinal and latitudinal coordi na
36. ndicators produces a point file e g a data set 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 that includes an amplitude a symbol type and a spectral indicator for each leak In the present example the following indicators and symbols are used Spectral indicators INTERFERENCE POWER Symbols circle INTERFERENCE triangle POWER square CABLE The symbol circle triangle or square is selected as fol lows In step 902 a determination is made as to whether all the spectral indicators inside the leak circle are If yes the method 900 proceeds to step 904 where the INTERFER ENCE symbol circle is selected This is the only time the INTERFERENCE symbol is created If no the method 900 continues to step 906 where a determination is made as to whether there are more or spectral indicators in the leak circle The symbol is selected based on a majority so the POWER symbol triangle will be selected if the majority of the spectral indicators are step 908 and the CABLE symbol square will be selected if the majority of the spectral indicators are step 910 No majority e g a tie results in the selection of the CABLE symbol step 910 Referring again to FIG 8 after assigning the symbols based on the spectral indicators the method 800 continues to step 810 where the street address that is nearest to the highest identified leak level is s
37. re accurately identify the amplitude of the leak For example a leak detected at 4 uV m with a calculated distance of 80 feet would be identified as a 32 uV m leak The bearing information may also be examined to identify patterns that provide additional details regarding a leak For example a leak may be in a cable located at the back of a house rather than on a pole During a ride out RF signals from the leak may be detected when the detection system 200 is positioned on the road between the house where the leak occurs and a neighboring house but may be blocked when a house is between the detection system 200 and the leak Accordingly data representing the leak will exist for the time the leak is detected from between the houses but there will be no data for the positions on either side of the leak where a house is blocking the leak from being detected Therefore by examining the data for a general pattern such as NULL leak data NULL it may be determined that the leak is at the back of a house rather than on a pole Other patterns may be used to identify similar information It is understood that the bearing information may be used in addition to the distance information gathered with respect to FIG 5 e g as a check or may replace the distance data entirely After the leaks are processed using the Doppler rou tine the method 1000 ends and the method 700 of FIG 7 continues to step 706 Referring again to FIG 7 and also
38. ry Signal leak age can occur in a variety of situations such as when the shielding of cable cracks or becomes weathered when con nectors become loose or when the cable breaks Rules promulgated by the Federal Communications Com mission FCC require cable television operators to monitor their cable plants including their transport media e g cables Among other items these rules cover monitoring and reporting on signal leaks that occur in the cables To comply with these standards cable companies must make power measurements oftheir facilities and report data obtained dur ing the measurements to the FCC Although various methods have been developed to locate cable television leaks each method presents one or more disadvantages For example some methods lack effective ness in locating or identifying leaks while others are costly or time consuming Accordingly what is needed is a system and method for accurately locating and identifying leaks SUMMARY Provided is a system and method for detecting and modi fying cable leakage information In one embodiment the method includes identifying a leak location and a leak mag nitude in a cable television system using a detection system A range value may be automatically identified based on the leak location where the range value is used to define an approximate distance between the cable television system and the detection system The leak magnitude may then be modified b
39. tely locate the leak which may result in more accurate distance infor mation Referring again to FIG 13 and with continued reference to FIG 14 the method 1300 may be applied to the environment of FIG 14 as follows The method 1300 begins in step 1302 by locating a leak location For purposes of example the leak location is near the range value 1410e and the cable leakage detection system 1408 is at the position shown Accordingly the distance 1414 separates the leak location and the detection system In step 1304 the range value 1410e is identified and the distance 1414 is obtained e g by retrieving a predefined distance or by calculating the distance using coordinates To identify the range value 1410e a decision may be made as to which of the first and second map layers should be used For example the decision may be based on historical leak statis tics from the cable system to determine whether most of the previously reported leaks were located in the house or the line This information may then be used to determine which map layer and corresponding range values should be used Although the present example uses the predefined range value 1410e it is understood that the range value may be dynami cally calculated or based on dynamically calculated informa tion For example a triangulation process using the previ ously described Doppler system may be used to identify the leak location which may then be used to more accuratel
