Line quality measurement method and line quality measurement system

Abstract

[Problem] To achieve line quality measurement that is less affected by environmental differences between connection destinations. [Solution] This line quality measurement method, for measuring line quality when a communication device connected in a local network that can communicate with a wide area network uses the wide area network, executes: measurement communication processing for performing measurement communication at a predetermined frequency by means of a measurement terminal, which is a communication device for performing measurement communication for measuring the line quality and which is directly communicably connected to an intermediary device for mediating communication between the wide area network and the local network; measurement result transmission processing for transmitting, to a collection server, the communication result of the measurement communication as a line quality measurement result; and result storage processing for storing the line quality measurement results transmitted from a plurality of measurement terminals in the collection server.

Description

Line quality measurement method and line quality measurement system 【0001】 The present invention relates to a line quality measurement method and a line quality measurement system. 【0002】 In a wide area network such as the Internet, a user uses the Internet by contracting with an ISP (Internet Service Provider). A plurality of ISPs provide various Internet connection services, and the line quality varies depending on the service. Therefore, in order for a user to examine the line quality of the ISP with which the user has contracted, the user may use a line quality measurement service provided by a website or an application (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1). 【0003】 Also, in measuring line quality, a method has been proposed for efficiently collecting accurate information on communication speed by obtaining the communication response time and the file transfer speed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). 【0004】 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2018-032983 【0005】 Everyone's Internet line speed <URL: https: / / minsoku.net / > 【0006】 When measuring line quality, it is desirable to perform measurements not only for a single connection destination but also between a plurality of connection destinations. At that time, if the environment is different for each connection destination, depending on the influence of the environment, it may not be a pure measurement of line quality. For example, when obtaining line quality measurement results by region in a single ISP, in order to obtain results in line with the purpose, it is required to reduce the environmental differences at each connection destination as much as possible. 【0007】 The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to realize measurement of line quality with reduced influence due to environmental differences of connection destinations. 【0008】To solve the above problems, one aspect of the present invention is a line quality measurement method for measuring the line quality when a communication device connected to a local network capable of communicating with a wide area network uses the wide area network, characterized in that it performs a measurement communication process at a predetermined frequency using a measurement terminal, which is a communication device directly connected to an intermediary that mediates communication between the wide area network and the local network and is a device for performing measurement communication to measure line quality; it performs a measurement result transmission process for transmitting the communication results of the measurement communication to a collection server as line quality measurement results; and it performs a result storage process for storing the line quality measurement results transmitted from a plurality of measurement terminals on the collection server. 【0009】 According to the present invention, it is possible to measure line quality while reducing the influence of differences in the environment of the connection destination. 【0010】This diagram shows the overall configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This diagram shows the hardware configuration of information devices included in the system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This block diagram shows the functional configuration of a measurement service server according to an embodiment of the present invention. This diagram shows information contained in a record of a user DB according to an embodiment of the present invention. This diagram shows information contained in a record of API information according to an embodiment of the present invention. This diagram shows information contained in a record of measurement result information according to an embodiment of the present invention. This diagram shows information contained in a record of additional data according to an embodiment of the present invention. This block diagram shows the functional configuration of a measurement terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. This diagram shows information held by a measurement terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. This is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the entire system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This diagram shows information contained in a record of monitoring data according to an embodiment of the present invention. This flowchart shows the operation of connection maintenance processing according to an embodiment of the present invention. This flowchart shows the operation of measurement communication according to an embodiment of the present invention. This flowchart shows the identification information update processing according to an embodiment of the present invention. This diagram shows information that is passed down in URL access according to an embodiment of the present invention. This diagram shows the association of information in identification information update processing according to an embodiment of the present invention. This flowchart shows the monitoring operation of a Wi-Fi router according to an embodiment of the present invention. This diagram shows a list of URLs of the target access destinations for generating monitoring data according to an embodiment of the present invention. This flowchart shows the measurement result reception operation according to an embodiment of the present invention. This diagram shows an example of the display of the regional measurement result summary screen according to an embodiment of the present invention. 