Patent ID: 7830807

Claim:
A method for isolating a fault in a subscriber network comprising: an identifier assignment processor identifying devices in the network by assigning a device identifier comprising: a first character field comprising a hub identifier; a second character field concatenated with the first character field, wherein the second character field comprises a node identifier; subsequent character fields sequentially concatenated beginning with the second character field, wherein a subsequent character field comprises a cascade number and wherein the value of the cascade number identifies a branch of the network relative to a device from which the branch emanates; a first separator interposed into the device identifier before a subsequent character field indicative of a branch from a first level active device that terminates at a second level active device; and a second separator interposed into the device identifier before a subsequent character field indicative of a branch from an active device that terminates at a passive device; wherein the assigned device identifier facilitates isolating a failed network device in the network.