Method for tracking the data usage of a service of a client-side electronic computing device, a client-side electronic computing device, a motor vehicle and a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for tracking the data usage of a service (18) of a client-side electronic computing device (12).The procedure comprises the following steps: writing (S1B) to at least one interval data record (20) that describes the service's (18) data usage and corresponds to at least one predefined time interval (28); transferring (S2) the at least one interval data record (20); performing (S3A) at least one statistical operation (48) on at least one interval data record (20); and evaluating (S4) the service's (18) data usage and / or controlling (S4) at least one device-related function, wherein the evaluation and / or control (S4) is dependent on at least one result of the performance (S3A) of the at least one statistical operation (48), and wherein the evaluation and / or control (S4) comprises one of the following forms: triggering (S4A) a diagnostic procedure; and / or estimating (S4B) a service's (18) contribution to total bandwidth consumption.Furthermore, the invention relates to a client-side electronic computing device (12), a motor vehicle (10) and a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium (14).

Description

The present invention relates to the field of network devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for tracking data usage of a service of a client-side electronic computing device configured to transmit and / or receive at least one datum via a wireless communication system within the scope of the service.Document DE 10 2023 209 723 A1 discloses a network device, a system-on-a-chip and a method for performing packet processing. A packet is received and the data associated with the packet is processed using a configurable artificial intelligence engine to generate a size classification for a data stream associated with the packet. An action is taken based at least in part on the size classification for the data stream associated with the packet.Document EP 2 142 994 B1 discloses an article relating to the diagnosis and monitoring of network communication systems. In particular, the disclosure teaches how possible anomalies can be detected using a statistical profile of the network activity predicted at a particular time.According to the prior art, as exemplarily described in document US 2023 / 0 379 182 A1, a method for improving the reliability of a security system may comprise: determining an amount of mobile radio communication data consumption over a mobile radio connection since the beginning of a predefined time period and a remaining amount of mobile radio communication data for the remainder of the predefined time period, based at least in part on the amount of mobile radio communication data consumption over the mobile radio connection since the beginning of the predefined time period and a predefined data consumption limit for the predefined time period.According to the prior art, as described by way of example in document U.S. Pat. No. 11 632 320 B2, systems and methods for the central monitoring of connected devices in a network can be used. The system includes a plurality of dashboard graphical user interfaces ("dashboards") that summarize a plurality of monitoring platforms into a single interface. The dashboards are created using network monitoring data and metrics received from a virtual service engine platform provided within a monitored network.It is an object of the present invention to provide a solution for improving the diagnosis of network usage. This object is achieved by the subject matter according to the independent claims. Advantageous further developments are set forth in the dependent claims, the following description and the figures.One aspect of the invention relates to a method for tracking data usage of a service of a client-side electronic computing device, which is configured to transmit and / or receive at least one datum via a wireless communication system within the scope of the service. As an alternative designation for the "client-side electronic computing device", "electronic client device" is also to be introduced here. At least one interval data record, which describes the data usage of the service and corresponds to at least one predefined time interval, is written by the client-side electronic computing device. The at least one interval data record is transmitted from the client-side electronic computing device via the wireless communication system to a data lake system ("data lake" system). At least one statistical operation is carried out by a server-side electronic computing device of the data lake system on at least the at least one interval data record. Depending on at least one result of the at least one statistical operation, the data usage of the service is evaluated and / or at least one device-related function of the client-side electronic computing device is controlled or controlled by the client-side electronic computing device and / or by the server-side computing device.The evaluation of the data usage of the service and / or control of at least one device-related function takes place in at least one of two forms. In a first form, a diagnostic method is triggered (possibly indirectly) at the client-side electronic computing device, depending on the at least one result. As an example of an indirect trigger, the server-side electronic computing device may send a notification to the client-side electronic computing device that a network usage fault is estimated to be present. As a result, the client-side electronic computing device may trigger the diagnostic method. The diagnostic method may result in additional diagnostic information about the data usage of the service. The additional diagnostic information may then be used to confirm or oppose statements regarding the data usage of the service, e.g., that the service has been damaged.In a second form, the evaluation of the data usage of the service and / or control of at least one device-related function includes an estimation of a contribution of the service to a total bandwidth consumption of the client-side electronic computing device by the server-side electronic computing device. This estimation may take place in the case of an encrypted data transmission process. Moreover, this estimation depends on the at least one result.As a result of applying the above method, the network use diagnosis can be improved. The at least one interval dataset may