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US 10,257,062 B2Granted
Methods and systems for monitoring a service provided over a packet-switched network
AssigneeBce Inc.
InventorsMichael H. Desroches, Constantin Tivig, Chris Snyder, Ferris Eng
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and systems for monitoring a service provided over a packet-switched network, such as an Internet Protocol television (IPTV) service, an Internet access service, or a voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) telephony service. Various parameters related to the service (e.g., parameters indicative of packet loss, packet corruption or other packet error) are determined and used to assess various aspects of the service and/or network over which the service is delivered, including a quality of experience (QoE) of subscribers.
Claims48
A method of monitoring performance of a system that comprises a gateway connected to an appliance running a media application, wherein packets are communicated between the appliance and a head-end server, through the gateway, the method comprising:
- determining a first parameter indicative of a number of upstream packets sent from the gateway to an access network that, within each fixed interval of time, have been detected as corrupted by the access network;
- determining a second parameter indicative of an incidence of gaps between downstream packets from the gateway within each fixed interval of time;
- for each fixed interval of time, determining, based on a ratio of the first parameter to the second parameter, a compound parameter proportional to a likelihood that a request for retransmission issued by the media application does not reach the head-end server;
- for each fixed interval of time, determining a first rating of quality of experience (QoE) for a user of the appliance based on the compound parameter being above a parameter threshold, the first rating of QoE pertaining to a degree of an issue adversely affecting the QoE of the user;
- generating a second rating of QoE based on a count of the first ratings of QoE within an accumulation period of time, the accumulation period of time being longer than the first fixed interval of time, the second rating being at a first level when the count is higher than a first threshold but lower than a second threshold and at a second level when the count is higher than the second threshold, wherein the second level indicates the issue affects the QoE of the user more severely than at the first level;
- generating QoE information comprising the second rating of QoE and the first ratings of QoE;
- storing the QoE information in a storage and pruning the QoE information stored in the storage to retain, in the storage, information pertaining to a root cause of the issue experienced through the appliance;
- and
- outputting the information indicative of the root cause of the issue experienced through the appliance through a user interface in order to enable at least one processor to resolve the issue.
6 more elements
A method of monitoring performance of a system that comprises a gateway connected to an appliance running a media application, wherein packets are communicated between the appliance and a head-end server, through the gateway, the method comprising:
- determining a first parameter indicative of a number of upstream packets sent from the gateway to an access network that, within each first fixed interval of time, have been detected as corrupted by the access network;
- determining a second parameter indicative of a count of severely errored intervals during each first fixed interval of time, a severely errored interval being a second fixed interval of time containing more than a threshold number of upstream packets sent from the gateway that are detected as corrupted, the second fixed interval of time being shorter than the first fixed interval of time;
- for each first fixed interval of time, determining, based on a ratio of the first parameter to the second parameter, a compound parameter proportional to an incidence of upstream packets having been corrupted outside said severely errored intervals;
- for each first fixed interval of time, determining a first rating of quality of experience (QoE) for a user of the appliance based on the compound parameter being above a parameter threshold, the first rating of QoE pertaining to a degree of an issue adversely affecting the QOE of the user;
- generating a second rating of QoE based on a count of the first ratings of QoE within an accumulation period of time, the accumulation period of time being longer than the first fixed interval of time, the second rating being at a first level when the count is higher than a first threshold but lower than a second threshold and at a second level when the count is higher than the second threshold, wherein the second level indicates the issue affects the QoE of the user more severely than at the first level;
- generating QoE information comprising the second rating of QoE and the first ratings of QoE;
- storing the QoE information in a storage and pruning the QoE information stored in the storage to retain, in the storage, information pertaining to a root cause of the issue experienced through the appliance;
- and
- outputting the information indicative of the root cause of the issue experienced through the appliance through a user interface in order to enable at least one processor to resolve the issue.
6 more elements
A method of monitoring performance of a system that comprises a gateway connected to an appliance running a media application, wherein packets are communicated between the appliance and a head-end, through the gateway, the method comprising:
- determining a first parameter indicative of a number of packets that, within each first fixed interval of time, have been detected as corrupted by an access network communicating with the gateway;
- determining a second parameter indicative of a count of second fixed intervals of time during each first fixed interval of time, containing at least one packet detected as corrupted, the second fixed interval of time being shorter than the first fixed interval of time;
- for each first fixed interval of time, determining, based on a ratio of the first parameter to the second parameter, a compound parameter proportional to a time taken to service an interactive command provided by a user of the media application;
- for each first fixed interval of time, determining a first rating of quality of experience (QoE) for a user of the appliance based on the compound parameter being above a parameter threshold, the first rating of QoE pertaining to a degree of an issue adversely affecting the QoE of the user;
- generating a second rating of QoE based on a count of the first ratings of QoE within an accumulation period of time, the accumulation period of time being longer than the first fixed interval of time, the second rating being at a first level when the count is higher than a first threshold but lower than a second threshold and at a second level when the count is higher than the second threshold, wherein the second level indicates the issue affects the QoE of the user more severely than at the first level;
- generating QoE information comprising the second rating of QoE and the first ratings of QoE;
- storing the QoE information in a storage and pruning the QoE information in the storage to retain in the storage information pertaining to a root cause of the issue experienced through the appliance;
- and
- outputting the information indicative of the root cause of the issue experienced through the appliance in order to enable at least one processor to resolve the issue.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.