Patent ID: 8867371
Filing Date: 2014-10-21
Classification: G01R,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of estimating a physical location of a network fault producing linear distortion or excessive loss impairments, comprising the steps of: receiving information electronically of a physical topology of a network, said receiving step including data pulls of information concerning network components and geographic locations of the network components and terminal network elements and geographic locations of the terminal network elements; detecting the network fault by automatically and electronically monitoring at least one performance parameter transmitted via upstream communications from the terminal network elements on the network; automatically estimating the physical location of the network fault on the network based on the at least one performance parameter obtained during said detecting step, the information of the physical topology of the network obtained during said receiving step, and the terminal network element or elements from which the at least one performance parameter was received that indicated the network fault; and automatically generating a list of network components that require inspection and may provide a source of the network fault; wherein the at least one performance parameter includes an upstream filter coefficient ratio that equals 10*log(TCE/TE), where TCE is a sum of energy used by an equalizer of the terminal network element for correction of upstream signals in all taps of the equalizer except a main tap and TE is a sum of energy used by the equalizer of the terminal network element for correction of upstream signals in all taps of the equalizer including the main tap.