provide sufficient information about the activity of the service to diagnose a presence of at least one network anomaly of the service via the statistical operations of the data lake system. When the client-side electronic computing device performs a diagnostic procedure, additional diagnostic information may be recorded by the client-side electronic computing device and / or a resolution of at least one network usage failure of the service may be detected.Alternatively or additionally, the server-side electronic computing device, when estimating a contribution of the service to the total bandwidth consumption of the client-side electronic computing device, may determine additional diagnostic information, e.g., whether the contribution is related to an expected total bandwidth consumption by a developer of the service.Furthermore, at least one product of the method described above, such as the at least one interval data set, the at least one result of the server-side electronic computing device, the additional diagnostic information and the contribution estimate, can also be checked, for example by a developer of the service, in order to plan the development, for example a patch that addresses undesirably high network consumption. Therefore, diagnosis of network use can be improved, and the object of the present invention can be achieved by applying the aspect described above, as formulated above.The terms "client-side" ("user-side") and "server-side" serve to distinguish the two electronic computing devices of this aspect of the invention. The terms do not limit, for example, possible hardware and / or software configurations of the respective electronic computing device.The client-side electronic computing device may be interacted with, for example, by an end user, such as a smart thermostat with wireless connectivity. The client-side electronic computing device may be located in a space that is at least temporarily occupied by the end user, and / or the client-side electronic computing device may be embedded in another device with which the end user interacts. For example, an automobile operated by the end user may include a client-side electronic computing device with wireless connectivity.In contrast, the server-side electronic computing device may not be directly accessible by the end user. For example, the server-side electronic computing device may be maintained and operated by a manufacturer of the client-side electronic computing device and may automatically communicate with the client-side electronic computing device without the end user initiating it.Examples of statistical operations performed on the at least one interval dataset include mean, median and variance values of network data consumption by the service across the at least one interval dataset, in particular as rate (data units per predefined time interval). For example, if the at least one interval record tracks network data consumption over the days of a week, a statistical operation may be to calculate the average daily network data consumption.Another example of a statistical operation is determining a set of residues between the at least one interval data set and at least one reference interval data set included in the data lake by a manufacturer. For example, the server-side electronic computing device may perform any combination of statistical operations such as those listed herein. This example is further illustrated later in a development of the invention.That at least one statistical operation is performed by the server-side electronic computing device, the client-side electronic computing device does not prevent at least one further statistical operation of this type from being performed, for example, if some distributed computations can be performed on the client-side electronic computing device to partially prepare data analyses for the data lake system.The service is a discrete computer program configured to provide at least one discrete functionality to the client-side electronic computing device. For example, the service may be configured to automatically initiate at least one map information download from a map information server at preset time intervals. As another example, the service may be configured to automatically send at least one diagnostic report via the client-side electronic computing device to a diagnostic report database, such as one maintained by a manufacturer of the client-side electronic computing device.The wireless communication system may be a device based on at least one radio transmitter and at least one radio transmitter, e.g. a WLAN-enabled network card known from the prior art, to be installed in devices such as personal computers, smartphones, smart watches, tablets and motor vehicles. The wireless communication system may additionally or alternatively indicate a cellular network. In particular, the client-side electronic computing device and the server-side electronic computing device can be connected via the wireless communication system via an Internet connection.The at least one interval record describes data usage by the service over a particular interval of time, for example, one stored in a local non-transitory computer readable storage medium of the client-side electronic computing device. The at least one interval data set may comprise, for example, a total volume of data that was needed during the time interval. The at least one interval record may handle all or less than all data usage of the service. That is, the at least one interval data set may only capture a portion of data usage, such as only every nth data packet or time slot (with integer n >1).Alternatively or additionally, the at least one interval record may record data usage at a finer granularity; for example, an interval record for a particular day may comprise total volumes of data used in individual hours, minutes, or seconds. A rate at which the at least one interval record is updated may similarly be stored in a storage medium of the client-side electronic computing device.In parallel, the at least one interval data record can record individual data packets, for example together with time stamps corresponding to the time of their download or upload. Moreover, a plurality of consecutive interval data sets corresponding to the consecutive interval data may be written. For example, the client-side electronic computing device may be programmed to create, fill, and transmit infinite interval data sets until a stop signal is received.As will be explained later in descriptions of further developments of