Prioritizing repair of signal leakage in an HFC network
AssigneeArcom Digital, LLC
InventorVictor M. Zinevich
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method or apparatus of identifying for repair a signal leak in an HFC network, wherein a base transceiver station in the vicinity of the HFC network transmits a BTS signal over-the-air. The method comprises or apparatus performs the steps of: (a) identifying a location of the signal leak; (b) in the vicinity of the signal leak, detecting the BTS signal; (c) determining a level of the BTS signal; (d) defining a threshold level; (e) with the use of a processor, determining whether the level of the BTS signal meets or exceeds the threshold level; and (f) indicating for repair the signal leak if the level of the BTS signal meets or exceeds the threshold level.
Claims37
A system for identifying for repair one or more of a plurality of signal leaks in an HFC network carrying a forward path signal affected by a BTS signal transmitted from a base transceiver station and received by the HFC network through the leaks, said system comprising:
- (a) signal detection equipment for detecting the BTS signal near each of the plurality of leaks;
- (b) BTS level means, associated with said signal detection equipment, for determining a level of the BTS signal detected near each of the plurality of leaks, to produce a plurality of BTS signal levels associated with the plurality of leaks, respectively;
- and
- (c) a processor configured to determine whether the BTS signal is likely to affect the forward path signal of the HFC network at each of the plurality of leaks based on, for each said leak, the BTS signal level associated with said leak,
- whereby if the BTS signal is likely to affect the forward path signal of the HFC network at a leak of the plurality of leaks, then the leak is identified for repair.
A method of identifying for repair one or more of a plurality of signal leaks in an HFC network carrying a forward path signal affected by a BTS signal transmitted from a base transceiver station and received by the HFC network through the plurality of leaks, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) detecting the BTS signal near each of the plurality of leaks;
- (b) determining a level of the BTS signal detected near each of the plurality of leaks to produce a plurality of BTS signal levels associated with the plurality of leaks, respectively;
- (c) determining whether the BTS signal is likely to affect the forward path signal of the HFC network at each of the plurality of leaks based on, for each said leak, the BTS signal level associated with said leak;
- and
- (d) identifying said leak for repair if it is determined that the BTS signal is likely to affect the forward path signal of the HFC network at said leak.
A system for identifying for repair a signal leak in an HFC network carrying a forward path signal affected by a BTS signal transmitted from a base transceiver station and received by the HFC network through the leak, said system comprising:
- (a) signal detection equipment for detecting the BTS signal near the leak;
- (b) BTS level means, associated with said signal detection equipment, for determining a level of the BTS signal detected near the leak;
- and
- (c) a processor configured to determine whether the BTS signal is likely to affect the forward path signal of the HFC network at the leak based on the level of the BTS signal detected near the leak;
- whereby if the BTS signal is likely to affect the forward path signal of the HFC network at the leak, then the leak is identified for repair.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions to operate a system for identifying for repair one or more of a plurality of signal leaks in an HFC network, the HFC network carrying a forward path signal affected by a BTS signal transmitted from a base transceiver station and received by the HFC network through the plurality of leaks, the computer-executable instructions causing the system to perform a method comprising the steps of:
- (a) detecting the BTS signal near each of the plurality of leaks;
- (b) determining a level of the BTS signal detected near each of the plurality of leaks to produce a plurality of BTS signal levels associated with the plurality of leaks, respectively;
- (c) determining whether the BTS signal is likely to affect the forward path signal of the HFC network at each of the plurality of leaks based on, for each said leak, the BTS signal level associated with said leak;
- and
- (d) identifying said leak for repair if it is determined that the BTS signal is likely to affect the forward path signal of the HFC network at said leak.
A method of identifying for repair a signal leak in an HFC network, the HFC network being in the vicinity of a base transceiver station that transmits over-the-air a plurality of BTS signals in a plurality of BTS frequency bands, respectively, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) detecting near the leak the plurality of BTS signals in the plurality of BTS frequency bands, respectively;
- (b) measuring a level of each of the plurality of BTS signals detected near the leak, to produce a plurality of measured signal levels;
- (c) determining a BTS signal level from the plurality of measured signal levels;
- and
- (d) determining whether the leak is to be identified for repair based on the BTS signal level.
A method of identifying for repair a signal leak in an HFC network, the leak emitting a leak signal over-the-air and a base transceiver station in the vicinity of the HFC network transmitting a BTS signal over-the-air, the HFC network being characterized by a performance parameter, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) detecting the leak signal and the BTS signal near the leak;
- (b) determining a level of the BTS signal detected near the leak, to produce a BTS signal level associated with the leak;
- (c) determining a level of the leak signal detected near the leak, to produce a leak level associated with the leak;
- (d) determining a value of the performance parameter based on the BTS signal level determined in step (b) and the leak level determined in step (c);
- and
- (e) determining whether the leak is to be identified for repair by comparing the value of the performance parameter to a threshold.
A method of identifying for repair a signal leak in an HFC network that carries a forward path signal associated with the leak, and wherein a base transceiver station in the vicinity of the HFC network transmits a BTS signal over-the-air, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) detecting the BTS signal in the vicinity of the leak;
- (b) determining a level of the BTS signal detected in step (a);
- (c) obtaining a level of the forward path signal associated with the leak;
- and
- (d) with the use of a processor, determining whether the leak should be identified for repair based on the level of the BTS signal determined in step (b) and the level of the forward path signal obtained in step (c).
A method of identifying for repair a signal leak in an HFC network, wherein a base transceiver station transmits over-the-air a BTS signal which enters the HFC network through the leak and is combined with a forward path signal in the HFC network, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) receiving over-the-air the BTS signal near the leak;
- (b) during a first sampling interval, sampling the BTS signal received in step (a) to produce a set of BTS signal samples;
- (c) during the first sampling interval, sampling the forward path signal in the HFC network to produce a set of forward path signal samples;
- (d) cross correlating the set of forward path signal samples with the set of BTS signal samples to produce a correlation output;
- and
- (e) identifying the leak for repair if the correlation output signifies a substantial presence of the BTS signal with the forward path signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.