Patent ID: 7809264

Claim:
A method of diagnostic and prescriptive management of hybrid fiber-coax network, comprising: collecting network performance parameters related to a network circuit; comparing the collected network performance parameters with predetermined thresholds corresponding to the collected network performance parameters to grade circuit performance; selecting a circuit, based on the comparing step, in which at least one of the network performance parameters falls below the respective threshold; determining at least one additional network performance parameter to be analyzed on the selected circuit, the additional network performance parameter comprising at least an RF power measurement; outputting a recommended prescribed modification to the selected circuit based on the at least one additional tested network performance parameter, the RF power measurement includes a measurement of an optical modulation index (OMI) of the signal; the measurement of the OMI is performed on a calibrated receiver, and the calibration of the receiver includes using a reference transmitter, and establishing an optical power into the calibrated receiver to compute RF power at an RF test point.