the method, the at least one interval dataset may contain auxiliary information regarding the service and / or client-side electronic computing device, for example information that may be helpful in diagnosing abnormal data usage.The data lake system is a data storage system known from the prior art to be able to be used to prevent the formation of data silos ("data silos"). This prevention performs the data lake by centralizing raw data. Data islands occur when mutually relevant data is stored isolated from each other for reasons such as incompatibility or lack of security authorisation status in different systems. Thus, data transactions that may be desirable to the system managers may be inhibited.The data lake system maintains copies of raw data from which analyses can be performed and passed, for example, to downstream data storage systems. The data lake system may be implemented, for example, as a server that includes a network of non-transitory computer readable storage media, such as hard drives or solid state drives, managed by a relational database management system (RDBMS).A further development of the invention is achieved if a data record about at least one physical location that the client-side electronic computing device has occupied during the predefined time interval is transmitted from the client-side electronic computing device to the data lake system. This data set may be included within the at least one interval data set, for example.This development provides the advantage of facilitating the diagnosis of network use problems associated with geographically constrained networks. For example, when the client-side electronic computing device is installed on board a motor vehicle, the client-side electronic computing device may be configured to automatically switch between cellular networks depending on the physical location of the motor vehicle. Network usage problems associated with a particular interaction between the client-side electronic computing device and a particular cellular network may be diagnosed more effectively when implementing this advancement.In a further development, context data relating to at least one action that the service performs during the predefined time interval is transmitted from the client-side electronic computing device to the data lake system. Examples of context data may include protocols (e.g., a log file specifically created during creation of the at least one interval dataset); diagnostics; trace information; error reporting (e.g., protocols from bug tracking systems); conveyed notifications and statistical information regarding service, another service executing on the client-side electronic computing device, the client-side electronic computing device, or possibly even a system in which the client-side electronic computing device is installed, e.g., a motor vehicle.This development may provide an advantage in locating a network usage abnormality on a particular area of a service program code. For example, the context data may include a description in the at least one interval record that a service responsible for updating system files attempted to repair an update that was found to violate a checksum condition. If the at least one interval record simultaneously describes an increase in download that is excessive relative to the match violation, the at least one interval record may indicate an error in a service update repair code, for example one that causes the service to download more files than necessary.Other examples of context data are stack tracebacks after service crashes, an output level of the service, and sensor data such as air temperatures, sound inputs, and video recordings.In a further development, at least one of the at least one interval data set is written by the client-side electronic computing device as a result of an external signal received from the wireless communication system.For example, in an error report associated with a new version of the software, a developer of software installed on the client-side electronic computing device may attempt to obtain additional information for the error report by sending a signal to the client-side electronic computing device that defines a new interval record written to two days after receipt of the external signal by the client-side electronic computing device. Therefore, this advancement can further improve the diagnosis of network usage by facilitating retrieval of ad hoc information.In a further development, at least one of the at least one interval data set is written by the client-side electronic computing device as a result of a sensor measurement value and / or a change in a system parameter of the client-side electronic computing device. This development can further improve the diagnosis of network usage by facilitating automated information retrieval.For example, after restarting a service after a crash (which case may be indicated by a particular system parameter), the client-side electronic computing device may begin writing to a new interval record to provide additional information about erroneous behavior of the service. Likewise, the client-side electronic computing device may begin writing to new interval records for a plurality of services when the client-side electronic computing device suffers a system-wide crash.As an additional example, the client-side electronic computing device may regulate a thermostat, but may be suspected by a manufacturer to perform abnormal network usage at extreme temperatures, e.g., those above 40° C., that may be achieved when a building monitored by the thermostat is uninhood. In this case, the manufacturer may include a threshold condition in the client-side electronic computing device that may cause the client-side electronic computing device to begin and write to a new interval record when an extreme temperature is detected.The system parameter itself can be acquired in the at least one interval data set. For example, the client-side electronic computing device may write to an interval record to be written over a one month period. For example, if an overall network consumption as captured in the interval dataset has increased above a predetermined threshold, the client-side electronic computing device may begin writing to a more finely divided interval dataset over a subsequent twenty-four hour period.In a further development, the client-side electronic computing device and / or the data lake system receives at least one data usage protocol from at least one third electronic computing device. The at least one data usage