Method and system for monitoring DOCSIS RF networks

A method for remotely monitoring the performance of a portion of an RF network, comprising:

• compiling a table of information related to a plurality of user devices connected to the network, said table configured for associating multiple samples of network performance data, wherein each if the samples corresponds to one of the user devices, with an identifier of the user device to which each said sample of performance data corresponds;
• requesting performance data corresponding to at least one of the user devices, the request being entered at a location remote from said at least one of the user devices for which performance data is being requested;
• collecting samples of performance data at each of the user devices for which performance data has been requested;
• assembling the collected samples of performance data at each of the user devices for which performance data has been requested into a data packet or packets;
• sending the data packet or packets containing performance data from the at least one of the plurality of user devices to the remote location in response to the request for performance data;
• receiving the packet or packets of data at the remote location from which the performance data was requested;
• mapping the received packet or packets of data into the table;
• generating a report based on the samples of performance data received in the data packets;
• and
• presenting the results of the report with a user interface.

A system for providing RF network performance data in a communication network comprising:

• a user network device having a register that can be continually updated with samples of network performance data generated at said user network device;
• means for storing multiple samples of the network performance data, the storing means being coupled with the register to facilitate the transfer of data from the register to the storing means;
• means, coupled to the network, for operating a server software program for placing network data stored in the storing means into a data packet or packets and for providing said data packet or packets to the communication network;
• and
• a remote means, coupled to the network, for operating a client computer program for generating a user-device data table, for receiving the data packet or packets from the communication network, for decoding the data from the data packet or packets and for updating said user-device data table.

A method for remotely monitoring the performance of a portion of an RF network having a plurality of user devices, comprising:

• requesting performance data corresponding to at least one of the user devices, the request being entered at a location remote from said at least one of the user devices for which performance data is being requested;
• receiving a packet or packets of data at the remote location wherefrom the performance data was requested, the packet being a data packet containing performance data associated with the at least one of the user devices for which the performance data was requested;
• mapping samples within the received packet or packets of data into a table, the table configured such that a sample or samples of data corresponding to each of the plurality of user devices can be associated with a user device identifier or identifiers, which is/are associated with the user device or devices to which the sample or samples correspond;
• and
• generating a report based on the data mapped into the table for a given at least one of the user devices.

A method for remotely monitoring the performance of a portion of an RF network having a plurality of network devices, comprising:

• receiving a request for performance data corresponding to at least one of the user devices, the request being entered at a location remote from said at least one of the user devices for which performance data is being requested;
• collecting samples of performance data at each of the user devices for which performance data has been requested;
• assembling the collected samples of performance data at each of the user devices for which performance data has been requested into a data packet or packets;
• and
• sending the packet or packets containing performance data from the at least one of the plurality of user devices to the remote location in response to said request for performance data.