Method and apparatus for locating a faulty component in a cable television system having cable modems
First Claim
1. A method of locating a faulty component in a cable modem network, the method comprising:
- determining whether a cable modem has transmitted a polling message to a central destination, the cable modem capable of being in one of a plurality of states, each state representing a condition of the cable modem;
creating a miss count for the cable modem, the miss count reflecting the number of times the cable modem does not transmit a polling message to the central repository;
creating data specifying one or more additional properties of the cable modem, which additional properties include at least a power level adjustment parameter;
tabulating data relating to the miss count, and the one or more additional properties; and
inserting a cable modem entry in an irregular behavior list according to tabulated data relating to the miss count, and the one or more additional properties.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for locating faulty components in a cable modem network configured within a hybrid fiber-coaxial cable television system by tabulating modem performance data are described. A method of isolating problematic components in a cable modem network includes determining whether a cable modem transmitted a polling message to a central destination during the modem'"'"'s allotted time interval. A media access control layer, located within a cable modem termination system (CMTS), keeps a miss count for the cable modem that reflects the number of times the cable modem does not transmit a polling message to the CMTS during its allotted time. The media access control layer determines whether the cable modem is changing states. This data and the miss count is tabulated in a form that can be analyzed by a correlation module to determine characteristics of the cable television plant. A cable modem entry is inserted into a list of modems experiencing irregular behavior according to the tabulated network topology data relating to the miss count.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A method of locating a faulty component in a cable modem network, the method comprising:
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determining whether a cable modem has transmitted a polling message to a central destination, the cable modem capable of being in one of a plurality of states, each state representing a condition of the cable modem;
creating a miss count for the cable modem, the miss count reflecting the number of times the cable modem does not transmit a polling message to the central repository;
creating data specifying one or more additional properties of the cable modem, which additional properties include at least a power level adjustment parameter;
tabulating data relating to the miss count, and the one or more additional properties; and
inserting a cable modem entry in an irregular behavior list according to tabulated data relating to the miss count, and the one or more additional properties. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
detecting when the cable modem does not transmit a polling message to the central destination during an assigned time interval; and
counting the number of times the cable modem does not transmit a polling message to the central repository.
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9. A method as recited in claim 8 further comprising resetting the miss count to zero whenever the cable modem does transmit a polling message to the central repository.
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10. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:
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creating a hit count for the cable modem, the hit count reflecting the number of times the cable modem transmits a polling message to the central repository; and
resetting the miss count whenever the cable modem transmits a polling message during an assigned time interval.
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11. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein tabulating data relating to the miss count further comprises tracking the number of times the cable modem misses sending a polling message to the central destination.
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12. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein inserting a cable modem entry in an irregular behavior list of cable modems further comprises determining whether the cable modem has behaved in a manner predetermined to be irregular.
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13. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising processing the tabulated data from a plurality of cable modems through a path analyzing module to locate a faulty component.
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14. A method as recited in claim 13 further comprising inputting a database containing geographical data into the path analyzing module.
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15. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the irregular behavior list of cable modems references performance statistics on each modem.
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16. A method as recited in claim 15 wherein the performance statistics are stored in a cable modem table that contains data on each one of the cable modems in the cable modem network.
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17. A system for locating faults in a cable television plant including a plurality of cable modems, the system comprising:
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a network management console for conveying fault information in the cable television plant processed by a fault information processing component;
a cable modem termination system including a media access control component for preparing data to be transmitted in the cable television plant and for monitoring and tabulating fault data related to the plurality of cable modems, the fault data including a miss count for the cable modem which reflects the number of times at least one of the cable modems does not transmit a polling message to the cable modem termination system, and one or more additional properties of the at least one of the cable modems, which additional properties include at least a power level adjustment parameter;
a memory storage area for storing the fault data associated with the plurality of cable modems; and
a network of cable modems including the plurality of cable modems capable of receiving data from and sending data to the cable modem termination system. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A fault locator for use in a cable television plant including a network of cable modems, the fault locator comprising:
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a message processing module for sending and receiving polling messages relating to the network of cable modems;
a flapping modem detector for detecting when a cable modem changes state more frequently than an acceptable frequency level;
a cable modem table for storing information including a miss count for the cable modem which reflects the number of times at least one of the cable modems does not transmit a polling message to the cable modem termination system, and one or more additional properties of the at least one of the cable modems, which additional properties include at least a power level adjustment parameter; and
a flapping modem list for storing information relating to the network of cable modems. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A cable modem list for use in a cable modem network fault detection system, the cable modem list including a plurality of modem entries, a modem entry comprising:
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a modem identifier field for storing a unique identifier of a modem;
one or more polling response fields for storing information relating to how often a modem transmits a polling response;
one or more modem state transition fields for storing information on state transitions of a cable modem; and
one or more fields for storing information including a miss count for the cable modem which reflects the number of times at least one of the cable modems does not transmit a polling message to the cable modem termination system, and one or more additional properties of the at least one of the cable modems, which additional properties include at least a power level adjustment parameter. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A computer program product for locating a faulty component in a cable modem network, the computer program product comprising:
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a computer readable medium;
a computer code stored on the computer readable medium for determining whether a cable modem has transmitted a polling message to a central destination, the cable modem capable of being in one of a plurality of states, each state representing a condition of the cable modem;
a computer code stored on the computer readable medium for creating a miss count for the cable modem, the miss count reflecting the number of times the cable modem does not transmit a polling message to the central repository;
a computer code stored on the computer readable medium for creating data specifying one or more additional properties of the cable modem, which additional properties include at least a power level adjustment parameter;
a computer code stored on the computer readable medium for tabulating data relating to the miss count, and the one or more additional properties; and
a computer code stored on the computer readable medium for inserting a cable modem entry in an irregular behavior list of cable modems according to tabulated data relating to the miss count, and the one or more additional properties.
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40. A computer program product for storing a cable modem list for use in a cable modem network fault detection system, the cable modem list including a plurality of modem entries, the computer program product comprising:
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a computer readable medium;
a modem entry formatted on the computer readable medium comprising;
a modem identifier field for storing a unique identifier of a modem;
one or more polling response fields for storing information relating to how often a modem transmits a polling response;
one or more modem state transition fields for storing information on state transitions of a cable modem; and
one or more fields for storing information including a miss count for the cable modem which reflects the number of times at least one of the cable modems does not transmit a polling message to the cable modem termination system, and one or more additional properties of the at least one of the cable modems, which additional properties include at least a power level adjustment parameter.
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41. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave for locating a faulty component in a cable modem network, the computer data signal comprising:
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determining whether a cable modem has transmitted a polling message to a central destination, the cable modem capable of being in one of a plurality of states, each state representing a condition of the cable modem;
creating a miss count for the cable modem, the miss count reflecting the number of times the cable modem does not transmit a polling message to the central repository;
creating data specifying one or more additional properties of the cable modem, which additional properties include at least a power level adjustment parameter;
tabulating data relating to the miss count, and the one or more additional properties; and
inserting a cable modem entry in an irregular behavior list of cable modems according to tabulated data relating to the miss count, and the one or more additional properties.
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Specification