protocol relates to data usage by the client-side electronic computing device.For example, a router to which the client-side electronic computing device is connected and / or which exchanges at least one datum may maintain a network usage protocol associated with the client-side electronic computing device. An inconsistency between network usage reported by the router and reported by the client-side electronic computing device (e.g., as captured in at least one of the at least one interval dataset) may provide additional diagnostic information about abnormal network usage by the client-side electronic computing device.In a further development, the at least one interval data record is compared by the server-side electronic computing device with at least one other interval data record which tracks data usage by at least one other electronic computing device.In particular, for example, the at least one other interval data record can track the data usage of a specific other service which is analogous to the service whose data usage is tracked by the at least one interval data record of the client-side electronic computing device. For example, the two services may be separate executions by different electronic computing devices of the same computer program code.An advantage of this further development can be derived from the use of analog interval data sets in order, for example, to define expected and / or typical data usage patterns. For example, the data lake system may receive interval records from N (e.g., N=180) different electronic computing devices, where each interval record tracks data usage by executing program code of a particular service, and where each interval record tracks data usage over the same time duration and at the same time step width. For example, statistical analysis of the interval data sets of the N different electronic computing devices by the data lake system may generate a Gaussian distribution adjustment, whose characteristics may be used by the data lake system to automatically trigger a diagnostic operation on each electronic computing device that is classified as outliers by the data lake system and according to the Gaussian distribution adjustment and, for example, a predefined outlier threshold.For use cases or application situations which can arise in the method and which are not explicitly described here, provision can be made for an error message and / or a request for inputting a user feedback to be output and / or for a default setting and / or a predetermined initial state to be set according to the method.In particular, the method is a computer-implemented method. Therefore, one aspect of the invention relates to a client-side electronic computing device configured to carry out the steps of a method specified in the preceding aspect for a client-side electronic computing device. The client-side electronic computing device is configured to transmit and / or receive at least one datum via a wireless communication system.A computing device can be understood in particular as a data processing device which contains a processing circuit. The computing devices of the preceding aspect can therefore process data in particular for carrying out computing operations. This also includes operations to perform indexed accesses to a data structure, for example a look-up table (LUT). Examples of electronic computing devices are mobile telephones, personal computers and passenger car systems such as infotainment systems and navigation systems.The computing devices can in particular contain one or more computers, one or more microcontrollers and / or one or more integrated circuits, for example one or more application-specific integrated circuits, ASICs (application-specific integrated circuit), one or more field programmable gate arrays, FPGAs, and / or one or more single-chip systems, SoCs (system on a chip). The computing devices may also include one or more processors, for example one or more microprocessors, one or more central processing units, CPUs (central processing units), one or more graphics processing units, GPUs (graphics processing units) and / or one or more signal processors, in particular one or more digital signal processors, DSPs, or AI accelerators, NPUs (neural processing units). The computing devices may also include a physical or virtual cluster of computers or other of the recited devices.In various embodiments, the computing devices include one or more hardware and / or software interfaces and / or one or more memory units.A memory unit can be used as volatile data memory, for example as dynamic random access memory, DRAM (dynamic random access memory) or static random access memory, SRAM (static random access memory), or as nonvolatile data memory, for example as read-only memory, ROM (read-only memory), as programmable read-only memory, PROM (programmable read-only memory), as erasable programmable read-only memory, EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory), as electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory), as flash memory or flash EEPROM, as ferroelectric random access memory, FRAM (ferroelectric random access memory), as magnetoresistive random access memory, MRAM (magnetoresistive random access memory) or as phase-change random access memory, PCRAM (phase-change random access memory).Furthermore, the present invention also relates to a motor vehicle which comprises the client-side electronic computing device according to the preceding aspect. Examples of motor vehicles that may include the client-side electronic computing device are trucks, motorbikes, and passenger cars, such as buses.The invention also comprises a system comprising a client-side electronic computing device and a server-side electronic computing device of the described type, which are configured together to carry out an embodiment of the method according to the invention.Moreover, the present invention also relates to a non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing computer readable instructions for carrying out such steps of a computer implemented method according to the preceding aspect as ascribed to a client-side electronic computing device. Examples of computer readable storage media include solid state drives, hard drives, flash memory devices (such as USB sticks), and optical media.The invention also includes the combinations of the features of the described embodiments. The invention therefore also comprises implementations which each have a combination of the features of a plurality of the described embodiments, provided