Method and apparatus for locating a faulty component in a cable television system having cable modems

A system for locating faults in a cable television plant including a plurality of cable modems, the system comprising:

• 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.

A fault locator for use in a cable television plant including a network of cable modems, the fault locator comprising:

• 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.

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:

• 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.

A computer program product for locating a faulty component in a cable modem network, the computer program product comprising:

• 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.

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:

• 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.

A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave for locating a faulty component in a cable modem network, the computer data signal 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 of cable modems according to tabulated data relating to the miss count, and the one or more additional properties.