【0011】 Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a system will be described as an example that reduces the influence of differences in the destination environment by directly connecting to a router that mediates communication between the Internet and a local area network and performing measurement communication for measuring line quality using a dedicated terminal for line quality measurement. 【0012】Figure 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the system according to this embodiment. As shown in Figure 1, in the line quality measurement system according to this embodiment, the measurement service server 1 and the measurement target servers 2a and 2b (hereinafter collectively referred to as "measurement target servers 2") are provided by a service provider and connected via a wide area network A such as the Internet. 【0013】 Measurement service server 1 is a server managed by the entity providing the line quality measurement service related to this system, and is responsible for the overall system management functions and the collection of measurement results. In other words, measurement service server 1 is the server for collecting line quality measurement results. Measurement target server 2 functions as the communication target that performs quality measurement communication when line quality measurement is performed in this system. 【0014】 Furthermore, the Wi-Fi router 4 distributed to the user who will be used as a measurement sample in this system is also connected to the wide-area network A. Note that the Wi-Fi router 4 is connected to the wide-area network A via a line termination device such as an ONU (Optical Network Unit) depending on the specifications of the internet line being measured, or the ONU function may be built into the Wi-Fi router 4. The Wi-Fi router 4 is an intermediary device that mediates communication between the wide-area network A and the LAN (Local Area Network), which is a local network managed by the Wi-Fi router 4. 【0015】 The measurement terminal 5 is a communication terminal dedicated to measurement communication, configured with minimal functions for performing measurement communication with the server to be measured 2 and transmitting the results to the measurement service server 1. The measurement terminal 5 is composed of a small information processing terminal such as a Raspberry Pi (registered trademark). In this system, users who participate in line quality measurement are provided with a Wi-Fi router 4 and a measurement terminal 5, and the measurement terminal 5 is directly connected to the Wi-Fi router 4. "Directly" here means that it is connected only by a LAN cable to the LAN port on the Wi-Fi router 4, without going through network equipment such as a switching hub. 【0016】In addition, depending on the user's environment, multiple devices such as user terminals 3a and 3b (hereinafter collectively referred to as "user terminal 3") are connected to the Wi-Fi router 4 via wired or wireless connection according to the network specifications of each device, and are connected to the internet via the Wi-Fi router 4. User terminal 3 are information processing terminals such as smartphones, tablets, notebook PCs, and desktop PCs, and are electronic devices used by users of this system. 【0017】 Figure 2 shows the hardware configuration of information equipment, including a measurement service server 1, a server to be measured 2, a user terminal 3, a Wi-Fi router 4, and a measurement terminal 5, included in the system according to this embodiment. The system according to this embodiment can be realized with the hardware configuration of a general information processing device, and as shown in Figure 2, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 10, RAM (Random Access Memory) 20, ROM (Read Only Memory) 30, a storage unit 40, a display unit 50, an operation unit 60, and a communication unit 70 are connected via a bus 80. 【0018】 The CPU 10 is the arithmetic unit and controls the operation of the entire information device. The RAM 20 is a volatile storage medium that allows for high-speed reading and writing of information and is used as a workspace for the CPU 10 when processing information. The ROM 30 is a read-only non-volatile storage medium that stores programs such as firmware. 【0019】 The storage unit 40 is a non-volatile storage medium capable of reading and writing information, and is implemented by an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or SSD (Solid State Drive), and stores the OS (Operating System), various control programs, application programs, etc. The display unit 50 is a visual user interface for the user to check the status of the information device, and is implemented by an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), etc. 【0020】The operation unit 60 is a user interface for the user to input information into the information device, including a keyboard, mouse, various hardware buttons, and a touch panel. Note that the measurement service server 1, the measurement target server 2, and the measurement terminal 5 are operated as network devices that do not require direct user operation, so user interfaces such as the display unit 50 and the operation unit 60 can be omitted. The communication unit 70 is a module for exchanging information with the outside world and is implemented through interfaces such as Ethernet and USB (Universal Serial Bus). 