that the embodiments have not been described as mutually exclusive.Exemplary embodiments of the invention are described below. The following shows: FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of an embodiment of a motor vehicle and of a client-side electronic computing device according to a preceding aspect; FIG. 2 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of the method; and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating several examples of time intervals that may be used for the at least one interval dataset.The exemplary embodiments explained below are preferred embodiments of the invention. In the exemplary embodiments, the described components of the embodiments each represent individual features of the invention that are to be considered independently of one another and that develop the invention also independently of one another. Therefore, the disclosure is intended to include combinations of the features of the embodiments other than those illustrated. Furthermore, the described embodiments can also be supplemented by further features of the invention that have already been described.In the figures, identical reference numerals designate functionally identical elements.FIG. 1 illustrates a motor vehicle 10 according to an aspect of the invention. The motor vehicle 10 includes a client-side electronic computing device 12 according to an aspect of the invention. The motor vehicle 10 further comprises a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium 14 according to one aspect of the invention. In this example, storage medium 14 may reside within client-side electronic computing device 12. However, storage medium 14 may alternatively be external to client-side electronic computing device 12, e.g., shared among multiple devices onboard motor vehicle 10.The client-side electronic computing device 12 is configured to transmit and / or receive at least one data item via a wireless communication system 16. In this example, the wireless communication system 16 may be a separate component, e.g., one shared by multiple devices onboard the motor vehicle 10. However, the wireless communication system 16 may alternatively reside within the client-side electronic computing device 12.Moreover, the client-side electronic computing device 12 is configured to execute at least one service 18 whose data usage is to be tracked by the client-side electronic computing device 12. In this example, a service 18 may be of interest, an update query service 18. the service 18 may be designed by the manufacturer to contact an update server provided by the manufacturer to determine whether software updates are available to the client-side electronic computing device 12.In this example, at least one of the at least one interval record 20 associated with the service 18 may be written to by the client-side electronic computing device 12 as a result of a sensor reading and / or a change in a system parameter of the client-side electronic computing device 12. For example, the client-side electronic computing device 12 may be configured to respond to a particular sensor reading by searching for a system update and / or an automobile maintenance operation that could address the sensor reading.To ensure the intended behavior of this example, the at least one interval data set 20 may be a single interval data set 20 written to as a result of an oil quantity value 22 that the client-side electronic computing device 12 receives from an oil pressure sensor 24. In particular, the oil quantity value 22 can be found by the client-side electronic computing device 12 to fall below a stored threshold value 26.For example, the client-side electronic computing device 12 may be programmed to respond to an oil amount value 22 that sub-steps the stored threshold value 26 with a request to a map information server for a list of automobile maintenance operations within a ten kilometer radius around the motor vehicle 10. The threshold 26 may have been stored in the non-transitory computer readable storage medium 14 as a result of an update published by the manufacturer and installed by the client-side electronic computing device 12.The client-side electronic computing device 12 writes to the interval record 20 based on at least one predefined time interval 28. In this example, the predefined time interval 28 is retrieved from the non-transitory computer readable storage medium 14, where it may have been installed along with the stored threshold 26 and from the client-side electronic computing device 12 from the update by the manufacturer. In particular, in this example, the client-side electronic computing device 12 may write the hourly data usage of the service 18 to the interval record 20. Moreover, in this example, the client-side electronic computing device 12 may indicate in which hours the service 18 reports retrieval of metadata regarding a newly available software update.The client-side electronic computing device 12 communicates the interval record 20 to a data lake system 30 via the wireless communication system 16. in this example, a log of at least one physical location 32 occupied by the client-side electronic computing device 12 during the time interval 28 is transmitted to the data lake system 30 by the client-side electronic computing device 12 via the wireless communication system 16.In this example, the motor vehicle 10 may be located in an entrance of a house 34. Additionally, in this example, the log of at least one physical location 32 may include GPS (global positioning system) coordinates 36 retrieved from a GNSS (global navigation satellite system) device 38 of the motor vehicle 10 by the client-side electronic computing device 12. These GPS coordinates 36, in this example, may determine a set of the current positions occupied by the motor vehicle 10 during the writing of the interval dataset 20.In this example, context data 40 regarding at least one action performed by the service 18 during the time interval 28 may be communicated from the client-side electronic computing device 12 to the data lake system 30. In this example, the context data 40 may be time stamps at which the service 18 reports retrieval of metadata regarding a newly available software update to the client-side electronic computing device 12. Further, in this example, the context data 40 may be written directly to the interval record 20 by the client-side electronic computing device 12 before the interval record 20 is communicated to the data lake system 30. However, the context data 40 may alternatively