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

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11356348-B2
Application number	US-202016917427-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2020
Priority date	Jul 12, 2010
Publication date	Jun 7, 2022
Grant date	Jun 7, 2022

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 of monitoring performance of a system that comprises a gateway connected to an appliance running a media application, wherein packets are communicated to the appliance running the media application from a head-end server through the gateway, the method comprising:
determining a first parameter indicative of a number of packets, received during an accumulation period of time, that have been detected as corrupted by the gateway;
determining a second parameter indicative of a count of a number of non-overlapping fixed-duration intervals occurring during the accumulation period of time containing at least one packet detected as corrupted;
determining, based on at least the first parameter and the second parameter, a compound parameter associated with requests for retransmission issued by the media application during the accumulation period of time;
determining a level of quality of experience (QoE) of a user of the appliance based on the compound parameter; and
displaying a plurality of QoE levels, including the determined level of QoE, through a user interface.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
recording a log of said compound parameter on a storage medium.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first parameter corresponds to a number of received packets that have failed an error check.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the error check comprises a cyclic redundancy check.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first or second parameter is received from the gateway or the access network.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the compound parameter comprises determining a difference between a first operand that comprises the first parameter and a second operand that comprises the second parameter.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the difference is an arithmetic difference.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the compound parameter comprises determining a quotient of a first operand that comprises the first parameter and a second operand that comprises the second parameter.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the appliance comprises a set-top box and the media application comprises a TV application.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the head end server comprises a D-server.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored there on, which one executed by a processor of a computing system configure the computing device to perform a method of monitoring performance of a system that comprises a gateway connected to an appliance running a media application, wherein packets are communicated to the appliance running the media application from a head-end server through the gateway, the method comprising:
determining a first parameter indicative of a number of packets, received during an accumulation period of time, that have been detected as corrupted by the gateway;
determining a second parameter indicative of a count of a number of non-overlapping fixed-duration intervals occurring during the accumulation period of time containing at least one packet detected as corrupted;
determining, based on at least the first parameter and the second parameter, a compound parameter associated with requests for retransmission issued by the media application during the accumulation period of time;
determining a level of quality of experience (QoE) of a user of the appliance based on the compound parameter; and
displaying a plurality of QoE levels, including the determined level of QoE, through a user interface.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the instructions further configure the computing device for:
recording a log of said compound parameter on a storage medium.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the first parameter corresponds to a number of received packets that have failed an error check.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the error check comprises a cyclic redundancy check.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the first or second parameter is received from the gateway or the access network.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein determining the compound parameter comprises determining a difference between a first operand that comprises the first parameter and a second operand that comprises the second parameter.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the difference is an arithmetic difference.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein determining the compound parameter comprises determining a quotient of a first operand that comprises the first parameter and a second operand that comprises the second parameter.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the appliance comprises a set-top box and the media application comprises a TV application.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the head end server comprises a D-server.

Assignees

• Bce Inc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• H04N21/24

  Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. monitoring of server load, available bandwidth, upstream requests {(monitoring of server performance or load G06F11/34; arrangements for observation, testing or troubleshooting for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/12)} · CPC title

• H04N21/64322

  IP · CPC title

• H04L43/0847 Primary

  Transmission error · CPC title

• H04N17/004

  for digital television systems · 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