US 10,771,367 B1 · Customer premises equipment centralized self-test and system check

Abstract

The present disclosure describes a service provider system within a point-to-multipoint communication system that commandeers unused or under-utilized subscriber devices within the point-to-multipoint communication system to perform various tasks within the point-to-multipoint communication system. By harnessing these otherwise unused or under-utilized subscriber devices, the service provider system identities, locates, and/or resolves problems, gathers data/analytics, and/or performs system maintenance in a real-world environment, as opposed to a beta, testing, or staging environment. Thus, the service provider system can be used to analyze, investigate, and scrutinize actual experiences of subscribers to the service across disparate geographical regions, settings, and testing scenarios.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A service provider system within a point-to-multipoint communication system comprising:

processor circuitry configured to:
maintain an index of unused subscriber devices, wherein the service provider system provides a service to subscriber devices, and wherein an unused subscriber device in the index of unused subscriber devices is a subscriber device not receiving the service from the service provider system;
select a target subscriber device from the index of unused subscriber devices;
maintain a set of tasks that can be performed by the subscriber devices;
and
select a task from the set of tasks to send to the target subscriber device for execution;
and
physical layer circuitry configured to:
send the task to the target subscriber device for execution;
and
receive a task result from the target subscriber device.

8 more elements

A method, comprising:

selecting, by a service provider system, a target subscriber device within a point-to-multipoint communication system from an index of unused subscriber devices, wherein the service provider system provides a service to subscriber devices, wherein an unused subscriber device in the index of unused subscriber devices is a subscriber device not receiving the service from the service provider system;
determining, by the service provider system, a task to send to the target subscriber device;
sending, by the service provider system, the task to the target subscriber device for execution;
and
receiving, by the service provider system, a task result from the target subscriber device.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Customer premises equipment centralized self-test and system check

Life of this patent

Customer premises equipment centralized self-test and system check

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20