be transmitted to the data lake system 30 separately from the client-side electronic computing device 12.In this example, at least one log of data consumption 42 may be received from the client-side electronic computing device 12 and / or the data lake system 30 from at least one third electronic computing device 44. The at least one data consumption protocol 42 relates to data consumption by the client-side electronic computing device 12.In this example, the at least one third electronic computing device 44 may be a network router placed in the house 34. The motor vehicle 10 may be parked close enough to the house 34 to establish an Internet connection via the third electronic computing device 44 in this example. Thus, in this example, the third electronic computing device 44 may be capable of creating the at least one data consumption protocol 42 based on identification of network packets, identifying whether the network packets are transmitted to the third electronic computing device 44 from the client-side electronic computing device 12 and / or the client-side electronic computing device 12 from the third electronic computing device 44.In this example, the third electronic computing device 44 may communicate the data consumption protocol 42 to the client-side electronic computing device 12. Subsequently, in this example, the client-side electronic computing device 12 may communicate the data consumption protocol 42 to the data lake system 30 along with the interval record 20. Alternatively or additionally, the client-side electronic computing device 12 itself may compare the interval dataset 20 with the data consumption log 42 to notify, for example, deviations between the interval dataset 20 and the data consumption log 42 in the interval dataset 20.A server-side electronic computing device 46 of the data lake system 30 performs at least one statistical operation 48 on at least the interval dataset 20. In this example, the at least one statistical operation 48 may include a calculation of an average and / or standard deviation of the hourly data usage values reported in the interval dataset 20. The server-side electronic computing device 46 can then classify individual data usage values as outliers 50 if, for example, they exceed the average by at least twice the standard deviation. The server-side electronic computing device 46 can then check which outliers 50 are already detected as being due to hours in which the interval data record 20 reports a query of metadata regarding a newly available software update.Moreover, in this example, the at least one statistical operation 48 may include a ranking of network packets logged in the data consumption log 42 to convert them to a format that facilitates comparison of the data consumption log 42 to the interval record 20, for example, via a percentage difference formula. Next, the server-side electronic computing device 46 may apply a predefined percent difference threshold 52 to classify individual deviations as being indicative of an unintended behavior of the client-side electronic computing device 12.Depending on at least one result of the at least one statistical operation 48, the data usage of the service 18 is evaluated and / or at least one device-related function of the client-side electronic computing device 12 is controlled by the client-side electronic computing device 12. In this example, the at least one result may be the identification of the outliers 50 by the server-side electronic computing device 46. In particular, in this example, not all outliers 50 in the reports that are software update metadata about calls and that are included in the interval dataset 20 can be explained. Additionally, the server-side electronic computing device 46 may verify the received GPS coordinates 36 to eliminate the possibility that the outliers may be consequences of a known network fault occurring at boundary transitions and wishing to remedy that in an incoming update to a manufacturer.As a result of this result, the evaluation of the data usage of the service 18 and / or control of the at least one device-related function can be carried out, for example, by triggering a diagnostic method on the client-side electronic computing device 12.In particular, this diagnostic method can be triggered by a control signal 54 which is sent from the server-side electronic computing device 46 to the client-side electronic computing device 12. The client-side electronic computing device 12 may then control to perform a self-diagnostic, for example one that includes at least one restart. For example, the self-diagnostic may further include a pattern of selective deactivation and reactivation of various hardware components of the client-side electronic computing device 12 and / or the motor vehicle 10.In addition, the diagnostic process may evaluate, for example, the data usage of the service 18 by testing certain conditions of the client-side electronic computing device 12 and / or the service 18. As an example of a condition, the diagnostic method may attempt to validate a checksum value of the service 18; a validation error may indicate corrupted or legacy files used by the service 18. As another example of a condition, if the service 18 is abnormally low in data usage, the diagnostic method may test the firewall settings of the client-side electronic computing device 12 to determine whether network traffic associated with the service 18 is suppressed.FIG. 2 shows a schematic flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of the method.In this example, the method can be represented as including a first step S 1 divided into two. In this example, in a first portion S 1A of the first step S 1, the at least one interval record 20 may be written to by the client-side electronic computing device 12 in response to an external signal received from the wireless communication system 16. For example, in response to reports of abnormal network usage by the client-side electronic computing device 12, a manufacturer may transmit a signal to potentially impacted devices to cause the client-side electronic computing device 12 to begin writing to at least one new interval record 20.In a second part S 1B of the first step S 1, the client-side electronic computing device 12 writes data usage of the service 18 and corresponds to the at least one predefined time interval 28 into the at least one interval data record 20.In a second step S 2 of the method, the at least one interval data record 20 is transmitted from the client-side electronic computing device 12 via