Patent ID: 8752108

Claim:
A system for locating a signal ingress point within a cable distribution network, the signal ingress point having a location, the cable distribution network comprising a head station for receiving from subscribers upstream transmissions at frequencies within an upstream band, the system comprising: a geo-locating device mounted on a vehicle for generating geo-location data indicating a geographical position of the vehicle; a transmitter mounted on a vehicle and operatively connected to the geo-locating device for repeatedly transmitting a radio signal at a given rate for entering the cable distribution network through the signal ingress point and for traveling in the cable distribution network, the radio signal comprising geo-location information representing the geographical position of the vehicle, the radio signal using a carrier frequency within the upstream band, the transmitter being adapted for transmitting a pilot signal prior to each transmitting of the radio signal; and a receiver at the head station of the cable distribution network, for receiving the radio signal through the cable distribution network, and extracting the geo-location information to determine the location of the signal ingress point within the cable distribution network, and prior to receiving the radio signal, receiving the pilot signal for synchronization; wherein the receiver comprises a RF matrix pre-detection circuit through which a plurality of channels pass for receiving the pilot signal traveling in one of the channels, wherein the RF matrix pre-detection circuit switches the channel in which the pilot signal is traveling to a signal analyzer for receiving the radio signal.