40. ter the control unit 202 is powered on the method 500 controls the reading and storing of information received from the Doppler unit 208 GPS unit 218 user interface 220 and RF meter 224 as well as the display of information through the user interface 220 The storing of information is per formed by writing information to the memory 216 At step 502 the processor 214 of the control unit 202 reads the memory 216 to determine whether a configuration file not shown exists on a removable memory device assuming such a device is present The configuration file is an editable file that may be used to initialize various parameters of the cable leakage detection system 200 One such parameter may include the default distance between the RF meter 224 and the source of the measured signal Another such parameter may include a distance at which measurements from the RF meter 224 may be appended with one or more symbols e g a a space lt or gt within one of the four comma delimited text files Each of these symbols is desig nated as a DMARK The DMARK is used to annotate measurements that are being taken by the RF meter 224 when the meter is set at a high sensitivity threshold For example measurements made at distances greater than 100 feet may read 25 uV m while the same reading taken at 20 feet may read 5 uV m This DMARK can then be imported along with the measured signal into a mapping program for display
41. tes and wherein the method further comprises using the longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates to calculate the dis tance 7 The computer executable method of claim 1 wherein the first range value is a scaling factor 8 The computer executable method of claim 1 wherein the approximate distance is precalculated and wherein the first range value includes the approximate distance 9 The computer executable method of claim 1 further comprising providing an interface to enable a user to directly input the first range value into a computer system 10 The computer executable method of claim 1 further comprising extrapolating the first range value from a plurality of previously input distance values 11 The computer executable method of claim 1 further comprising importing previously obtained data as the first range value 12 The computer executable method of claim 1 further comprising determining whether to usethe first range value or a second range value wherein the first range value is associ ated with a line and wherein the second range value is used to define an approximate distance between a building contain ing a portion of the cable television system and the detection system 13 The computer executable method of claim 12 wherein determining whether to use the first or second range value includes examining historical information from the cable sys tem to determine whether a majority of previously identified leaks were located in
42. tiplier accounts for the distance so that selecting a dis tance of 20 feet results in a multiplier of 2 e g 2x detected leak level Accordingly a leak recorded as a 20 would become a leak of 40 Similarly selecting a distance of 160 would result in the leak being recorded as a 320 This enables the control unit 202 to account for variations in distance between the RF meter 224 and the source of the leak Itis understood that certain components that are illustrated as being contained in the control unit 202 may be separate components For example the GPS unit 218 and the RF meter 224 may both be separate from the control unit 202 and may 20 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 communicate with the processor 214 via an interface such as the communications interface 222 Power to the control unit 202 may be provided from a variety of sources such as an external direct current source e g a vehicle battery When the control unit 110 is powered on a software program is executed by the processor 216 as will be described in greater detail below with reference to FIG 5 Referring now to FIG 3 one embodiment of the antenna unit 204 is illustrated in greater detail In the present example the antenna unit 204 comprises a relatively rigid square base 300 that is sixteen and a halfinches on each side The base 300 forms a planar surface with an upper surface 302 and a lower surface 304 Four vertical elements 306 308
43. to FIG 11 work orders may be generated in step 706 based on the processing of step 704 Referring specifically to FIG 11 a work order 1100 may include location information 1102 amplitude of the leak 1104 which may be corrected using Doppler data as described with respect to FIG 10 and additional informa tion In some embodiments the work order may be emailed to a technician and or may be viewed as a web page provided by the server 600 Referring again to FIG 7 and also to FIG 12 maps and associated information may be generated in step 708 Refer ring specifically to FIG 12 a map screen 1200 illustrates a map 1202 of a leakage area may be generated by superim posing the processed data onto a digital map by latitude and longitude For example the latitude and longitude of the work order of FIG 11 may be used to place the leak onto the map of FIG 12 along with an associated symbol 1206 as described above e g a square for a cable leak A circle 1208 may be drawn around each leak to indicate the amplitude of the leak or other information Flag information e g to indi cate a broken wire or a damaged pedestal may also be indi cated on the map or in a comments section Another map 1204 may reproduce the general area of which the map 1202 is a part It is understood that the view of the map may be adjust able e g zoomed in or out and that other known map techniques may be used to alter the map as desired Other function
