Patent ID: 7596800

Claim:
A system for determining a two-way operational status of a customer premises equipment (CPE) unit located at a customer's premises and connected to a hybrid fiber coax (HFC) cable network comprising: a local area network, wherein the local area network is distinct from the HFC cable network; a cable service technician (“CST”) client remote from the customer's premises and connected to the local area network; a two-way query processor remote from the customer's premises and connected to the local area network, wherein the two-way query processor comprises instructions for: receiving a query from the CST client, wherein the query comprises a MAC address of the CPE unit; and in response to the receipt of the MAC address of the CPE unit, executing validation instructions to obtain a response indicative of a two-way operational status of the CPE unit associated with the MAC address of the CPE unit and located at the customer's premises; and a result analyzer remote from the customer's premises and connected to the two-way query processor, wherein the result analyzer comprises instructions for: receiving the response from the CPE unit; assigning the CPE unit a first two-way status value when the response from the CPE unit is indicative of two-way operational capability; and assigning the CPE unit a second two-way status value when the response from the CPE unit is not indicative of two-way operational capability; and a display server, wherein the display server comprises instructions for: receiving from the result analyzer a two-way status value selected from the group consisting of the first two-way status value and the second two-way status value; and communicating the two-way status value to the CST client via the local area network for display.