the wireless communication system 16 to the data lake system 30.In this example, the method may be illustrated as including a two-part third step S 3. In a first part S 3A of the third step S 3 of the method, the at least one statistical operation 48 is applied by the server-side electronic computing device 46 to at least the at least one interval data record 20. In this example, the at least one statistical operation 48 may be a calculation method for the median of the daily network volume associated with the client-side electronic computing device 12 and reported in the at least one interval dataset 20.In a second part S 3B of the third step S 3, the at least one interval data record 20 can be compared by the server-side electronic computing device 46 with at least one other interval data record which records the data usage by at least one other electronic computing device. In particular, in this example, the server-side electronic computing device 46 may retrieve thousands of analog interval records from the data lake system 30 and calculate a median from the daily network volume values stored therein. The server-side electronic computing device 46 may then calculate a histogram of the median values and calculate a percentile rank for the service 18 according to its data usage.In a fourth step S 4 of the method and depending on the at least one result of the at least one statistical operation 48, the data usage of the service 18 is evaluated and / or at least one device-related functionality of the client-side electronic computing device 12 is controlled by the client-side electronic computing device 12. In particular, in this example, the at least one result of the at least one statistical operation 48 may be a percentile rank for data usage of the client-side electronic computing device 12 that exceeds a predefined percentile threshold stored in the data lake system 30.In a first form S 4A of the fourth step S 4, the diagnostic method on the client-side electronic computing device 12 can be triggered by the server-side electronic computing device 46 depending on the at least one result. In a second form S 4B of this step and in this example, a contribution of the service 18 to a total bandwidth consumption of the client-side electronic computing device 12 may be estimated by the server-side electronic computing device 46 depending on the at least one result.In particular, in this example, the service 18 may manage information about a media database of a user of the motor vehicle 10. To maintain anonymousity, data usage of the client-side electronic computing device 12 may be encrypted. A consequence of this encryption may be that devices that review network traffic from the client-side electronic computing device 12, such as analysis servers, routers, or cell towers, are unable to determine which contribution to network usage by the client-side electronic computing device 12 may be associated with each individual service on the client-side electronic computing device 12.In particular, the high percentile rank of data usage attributed to the service 18 may result in the server-side electronic computing device 46 performing additional diagnostic analyses. In this example, the server-side electronic computing device 46 may execute the second form S 4B of the fourth step S 4 to delineate abnormal network behavior.For example, if the data usage of the service 18 is unusually high, but the contribution to total bandwidth consumption by the client-side electronic computing device 12 is typical or low compared to other electronic computing devices that perform instantiations of the same service 18, the server-side electronic computing device 46 may determine that at least one other service running on the client-side electronic computing device 12 is involved in abnormal network behavior. Such a determination may result in, for example, additional diagnostic steps performed by the server-side electronic computing device 46 and / or the client-side electronic computing device 12.FIG. 3 shows several examples of time intervals that can be used for the at least one interval data set ( 20). In this example, the time intervals may be used simultaneously for parallel interval data sets.Above, a single time period of twenty-four hours is indicated with a first hour 56 and an eighth hour 58 of a time interval of eight hours. The gray shading (hatching) indicated above in the cells indicating the first hour 56 and the eighth hour 58 is to indicate the tracked hours. Darker gray shading (other hatching) is used for the cells corresponding to the remaining hours of the twenty-four hour period. The leftmost side is a twenty-fourth hour 60.This method may be used by the client-side electronic computing device 12 to track hourly data usage of the service 18 with a fine granularity interval record for that particular eight hour period, while a separate medium granularity interval record is maintained by the client-side computing device 12 to track daily usage over an eight day period. The days tracked during this period are characterized by the vertically central group of cells having a different gray level (different hatching), in the lower part of the image.In particular, a first day 62, a seventh day 64, and an eighth day 66 are indicated on the diagram in the lower part. A pair of lines connect the upper and lower regions of FIG. 2 to indicate that the twenty-four hour period corresponds to the first day 62, while the tracked eight hour period corresponds to a first day 62 period. The eight-hour fine granularity period and the eight-day medium granularity period overlap partially. In other words, the data used by the service 18 in the eight hour fine granularity period is contained in both interval records.Additionally, in this example, an eight week coarse granularity period is shown over which the client-side computing device 12 can track weekly data usage of the service 18 with a coarse granularity interval record. Weeks are represented by a vertically lowermost portion in the lower part of the image and receive the darkest gray shade (other hatching) of the image.In addition, a row of white cells are shown along the top of the bottom of the figure. The white cells correspond to the individual days which are not explicitly tracked by one of the above interval data sets. Unsupervised days corresponding to various weeks are visually distinguished by centrally located points.Overall, the examples show how a method for evaluating service-related requirements of bandwidth on IoT devices can be carried out.

