Early warning fault identification and isolation system for a two-way cable network

A system for determining an operational status of a segment of a hybrid fiber coax (HFC) cable network comprising:

• a ping list generator, wherein the ping list generator is adapted to select a primary set top box (STB) and a secondary STB for pinging, wherein the primary STB and the secondary STB are connected to the HFC cable network and are associated with a node of the HFC cable network, and wherein the primary STB is associated with a primary STB IP address and the secondary STB is associated with a secondary STB IP address;
• a STB pinger adapted to:
• receive a ping list from the ping list generator comprising IP addresses associated with STBs;
• ping the IP address of each STB on the ping list;
• if a response is received from an STB associated with a pinged IP address, set an STB operational status of the STB as responsive;
• and
• if a response is not received from the STB associated with the pinged IP address, set the STB operational status of the STB as non-responsive;
• and
• a results processor adapted to:
• determine an STB operational status of the primary STB;
• if the primary STB operational status is responsive, then set a node operational status to responsive;
• if the primary STB operational status is non-responsive, then send the secondary IP address to the STB pinger;
• determine an STB operational status of the secondary STB;
• and
• if the secondary STB operational status is non-responsive, then set the node operational status to nonresponsive;
• and
• a final results processor adapted to determine an operational status of a network segment upstream from the node based on the node operational status of all nodes serviced by the network segment upstream from the node.