Jds Uniphase Corporation

Acterna LLC

Thomas Renken

Gregory W Massey

Loren R Eggert

Daniel Eugene Cooprider

The invention relates to measurement-capable cable modems for cable networks. Idle receivers and transmitters of a cable modem are used to perform upstream and downstream measurements on DOCSIS and non-DOCSIS digital and analog TV channels without disrupting customer services. A currently idle receiver is tuned to a target downstream channel under directions of a modem measurement controller, and is queried by the measurement controller to perform a measurement as specified by a measurement plan. A currently idle transmitter is tuned to a target upstream channel to transmit a test signal that is received by an upstream measurement system. Measurements are communicated to a central measurement controller, for example located at the headend, which collects measurements from a plurality of cable modems and the upstream measurement system. The resulting monitoring system performs cable network wide monitoring using existing cable modems without requiring additional monitoring devices.

Cable modem for network measurements

A method and apparatus are provided for detecting network impairments through tilt-normalized measurement data, the method including: collecting data for a network signal; computing a best-fit tilt for the collected data; performing tilt-normalization of the collected data responsive to the computed best-fit tilt; and determining whether the tilt-normalized data crosses a threshold, and if so, pattern matching the tilt-normalized data to detect a network impairment; and the apparatus including: an input unit for collecting data from a network signal; a tilt unit connected to the input unit for computing a best-fit tilt for the collected data and performing tilt-normalization of the collected data responsive to the computed best-fit tilt; and a pattern matching unit connected to the tilt unit for determining whether the tilt-normalized data crosses a threshold, and if so, pattern matching the tilt-normalized data to detect at least one network impairment.

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Indianapolis, IN, United States of America

Thomas Renken