Methods and apparatus for operating an access network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017026257-A1
Application number	US-201515113217-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 14, 2015
Priority date	Jan 23, 2014
Publication date	Jan 26, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for operating an access network including data connections ( 19 ) between end-user devices ( 12, 14, 16, 18 ) and an aggregation transceiver ( 20 ) at which connections ( 19 ) are aggregated for onward connection through the network. The method comprises, for each connection, obtaining connection data for each of a plurality of monitoring periods, each comprising shorter periods, the connection data comprising performance and user activity indications for each shorter period; monitoring the performance of the connection in order to estimate a measure of its performance during a particular monitoring period that discounts performance indications obtained in respect of shorter periods within that monitoring period when the user was inactive unless activity indications in respect of corresponding shorter periods within other monitoring periods indicate that such user inactivity is anomalous; and applying a profile to the connection that is dependent on the measure of performance of the data connection.

First claim

1 . A method of operating an access network including a plurality of data connections between end-user devices and an aggregation transceiver device at which the data connections are aggregated for onward connection through the access network, the method comprising, for each data connection:
obtaining connection data in respect of each of a plurality of monitoring periods, each monitoring period comprising a plurality of shorter periods, the connection data in respect of a particular monitoring period comprising, for each of the shorter periods of said particular monitoring period, a performance indication indicative of whether or not the performance of the data connection has been above or below a predetermined performance threshold during said shorter period, and a user activity indication indicative of a measure of user activity on said data connection during said shorter period; monitoring the performance of the data connection in dependence on said connection data, the monitoring including identifying, from the shorter periods within a particular monitoring period, those shorter periods in respect of which the user activity indication is indicative of user activity above a predetermined level having been observed on said data connection during said shorter period, and estimating, from performance indications obtained in respect of those shorter periods so-identified, a measure of the performance of the data connection during said particular monitoring period; and applying a profile to the data connection, the profile specifying a set of values for one or more parameters associated with said data connection and being dependent on the measure of the performance of the data connection; wherein estimating the measure of the performance of the data connection during said particular monitoring period comprises discounting performance indications obtained in respect of shorter periods within said particular monitoring period in respect of which the user activity indications are indicative of user activity above said predetermined level not having been observed unless one or more user activity indications obtained in respect of one or more corresponding shorter periods within one or more other monitoring periods indicate that user activity above said predetermined level has been observed during the corresponding shorter periods within the one or more other monitoring periods.

2 . A method according to claim 1 wherein the performance indications for a data connection are stability indications indicative of whether or not the data connection has experienced instability during the respective shorter periods.

3 . A method according to claim 1 wherein the performance indications for a data connection are indications indicative of whether or not the data connection has re-synchronised during the respective shorter periods and/or indicative of the number of times said data connection has re-synchronised during the respective shorter periods.

4 . A method according to claim 1 wherein the performance indications for a data connection are indications indicative of whether or not errors have occurred in data traversing said data connection during the respective shorter periods and/or indicative of the number of errors that have occurred in data traversing said data connection during the respective shorter periods.

5 . A method according to claim 1 wherein the connection data for a data connection comprises performance indications relating to a plurality of different characteristics.

6 . A method according to claim 5 wherein the plurality of different characteristics comprises one or more selected from: stability, line-rate, latency, signal-to-noise ratio.

7 . A method according to claim 5 wherein estimating the measure of the performance of a data connection during a particular monitoring period comprises discounting performance indications relating to one or more of said plurality of different characteristics obtained in respect of shorter periods within said particular monitoring period in respect of which the user activity indications are indicative of user activity above said predetermined level not having been observed unless one or more user activity indications in respect of one or more corresponding shorter periods within one or more other monitoring periods indicate that user activity above said predetermined level has been observed during the corresponding shorter periods within the one or more other monitoring periods.

8 . A method according to claim 1 wherein the user activity indications in respect of a particular data connection comprise indications indicative of one or more of:
(i) a measure of the amount of user data flowing on said data connection from one or more end-user devices during the respective shorter periods;
(ii) a measure of the amount of user data flowing on said data connection towards one or more end-user devices during the respective shorter periods;
(iii) a measure of the combined amount of user data flowing on said data connection either to or from one or more end-user devices during the respective shorter periods. (iv) a measure of the amount of a particular type of user data flowing on said data connection from one or more end-user devices during the respective shorter periods;
(v) a measure of the amount of a particular type of user data flowing on said data connection towards one or more end-user devices during the respective shorter periods;
(vi) a measure of the combined amount of a particular type of user data flowing on said data connection to and from one or more end-user devices during the respective shorter periods.

9 . A method according to claim 1 wherein the user activity indications in respect of a particular data connection comprise power-mode indications indicative of whether or not the data connection in question was in a low-power mode or not during the respective shorter periods, user activity indications being taken as being indicative of user activity not having been observed above said predetermined level in the event that said power-mode indications indicate that the data connection in question was in a low-power mode during the respective shorter periods.

10 . A method according to claim 1 wherein the length of a monitoring period is of the order of one hour, one day, one week, one month, or one year.

11 . A method according to claim 1 wherein estimating the measure of the performance of the data connection during said particular monitoring period comprises an analysis of user activity during corresponding shorter periods within a plurality of other monitoring periods.

12 . A method according to claim 1 wherein estimating the measure of the performance of the data connection during said particular monitoring period comprises an analysis of user activity during corresponding shorter periods within one or more other monitoring periods corresponding to said particular monitoring period, one or more other monitoring periods being deemed to be corresponding monitoring periods in dependence on one or more of the following:
(i) whether the particular monitoring period and the one or more other monitoring periods relate to the same day of the week;
(ii) whether the particular monitoring period and the one or more other monitoring periods relate to weekdays or weekend days;
(iii) whether the particular monitoring period and the one or more other monitoring periods relate to public holiday days;
(iv) a user-specific or provider-specific definition specifying which other monitoring period or periods correspond to the particular monitoring period for the data connection in question.

13 . A method according

Assignees

• British Telecomm

Inventors

• Horsley Ian Edwin

Classifications

• H04L43/14

  using software, i.e. software packages (network security related monitoring H04L63/1408) · CPC title

• H04L67/22

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L43/50

  Testing arrangements · CPC title

• H04L43/0888

  Throughput · CPC title

• H04L43/067 Primary

  using time frame reporting · CPC title