User-centric measurement of quality of service in a computer network

A method for assessing the quality of service present on an information access point in a computer network, the method comprising the steps of:

• at the information access point, providing a quality of service module for monitoring respective performance levels of each of a plurality of functions or conditions of the information access point;
• for each of the plurality of functions or conditions, storing predetermined criteria the presence of any of which is indicative of a state of degraded performance;
• declaring an exception when a sensed performance level of a function or condition enters into a respective stored state;
• using the quality of service module to determine whether a user is present at the information access point at the time that the exception occurred;
• weighting the exception with a user presence factor having a value which is a function of whether the user was present at the time the exception occurred;
• and
• calculating a numerical quality of service index indicative of the quality of service rendered by the computer from one or more of the weighted exceptions.

A method for assessing the quality of service present on an information access point (IAP) in a computer network, comprising the steps of:

• at the IAP, providing a quality of service module for monitoring a plurality of functions or conditions of the IAP;
• at the IAP, storing predetermined criteria the presence of any of which are determinative of an exception to normal operation;
• monitoring the plurality of functions or conditions to determine whether any of said criteria are present;
• using the quality of service module to declare at least one exception when one or more of said criteria are sensed to exist at the IAP;
• using the quality of service module to determine which of a predetermined plurality of software applications were running at IAP at the time the criteria were sensed;
• and
• using the quality of service module to record the identity of the sensed application(s) and the occurrence of an exception in a log.

Apparatus for assessing the quality of service (QoS) present at an information access point (IAP), comprising:

• an operational user profile stored at the IAP, the operational user profile storing predetermined criteria for each of a plurality of states for each of a plurality of predetermined IAP functions or conditions, the states being indicative of different degrees of degraded performance;
• an exception capture component of a quality of service (QoS) module of the IAP periodically sensing the performance of each predetermined function or condition of the IAP, comparing the performance to the respective criterion for the function or condition stored in the operational user profile, the exception capture component declaring an exception when a sensed performance of any predetermined function or condition enters into one of said states;
• and
• a QoS calculator of the QoS module for calculating a single QoS index for the IAP based on one or more declared exceptions.

Apparatus for assessing the quality of service delivered by an information access point (IAP) to a user, comprising:

• an exception capture component of a quality of service (QoS) module for monitoring each of a plurality of predetermined functions or conditions of the IAP, the exception capture component comparing a sensed performance level of each predetermined function or condition against respective criteria stored on the IAP, each stored criterion defining a state of degraded performance for a respective function or condition, the exception capture component declaring an exception if a sensed performance level of any of the predetermined functions or conditions enters into one of said states;
• a user presence probe of the QoS module for determining the presence or absence of a user at the IAP at the time for which the exception is declared;
• and
• a quality of service calculator of the QoS module coupled to the exception capture component and the user presence probe for calculating a quality of service index as a function of the exception and whether the user is present at the time the exception occurred.

Apparatus for assessing the quality of service (QoS) present at an information access point (IAP), comprising:

• a QoS module of the IAP for periodically monitoring performance levels of each of a plurality of predetermined functions or conditions of the IAP;
• a file of predetermined performance criteria against which respective performance levels of the functions or conditions of the IAP may be compared by the IAP, each stored criterion indicative of a state of degraded performance on the part of one of said predetermined functions or conditions, the IAP declaring an exception whenever at least one of the predetermined functions or conditions enters into one of said states;
• and
• the IAP running one or more of a plurality of predetermined software applications, the identities of the software applications then running being noted by a snapshot component of the QoS module at the time that an exception is declared, ones of said identities being recorded in an exception log coupled to the QoS module.

A machine-readable medium preprogrammed with a computer program with instructions which, when executed by a processor of a computer, creates a quality of service (QoS) module which performs the following steps:

• periodically monitoring performance levels of each of a plurality of predetermined functions or conditions of the computer;
• comparing the sensed performance levels to stored criteria each indicative of a state of said functions or conditions, the states for which said criteria are stored each defining a level of degraded performance for a respective function or condition;
• declaring an exception whenever at least one of the monitored functions or conditions enters into one of said states;
• and
• calculating, as a function of all such declared exceptions occurring within a predetermined period of time, a QoS index indicative of the relative operational state of the computer during that period of time.

A machine-readable medium preprogrammed with a computer program with instructions which, when executed by a processor of a computer, creates a quality of service (QoS) assessment module which performs the following steps:

• declaring an exception at a time when the performance of one of a predetermined number of computer functions or conditions enters into a state indicative of a degraded level of performance;
• determining whether, at such time, a user was present at the computer;
• attributing one of a plurality of stored base values to the exception based on its kind and severity;
• weighting the base value of the exception with a value indicative of the presence or absence of the user at the computer at such time;
• and calculating, as a function of all such weighted exceptions occurring within a predetermined period of time, a quality of service index indicative of the relative operational state of the computer.

A machine-readable medium preprogrammed with a computer program having instructions which, when executed by a processor of a computer, creates a quality of service assessment module that performs the following steps:

• periodically monitoring performance levels of each of a plurality of predetermined computer functions or conditions;
• comparing the performance levels to stored, predetermined criteria which define predetermined states for each of the functions or conditions, each of said states indicative of a degraded level of performance for a respective function or condition;
• declaring an exception whenever a monitored performance level of one of the functions or conditions is found to have entered into one of said states;
• for the time for which the exception is declared, determining which of a predetermined plurality of software applications was running on the computer;
• and
• recording the exception as referenced to the identities of ones of the software applications.

A machine-readable medium preprogrammed with a computer program having instructions which, when executed by a processor of a computer, creates a quality of service (QoS) assessment module and an application performance meter which perform the following steps:

• using the application performance meter to periodically record performance data for one or more software applications then running on the computer;
• using the recorded performance data to derive a set of baseline performance criteria for each of the software applications;
• using the QoS module to monitor performance levels of software applications running on the computer;
• using the QoS module to compare the monitored performance levels to respective ones of the baseline performance criteria;
• and
• declaring an exception whenever at least one of the monitored performance levels departs from a respective performance criterion by more than a predetermined amount.