Patent ID: 7007209

Claim:
A method for separately determining the performance of the upstream and downstream paths of a cable network, comprising: transmitting from a tester, Internet Protocol (IP) test packets through a cable network to a Cable Modem Terminating System, wherein the IP test packets contain instructions to return the IP test packets back to the tester; returning the IP test packets back to the tester from the Cable Modem Terminating System, wherein some of the returned IP test packets received at the tester without errors, and some of the returned IP test packets received at the tester with errors, as a result of the downstream patent; bypassing error checking in the tester for the returned IP test packets received at the tester with the errors; checking the IP test packets with the errors in the tester to identify the IP test packets with the errors as IP test packets; determining if any of the IP test packets were lost in the upstream or downstream paths, wherein the determining of the downstream path is based on the IP test packets received at the tester with the errors, and the determining of the upstream path is based on the IP test packets not received at the tester; and determining over a measurement time period, performance test results of the upstream or downstream paths, based on the number of the IP test packets transmitted from the tester through the cable network to the Cable Modem Termination System compared to the number of IP test packets received at the tester with the errors and furthermore, based on the number of the IP test packets transmitted from the tester through the cable network to the Cable Modem Termination System compared to the number of IP test packets received at the tester without the errors.