Methods and systems for monitoring a service provided over a packet-switched network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10700953-B2
Application number	US-201916378066-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 8, 2019
Priority date	Jul 12, 2010
Publication date	Jun 30, 2020
Grant date	Jun 30, 2020

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.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for assessing a quality of experience (QoE) of an internet protocol television (IPTV) service provided to a subscriber, the method comprising:
receiving a plurality of service parameter values of at least a first service parameter and a second service parameter, each of the service parameter values representative of the first service parameter or the second service parameter collected during a respective one of a plurality of collection intervals of a defined length of time, the service parameter values received from one or more of:
a residential gateway of the subscriber;
a set top box of the subscriber; and
an access network system;

determining a collection interval quality of experience (QoE) rating for each of the collection intervals based on the received service parameter values collected during the respective collection interval, each of the determined collection interval QoE ratings being one of a plurality of predefined QoE ratings, wherein determining the collection interval quality of experience (QoE) rating for each of the collection intervals comprises:
determining a compound service parameter value representative of a ratio of the first service parameter value to the second service parameter value, wherein the ratio is at least one of:
number of discarded packets received (DISC_RCVD) to the number of holes (HOLES);
DISC_RCVD to the number of packets requested (REQ);
number of discarded packets sent (DISC_SENT) to HOLES;
DISC_SENT to REQ;
far end code violations (FE_CV) to the far end errored seconds (FE_ES);
FE_CV to the far end severely errored seconds (FE SESM):
FE_CV to HOLES;
FE_CV to REQ;
near end code violations (NE_CV) to the near end errored seconds (NE_ES);
NE_CV to the near end severely errored seconds (NE_SESM);
NE_CV to HOLES; and
NE_CV to REQ; and

determining the collection interval QoE rating based on the compound service parameter value;

storing the determined collection interval QoE ratings and the received service parameter values for the plurality of collection intervals in a database;
determining first aggregated QoE ratings each based on a plurality of collection interval QoE ratings from a first aggregation length of time that is an integer multiple of the determined length of time of the collection interval;
storing the determined first aggregated QoE ratings in the database;
determining second aggregated QoE ratings based on a plurality of first aggregated QoE ratings from a second aggregation length of time that is an integer multiple of the first aggregation length of time;
storing the determined second aggregated QoE ratings in the database; and
generating a user interface comprising a plurality of indications of data stored in the database, each of the plurality of indications representing one of the plurality of the first aggregated QoE ratings determined over the first aggregation length of time or the second aggregated QoE ratings determined over the second aggregation length of time, wherein each of the plurality of indications have different indicators for different ones of the plurality of predefined QoE ratings;
wherein the plurality of predefined QoE ratings comprise:
a first QoE rating associated with a normal service quality when the compound service parameter is within a first threshold range during the first or second aggregation length of time;
a second QoE rating associated with a second service quality when the compound service parameter is within a second threshold range during the first or second aggregation length of time, which is less likely to be indicative of a problem with the IPTV service provided to the subscriber than a third service quality; and
the third QoE rating associated with a third service quality, when the compound service parameter is outside of the first threshold range and second threshold range during the first or second aggregation length of time, which is likely to be indicative of a problem with the IPTV service provided to the subscriber.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received service parameter values are received from two or entities selected from:
a residential gateway of the subscriber;
a set top box of the subscriber; and
an access network system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein service parameter values of the first service parameter and service parameter values of the second service parameter are received from different entities.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a third aggregated QoE rating based on a plurality of second aggregated QoE ratings from a third aggregation length of time that is an integer multiple of the second aggregation length of time;
storing the determined the third aggregated QoE ratings in the database.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the defined length of time of the collection intervals is 15 minutes;
the first aggregation length of time is one day;
the second aggregation length of time is one week; and
the third aggregation length of time is one month.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of predefined QoE ratings further comprise:
a fourth QoE rating associated the second service quality or the third service quality during a collection interval that occurred during a specified viewing period.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after a retention period of time, deleting from the database one or more of:
one or more of the received service parameter values;
one or more of the determined collection interval QoE ratings;
one or more of the first aggregation QoE ratings; and
one or more of the second aggregation QoE ratings.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein deleting from the database one or more of the received service parameter values comprises deleting service parameter values collected during a collection interval determined to have the first QoE rating and maintaining in the database service parameter values collected during a collection interval determined to have the third QoE rating.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user interface comprises one or more of charts, tables, lists, and graphical representations of selected portions of QoE data stored in the database.

10. A system for assessing a quality of experience (QoE) of an internet protocol television (IPTV) service provided to a subscriber, the system comprising:
an interface for receiving and transmitting data;
a processor for executing instructions; and
a memory storing instructions, which when executed by the processor configure the system to perform a method comprising:
receiving via the interface a plurality of service parameter values of at least a first service parameter and a second service parameter, each of the service parameter values representative of the first service parameter or the second service parameter collected during a respective one of a plurality of collection intervals of a defined length of time, the service parameter values received from one or more of:
a residential gateway of the subscriber;
a set top box of the subscriber; and
an access network system;

determining a collection interval quality of experience (QoE) rating for each of the collection intervals based on the received service parameter values collected during the respective collection interval, each of the determined collection interval QoE ratings being one of a plurality of predefined QoE ratings, wherein determining the collection interval quality of experience (QoE) rating for each of the collection intervals comprises:
determining a compound service parameter value representative of a ratio of the first service parameter value to the second service parameter value,

Assignees

• Bce Inc

Inventors

• Desroches Michael H
• Tivig Constantin
• Snyder Chris
• Eng Ferris

Classifications

• H04L41/5067 Primary

  Customer-centric QoS measurements · CPC title

• H04N21/6375

  for requesting retransmission {, e.g. of data packets lost or corrupted during transmission from server}(ARQ protocols H04L1/18; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16) · CPC title

• H04L43/0847 Primary

  Transmission error · CPC title

• H04N21/64322

  IP · CPC title

• H04N21/6125

  involving transmission via Internet (transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82) · CPC title