Abstract: To reduce the possibility of a data-induced latching loopback, a digital data services device integrates one or more digital control code-based filtering routines into a test code sequence-based latching loopback scheme. The filtering routines include a ‘garbage’ byte detection routine, a ‘protected loopback’ routine, and a ‘preamble’ routine. The ‘garbage’ byte detection routine is an intra-loopback establishment filtering routine that limits the type of customer data that may be received between sequences of repeated control bytes of a valid latching loopback sequence. The ‘protected loopback’ routine is a flag byte-based filtering routine for frame relay data, which controllably disables latching loopback for a prescribed period of time, whenever a predetermined character associated with frame relay customer data is detected.

Abstract: To prevent the occurrence of an anomaly on a single data-sourcing slave channel from causing continuous transmission on that channel and thereby tying up the entirety of a multipoint network, a signal transmission quality monitoring mechanism is incorporated into the office channel unit of each data-sourcing channel. The signal transmission quality monitoring mechanism controls the participation of each monitored digital communications channel on the basis of a measure of the quality of digital signals received from each monitored channel. The control software of each slave channel's office channel unit is configured to include a bipolar violation detector which monitors the channel for the presence of errors exhibited as bipolar violations of alternate mark inversion (AMI)-formatted digital signals. In response to the occurrence of a prescribed number of illegal bipolar violations within a predetermined number of received signals (e.g.