【0021】 In this hardware configuration, programs stored in the ROM 30, memory unit 40, or a storage medium such as an optical disk (not shown) are read into the RAM 20, and the CPU 10 performs calculations according to these programs, thereby configuring the software's functions. The combination of the software functions configured in this way and the hardware constitutes a functional block that realizes the functions of each device constituting the line quality measurement system according to this embodiment. 【0022】 Next, the functional configuration of the measurement service server 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figure 3. As shown in Figure 3, the measurement service server 1 according to this embodiment includes an access response unit 101, a measurement result collection unit 102, a user DB storage unit 103, an API information storage unit 104, and a measurement result information storage unit 105. 【0023】 The access response unit 101 is responsible for responding to access requests from the outside to the measurement service server 1. The measurement result collection unit 102 receives measurement result information stored when line quality measurement is performed on the user terminal 3 and stores it in the measurement result information storage unit 105. The user DB storage unit 103 stores the user DB, which contains information about users participating in the line quality measurement of this system. 【0024】Figure 4 shows the information for one record in the user database according to this embodiment. As shown in Figure 4, the user database according to this embodiment includes information such as "User ID," "Email Address," "Regional Information," "IP Address," and "MAC Address Hash Value," and is used as participant management information to manage participants participating in line quality measurement. The "User ID" is information that uniquely identifies each user and is used as a participant identifier. The "Email Address" is the user's email address. 【0025】 "Regional information" refers to the region to which the user belongs when participating in the line quality measurement of this system. "IP address" is the global IP address, i.e., wide-area network address, assigned when the Wi-Fi router 4 distributed to the user is connected to the internet. "MAC address hash value" is the hash value of the MAC (Media Access Control) address of the measurement terminal 5 distributed to the user. The MAC address is the terminal identifier, and its hash value is used as information related to the terminal identifier. As indicated by "(subsequent)" in the diagram, the "IP address" and "MAC address hash value" are added later according to operations performed by the user, after each user's record has been added by the operator on the measurement service server 1 side. Details will be described later. 【0026】 The API information storage unit 104 stores information about APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) provided by the measurement service server 1. Figure 5 shows the information for one record of API information according to this embodiment. As shown in Figure 5, the API information according to this embodiment includes information on "API ID", "interface URL", and "function details". 【0027】 The "API ID" is an identifier that uniquely identifies each API. The "Interface URL" is the URL accessed to use that API. The "Function Description" is information about the function of each API, including the parameters and code required to execute the function. 【0028】 The measurement result information storage unit 105 stores the measurement result information collected by the measurement service server 1. Figure 6 is a diagram showing the information for one record of measurement result information according to this embodiment. As shown in Figure 6, the measurement result information according to this embodiment includes information such as "measurement result ID", "download speed", "upload speed", "maximum RTT", "minimum RTT", "average RTT", "jitter value", "packet loss rate", "measurement date and time", "number of pings", "connection method", "CPU temperature before measurement", "CPU temperature after measurement", "CPU usage rate before measurement", "CPU usage rate after measurement", and "measurement server URL". 【0029】 The "Measurement Result ID" is an identifier that uniquely identifies each record. "Download Speed," "Upload Speed," "Maximum RTT," "Minimum RTT," "Average RTT," "Jitter Value," "Packet Loss Rate," "Measurement Date and Time," and "Number of Pings" are information obtained through the line quality measurement process. 【0030】 The "connection method" is information indicating the connection configuration between the measurement terminal 5 that performed the measurement and the Wi-Fi router 4, and is generated by determining the connection method based on the functions of the measurement terminal 5. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the measurement terminal 5 is wired to the Wi-Fi router 4 via Ethernet, so in this embodiment only, it is also possible to operate under the assumption that the "connection method" is a wired connection. 【0031】 "CPU temperature before measurement," "CPU temperature after measurement," "CPU usage rate before measurement," and "CPU usage rate after measurement" are information indicating the state of the measurement terminal 5 immediately before it executes the line quality measurement process. "Measurement server URL" is the URL used by the measurement terminal 5 to access the target server 2 with which it communicated during the line quality measurement process. 