Claims

Method for tracking data usage of a service (18) of a client-side electronic computing device (12) configured to transmit and / or receive at least one datum via a wireless communication system (16) within the scope of the service (18), comprising the steps of: - writing (S1B) to at least one interval data record (20), which describes the data usage of the service (18) and corresponds to at least one predefined time interval (28), from the client-side electronic computing device (12); - transmitting (S2) the at least one interval data record (20) via the wireless communication system (16) to a data lake system by the client-side electronic computing device (12); performing (S 3A) at least one statistical operation (48) on at least the at least one interval data record (20) by a server-side electronic computing device (46) of the data lake system (30); and - evaluation of the data usage of the service (18) and / or control of at least one device-related function of the client-side electronic computing device (12) (S4) by the client-side electronic computing device (12) and / or the server-side electronic computing device (46), wherein the evaluation and / or control (S4) is dependent on at least one result of the execution (S3a) of the at least one statistical operation (48), and wherein the evaluation and / or control (S4) assumes at least one of the following forms: - initiation (S4A) of a diagnostic method at the client-side electronic computing device (12), depending on the at least one result of the execution (S3a) of the at least one statistical operation (48), by the server-side electronic computing device (46); and - estimation (S4B), in the case of an encrypted data transmission process, of a contribution of the service (18) to a total bandwidth consumption of the client-side electronic computing device (12) by the server-side electronic computing device (46), wherein the estimation (S4B) is dependent on the at least one result of the performance (S3a) of the at least one statistical operation (48).The method of claim 1, comprising the additional step of transmitting a record of data over at least one physical location (32) that the client-side electronic computing device (12) has occupied during the predefined time interval (28) from the client-side electronic computing device (12) to the data lake system (30).Method according to any of the preceding claims, comprising the additional step of transmitting context data (40) concerning at least one action the service (18) performs during the predefined time interval (28) from the client-side electronic computing device (12) to the data lake system (30).The method of any preceding claim, wherein at least one of the at least one interval record (20) is written (S1A) by the client-side electronic computing device (12) in response to an external signal (54) received from the wireless communication system.Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the at least one interval data set (20) is written (S1A) by the client-side electronic computing device (12) as a result of a sensor measurement value (22) and / or a change in a system parameter of the client-side electronic computing device (12).The method according to any of the preceding claims, comprising the additional step of receiving at least one data usage protocol (42) from at least one third electronic computing device (44) by the client-side electronic computing device (12) and / or the data lake system (30), wherein the at least one data usage protocol (42) relates to the data usage by the client-side electronic computing device (12).The method according to any of the preceding claims, comprising the additional step of comparing (S3B) the at least one interval record (20) with at least one other interval record tracking data usage of at least one other electronic computing device, by the server-side electronic computing device (46).A client-side electronic computing device (12) configured to perform the steps of a method specified in any one of claims 1 to 6 for a client-side electronic computing device (12) and configured to transmit and / or receive at least one datum via a wireless communication system (16).A motor vehicle (10) comprising the client-side electronic computing device (12) of claim 8.A non-transitory computer readable storage medium (14) including computer readable instructions for carrying out such steps of a computer implemented method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 as ascribed therein to a client-side electronic computing device (12).

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