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US 11,570,041 B2Granted
Method and system to identify a source of signal impairment
AssigneeAT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
InventorsJames Gordon Beattie, Jr., Edward Marsh
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and system for managing performance of over a multimedia content distribution network (MCDN), such as a digital subscriber line network, involves receiving an indication of an impairment in network performance from an MCDN client. The MCDN node associated with the client may be identified and a community of MCDN clients coupled to the MCDN node may be further identified. Impairment information, representative of MCDN equipment, may be collected for each of the MCDN clients. Detailed network diagnostics and field service may be performed for MCDN clients based on a characterization of the impairment parameters. After remediation of the MCDN node, collection of the impairment information may be terminated.
Claims20
A network management method comprising:
- responsive to detecting an inquiry from a first client of a content distribution network, wherein the inquiry is associated with a decreased quality of content received by the first client via the content distribution network, identifying, by a server coupled to the content distribution network, a first network node, wherein the first network node is configured to serve a first plurality of clients of the content distribution network, wherein the first plurality of clients includes the first client;
- determining, by the server, that a number of performance issues reported for a first node uplink is fewer than a predefined threshold number of performance issues, wherein the first node uplink comprises an uplink from the first network node;
- and
- responsive to the determining, performing, by the server, node assessment operations, wherein the node assessment operations include:
- identifying, within the first plurality of clients, a community of clients, wherein the community of clients comprises one or more clients that share a sub-node of the first network node with the first client;
- obtaining values for one or more impairment parameters, including a first impairment parameter, for each of the one or more clients in the community of clients;
- identifying, based on a ranking of the values of the first impairment parameter, one or more candidate clients from the community of clients;
- performing network diagnostics on at least one of the one or more candidate clients;
- and
- predicting, based on the network diagnostics performed, a source of the decreased quality of content, including predicting whether the decreased quality of content is attributable to an external source, wherein the external source comprises a source external to the content distribution network and electromagnetically coupled to the first client.
7 more elements
A server in a content distribution network, comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, wherein the operations include:
- responsive to detecting an inquiry from a first client of the content distribution network, wherein the inquiry is associated with a decreased quality of content received by the first client via the content distribution network, identifying a first network node, wherein the first network node is configured to serve a first plurality of clients of the content distribution network, wherein the first plurality of clients includes the first client;
- determining that a number of performance issues reported for a first node uplink is fewer than a predefined threshold number of performance issues, wherein the first node uplink comprises an uplink from the first network node;
- and
- responsive to the determining, performing node assessment operations, wherein the node assessment operations include:
- identifying, within the first plurality of clients, a community of clients, wherein the community of clients comprises one or more clients that share a sub-node of the first network node with the first client;
- obtaining values for one or more impairment parameters, including a first impairment parameter, for each of the one or more clients in the community of clients;
- identifying, based on a ranking of the values of the first impairment parameter, one or more candidate clients from the community of clients;
- performing network diagnostics on at least one of the one or more candidate clients;
- and
- predicting, based on the network diagnostics performed, a source of the decreased quality of content, including predicting whether the decreased quality of content is attributable to an external source, wherein the external source comprises a source external to the content distribution network and electromagnetically coupled to the first client.
10 more elements
A non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations:
- responsive to detecting an inquiry from a first client of a content distribution network, wherein the inquiry is associated with a decreased quality of content received by the first client via the content distribution network, identifying a first network node, wherein the first network node is configured to serve a first plurality of clients of the content distribution network, wherein the first plurality of clients includes the first client;
- determining that a number of performance issues reported for a first node uplink is fewer than a predefined threshold number of performance issues, wherein the first node uplink comprises an uplink from the first network node;
- and
- responsive to the determining, performing node assessment operations, wherein the node assessment operations include:
- identifying, within the first plurality of clients, a community of clients, wherein the community of clients comprises one or more clients that share a sub-node of the first network node with the first client;
- obtaining values for one or more impairment parameters, including a first impairment parameter, for each of the one or more clients in the community of clients;
- identifying, based on a ranking of the values of the first impairment parameter, one or more candidate clients from the community of clients;
- performing network diagnostics on at least one of the one or more candidate clients;
- and
- predicting, based on the network diagnostics performed, a source of the decreased quality of content, including predicting whether the decreased quality of content is attributable to an external source, wherein the external source comprises a source external to the content distribution network and electromagnetically coupled to the first client.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.