【0032】Furthermore, each measurement result has additional information, and the measurement result information storage unit 105 also stores this additional information. Figure 7 is a diagram showing the information for one record of additional information according to this embodiment. As shown in Figure 7, the additional information includes "measurement result ID", "check information", "IP address", "MAC address hash value", and "terminal name". 【0033】 The "Measurement Result ID" is an identifier that uniquely identifies each record and corresponds to the "Measurement Result ID" explained in Figure 6. This shows the correspondence between each piece of additional information and the measurement result information. 【0034】 The check information is used by the measurement service server 1 to verify that the received measurement data is not forged. In this embodiment, a hash value of "a predetermined string" + "the current time" is used. This "predetermined string" information is stored in advance on the measurement terminal 5. Note that using "a predetermined string" + "the current time" as check information is just one example; any information that allows the measurement service server 1 to verify the legitimacy of the received measurement data is acceptable. 【0035】 "IP address" is the global IP address of the measurement terminal 5. "MAC address hash value" is the hash value of the MAC address of the measurement terminal 5. "Terminal name" is the terminal name set for the measurement terminal 5, and all measurement terminals 5 operating in the system are set to the same terminal name. 【0036】 Next, the functional configuration of the measurement terminal 5 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figure 8. As shown in Figure 8, the measurement terminal 5 according to this embodiment includes a communication quality measurement unit 501 and a connection maintenance unit 502. The communication quality measurement unit 501 is responsible for performing the communication quality measurement processing, which is the main function of the measurement terminal 5. The connection maintenance unit 502 is responsible for maintaining the global IP address of the connected Wi-Fi router 4 so that it does not change for a certain period of time after the measurement terminal 5 is distributed to each user. Details of the functions of the communication quality measurement unit 501 and the connection maintenance unit 502 will be described later. 【0037】 Figure 9 shows the information held by the measurement terminal 5. As shown in Figure 9, the measurement terminal 5 in this embodiment holds the information of "terminal name," "MAC address," and "verified flag." The "terminal name" is the terminal name set for the measurement terminal 5 and corresponds to the "terminal name" explained in Figure 7, and all measurement terminals 5 operating in the system are set to the same terminal name. 【0038】 The "MAC address" is the MAC address of the measurement terminal 5. The "verified flag" is flag information indicating that the MAC address of the measurement terminal 5 and the user to whom the measurement terminal 5 was distributed have been linked in the measurement service server 1. The "verified flag" relates to the function of the connection maintenance unit 502, and details will be described later. The information shown in Figure 9 is stored in a non-volatile storage medium included in the measurement terminal 5 and is accessible by the communication quality measurement unit 501 and the connection maintenance unit 502. 【0039】 Next, the operation of the entire system according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figure 10. Figure 10 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the entire system according to this embodiment. When a Wi-Fi router 4 and a measurement terminal 5 are distributed to users participating in the line quality measurement of this system, and the devices are connected as described in Figure 1, the connection maintenance unit 502 in the measurement terminal 5 performs connection maintenance processing at a predetermined frequency (S1001), and the communication quality measurement unit 501 performs measurement communication processing (S1002). 【0040】 During the connection maintenance process, the connection maintenance unit 502 accesses the internet via the Wi-Fi router 4 and accesses the measurement service server 1. Depending on the ISP specifications, if the Wi-Fi router 4 does not access the internet for a predetermined period, its global IP address may change. However, the connection maintenance process ensures that the Wi-Fi router 4 accesses the internet at a predetermined frequency, and the IP address does not change after the Wi-Fi router 4 and the measurement terminal 5 are connected. The detailed processing and effects of the connection maintenance process will be described later. 【0041】 In the measurement communication process, the communication quality measurement unit 501 communicates with the measurement target server 2 via the Wi-Fi router 4, obtains the communication result as the measurement result shown in FIG. 6, and transmits the measurement result and the additional data described in FIG. 7 to the measurement service server 1. The detailed process of the measurement communication process will be described later. 【0042】 When a user participating in the line quality measurement of this system is selected and registered in the user DB, the measurement service server 1 transmits an email (URL email) including the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for information registration according to the registered information (S1003). Note that the email transmission in S1003 is strictly not to the user terminal 3 but to the mail server of the mail service used by the user. For convenience, it is illustrated as being transmitted to the user terminal 3. 