Cable pair to telephone number verification system

Claim 1

A subscriber pair identification system comprising processing means, and interface means for interfacing said processing means with a plurality of pairs of subscriber lines and with a trunk connected to automatic number identification (ANI) electronic switching means; said ANI electronic switching means being responsive to a special access code, generated by said processing means, to send the associated subscriber telephone number to said processing means via said trunk, said special access code being generated by said processing means on receipt of a dialling tone from a subscriber line pair which is not busy and which is currently under test; said processing means including data read out means and being programmed to provide, on said data read out means, information relating to the subscriber line pair under test, said processing means being further programmed to select pairs of subscriber lines in sequence in order to monitor said subscriber line pairs for activity, to determine whether or not a subscriber line pair is not busy and to connect a subscriber line pair which is not busy to said processing means for testing, said data read out means providing information concerning whether or not faults are present in any of the subscriber line pairs when the testing sequence has been completed.