44. transferred from the control unit 202 to a computer e g the computer 614 using removable media e g a floppy disk or flash card by wireless transfer e g Nextel CDPD or GSM GPRS by a cable e g a serial cable or by interfacing the control unit 202 with a docking station connected to the computer 614 The computer 614 may then transfer the data to the server 600 In some embodi ments each detection system 200 may be associated with a unique identifier that may be used by the server 600 to iden tify the source of the uploaded data Accordingly a user may initiate an upload procedure by pressing a key associated with the user interface 220 of the control unit 202 at which time a client program residing on the computer 614 will retrieve the data from the memory 216 transfer the data to the server 600 store a backup of the data in the computer 614 s memory and delete the files from the memory 216 In step 704 the uploaded data is processed Exemplary processing may include leak analysis FIGS 8 and 9 and the execution of Doppler routines on the data FIG 10 Referring also to FIG 8 a method 800 illustrates the leak analysis of step 704 in greater detail Once the data is uploaded to the server 600 a leak analysis may be initiated that performs a logical search through the data In the present example the following default values which may be changed by a user are in use Leak levels uV m Search radii m 1 20
45. tween 50 and 149 uV m and a fourth text file may contain power measurements above 149 uV m After extracting the delim ited text file into four different text files the processor 214 may store the files as described The method 500 then con tinues the execution loop of steps 508 and 518 When the processor 214 at step 520 stores the text files it may first read the memory 216 to determine whether any comma delimited text files already exist If text files do exist in the memory 216 pertaining to the four signal strength designations the processor 214 appends the new files onto the preexisting files Thus no preexisting files are written over by the processor 214 If no text files exist in the memory 216 during the execution of step 520 the processor 214 creates the files and stores the comma delimited text within them second interrupt step 522 may occur when a user wishes to change the distance between the RF meter 224 and the measured signal As described previously a user may wish to change the distance measurement to provide more accurate power readings depending on the distance to the source ofthe measured signal The user enters the desired distance or selects a distance from a predetermined range using the inter face 222 Upon receipt the RF meter 224 calculates the measured power according to the new distance an 5 40 45 55 8 A third interrupt step 524 provides a user with the ability to create other
46. ude longi US 7 548 201 B2 13 tudinal latitudinal coordinates and the distance itself may be calculated using the range value and the cable leakage detec tion system s longitudinal latitudinal coordinates In such an embodiment the range value s coordinates may be pre defined rather than the distance itself In other embodiments the range value may be a scaling factor e g 4 In some examples multiple sets of range values may be used For example a first set of range values may be used to identify cable plant locations that are associated with a line while a second set of range values may be used to identify cable plant locations that are associated with buildings In other examples a range value may have additional information associated with it that negates the need for multiple sets of range values e g a distance and a line building identifier With additional reference to FIG 14 an exemplary map 1400 illustrates one possible environment within which the method 1300 may be implemented The map 1400 illustrates a cable system 1402 running along a street 1404 A house 1406 is connected to the cable system and a vehicle carrying a cable leakage detection system 1408 is on the street 1404 Various map layers may be associated with e g superim posed on the map 1400 such as layers for streets utilities and additional map layers including a first map layer con taining predefined range values 1410a 1410 and a second
47. y identify or verify the range value 1410e Instep 1306 the leak magnitude may be modified based on the distance For example if the distance is twenty feet the leak magnitude may be multiplied by two Accordingly the method 1300 enables leak information to be automatically manipulated without requiring constant human intervention Inother embodiments geocoded range values may be used for other purposes For example such range values may be used as part of a vehicle tracking system with a path of a vehicle and other information e g a time stamp appearing on a map or printout Such range values may also include or be used in conjunction with GPS information Accordingly the use of such predefined range values may be applied to many different situations While the preceding description shows and describes one or more embodiments it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure For example although a server is used to describe various embodiments of the present disclosure another computer or other digital device could also be used In addition LORAN or other positioning techniques may be used Also other mapping approaches may be utilized as disclosed in detail in U S Pat No 5 294 937 entitled CABLE LEAKAGE MONITORING SYSTEM and assigned to the same assignee as the present disclosure and hereby i
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