Messaging for assessment of telecommunication issues

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10489231-B1
Application number	US-201414566223-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 10, 2014
Priority date	Oct 27, 2014
Publication date	Nov 26, 2019
Grant date	Nov 26, 2019

Abstract

Embodiments of the disclosure provide messaging for assessment of telecommunication issues or other types of operational issues in networks that provide a service. In one embodiment, a client device (such as a computing device) that consumes information from a service provided via a network can determine a service performance issue. In response, in certain embodiments, the client device can probe multiple network components in the network by sending multiple messages to each of the multiple network components. The client device can determine a response to the messages from at least one of the multiple network components, and can leverage the response in order to determine an operating condition of and/or assign an operating condition status to at least one of the network components. As such, in certain embodiments, the client device can identify connectivity issues, communication infrastructure issues, and/or networking issues at the network.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device, comprising:
at least one memory device comprising computer-executable instructions; and
at least one processor configured to access the at least one memory device to execute the instructions, and further configured, by the instructions, to:
execute a content streaming application;
receive streaming content associated with the content streaming application;
determine performance information of the streaming content;
determine that the performance information is below a threshold;
generate, based at least in part on the determination that the performance information is below the threshold, a first Internet control message protocol (ICMP) echo message, a second ICMP echo message for a domain name system (DNS) server, and a third ICMP echo message for a host server, wherein the first ICMP echo message is for a router having a first Internet protocol (IP) address, wherein the DNS server has a second IP address, wherein the second ICMP echo message comprises a header indicative of at least the second IP address, wherein the host server hosts a web site, and wherein the first ICMP echo message comprises a header indicative of at least the first IP address;

transmit the first ICMP echo message to the router;
receive a first response to the first ICMP echo message;
assign a fail or pass status to an operational condition of the router by inspecting a type of the first response;

transmit the second ICMP echo message to the DNS server;
receive a second response to the second ICMP echo message;
assign a fail or pass status to an operational condition of the DNS server by inspecting a type of the second response;
transmit the third ICMP echo message to the host server;
receive a third response to the third ICMP echo message; and
assign a fail or pass status to an operational condition of the host server by inspecting a type of the third response.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured, by the instructions, to determine that the first response includes a destination-unreachable ICMP message, and to identify a connectivity failure between the router and the device.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured, by the instructions, to determine that the second response includes a destination-unreachable ICMP message, and to identify a telecommunication infrastructure failure between the device and the DNS server.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured, by the instructions, to determine that the third response includes a destination-unreachable ICMP message, and to identify a name-resolution failure at the DNS server.

5. A method, comprising:
determining performance information associated with content received from a network device, wherein the network device provides the content to a computing device having at least one memory device and at least one processor;
determining that the performance information is below a threshold;
determining that a service performance issue associated with the content is present at the computing device;
sending, based at least in part on the determination that the service performance issue is present, a group of messages that includes a first message to a first device, a second message to a second device, and a third message to a third device, wherein the first device, the second device, and the third device enable a data-related service that provides the content associated with the service performance issue, and wherein at least the first device is a domain name system (DNS) server;
receiving, by the computing device, a response message to the group of messages from the first device; and
determining, by the computing device, an operational condition of the first device based at least in part on data included in the response message.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein each of the first device, the second device, and the third device comprises a communication endpoint, and wherein transmitting the group of messages comprises executing multiple ping commands directed to the communication endpoint in each of the first device, the second device, and the third device, each of the multiple ping commands being native to an operating system of the computing device.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the second message is sent to a router and wherein the third message is sent to a host server hosting a website.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising accessing a communication address of the router prior to sending the group of messages to the router, and sending multiple Internet control message protocol (ICMP) echo messages to the communication address.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining, by the computing device, the operational condition of the first device based at least in part on the data included in the response message comprises determining, by the computing device, that at least one response to the multiple ICMP echo messages includes an ICMP destination-unreachable message, and assigning a connectivity failure status to the router.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising accessing a communication address of the DNS server prior to transmitting the group of messages, and sending multiple Internet control message protocol (ICMP) echo messages to the communication address.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising receiving a response message to the multiple ICMP echo messages,
determining that the response message includes an ICMP destination-unreachable message, and
assigning a networking failure status to the DNS server.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein sending the group of messages to the host server comprises sending multiple ICMP echo messages to the host server.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising receiving a response message to the multiple ICMP echo messages,
determining that the response message includes an ICMP destination-unreachable message from the host server, and
determining that access to the DNS server is available, and that failure to resolve names at the DNS server is present.

14. A device, comprising:
at least one memory device comprising computer-executable instructions; and
at least one processor configured to access the at least one memory device to execute the instructions, and further configured, by the instructions, to:
determine performance information associated with content received from a network device;
determine that the performance information is below a threshold;
determine that a service performance issue associated with the content is present;
send, based at least in part on the determination that the service performance issue is present, a group of messages that includes a first message to a first device, a second message to a second device, and a third message to a third device, wherein the first device, the second device, and the third device enable a data-related service that provides the content associated with the service performance issue, and wherein at least the first device is a domain name system (DNS) server;
receive a response message to the group of messages from the first device; and
determine an operational condition of the first device based at least in part on data included in the response message.

15. The device of claim 14 , wherein each of the first device, the second device, and the third device comprises a communication endpoint, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured, by the instructions, to execute multiple ping commands directed to the communication endpoint in each of the

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Gabay Ben Zion
• Lofthouse Antony James
• Albanowski Kenneth James
• Larsson Jonas Daniel

Classifications

• G06F11/0784

  Routing of error reports, e.g. with a specific transmission path or data flow · CPC title

• G06F11/0709 Primary

  in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems · CPC title

• G06F11/079 Primary

  Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis (in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36) · CPC title