【0043】 According to the operation of the user of the user terminal 3 that has received the URL email, the user terminal 3 accesses the URL for information registration described therein (S1004). The URL for information registration is for accessing the API provided by the measurement service server 1. In response to the URL access in S1004, the measurement service server 1 executes the recording process of the identification information (S1005). The details of the process in S1005 will be described later. 【0044】 The Wi-Fi router 4 monitors the communication content of the connected user terminal 3, and particularly collects the Internet access information that affects the measurement result of the line quality as monitoring data. Then, it transmits the monitoring data to the measurement service server 1 at a predetermined frequency (S1006). The process in S1006 is the communication monitoring process. 【0045】FIG. 11 is a diagram showing information included in one record of monitoring data transmitted by Wi-Fi router 4 to measurement service server 1. As shown in FIG. 11, the monitoring data includes information such as "data ID", "IP address", "monitoring time", "bandwidth usage", "CPU usage rate", "memory usage rate", "number of router-connected devices", "TCP connection number", "UDP connection number", "ICMP connection number", and "destination URL". 【0046】 "Data ID" is an identifier that identifies each record of monitoring data. "IP address" is the global IP address of the source Wi-Fi router that transmitted the monitoring data. "Monitoring time" is information indicating the time when the monitoring information of the record was collected. "Bandwidth usage", "CPU usage rate", "memory usage rate", "number of router-connected devices", "TCP connection number", "UDP connection number", and "ICMP connection number" are information indicating the operating state of the Wi-Fi router when the monitoring information of the record was collected, respectively. 【0047】 "Destination URL" is the URL of the access destination that is the target for collecting the monitoring information of the record. Monitoring by Wi-Fi router 4 is executed by detecting access to a specific URL. Details will be described later. 【0048】 FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing details of the connection maintenance process of S1001. As shown in FIG. 12, when the connection maintenance unit 502 of the measurement terminal 5 is powered on, connected to the network, and starts operating, it performs WebSocket communication with the measurement service server 1 (S1201). Although the operation in FIG. 12 is a connection maintenance operation, the process of S1201 is a maintenance communication in a narrow sense. This avoids changing the global IP address of Wi-Fi router 4. 【0049】The connection maintenance unit 502 stores a threshold value for counting the interval at which maintenance communication is performed. Once the initial S1201 process is completed, it resets the count value for determining the interval at which WebSocket communication is repeated and starts counting again. When the count value reaches the threshold value (S1202 / YES), it communicates with the measurement service server 1 for address verification check (S1203). The S1203 process is to check whether the "MAC address hash value" explained in Figure 4 is recorded in the measurement service server 1. 【0050】 The connection maintenance process is designed to prevent the global IP address from changing until the MAC address hash value of the measurement terminal 5 is recorded in the measurement service server 1, that is, until the address is confirmed. Therefore, if the address has been confirmed (S1204 / YES), the connection maintenance unit 502 records the confirmed flag as explained in Figure 9 (S1205) and terminates the process. As a result, the count determined in S1202 also stops, and the connection maintenance process itself terminates. 【0051】 If the address has not been verified (S1203 / NO), the connection maintenance unit 502 returns to S1201 and performs WebSocket communication. Through this process, after the Wi-Fi router 4 and measurement terminal 5 are distributed to users participating in the line quality measurement of this system and they are connected, until the MAC address hash value of the measurement terminal 5 is recorded in the measurement service server 1 through the processes S1004 and S1005 described in Figure 10, the change of the global IP address assigned to the Wi-Fi router 4 is avoided. 【0052】In the example shown in Figure 12, the case where the change of the global IP address is avoided by performing WebSocket communication when the address is not confirmed in the S1204 process was explained as an example. On the other hand, since communication is performed with the measurement service server 1 in S1203, it is also possible to avoid changing the global IP address by this communication process depending on the specifications of the ISP and Wi-Fi router 4. Therefore, depending on the specifications of the ISP and Wi-Fi router 4, it is also possible to omit the repeated S1201 process after the initial S1201 process is completed when the measurement terminal 5 is powered on. 【0053】 Figure 13 is a flowchart detailing the measurement communication process in S1002. As shown in Figure 13, the communication quality measurement unit 501 of the measurement terminal 5 first acquires information indicating the state of the terminal when measurement communication begins (S1301). In S1301, the communication quality measurement unit 501 acquires temperature information from the temperature sensor provided in the measurement terminal 5. Then, the communication quality measurement unit 501 checks whether the measurement terminal 5 is in a normal state by comparing the acquired temperature with a predetermined threshold (S1302). 【0054】 If the confirmation in S1302 indicates that the system is not in a normal state (S1302 / NO), the communication quality measurement unit 501 sends an alert to the measurement service server 1 (S1307) and terminates the process without performing measurement communication. This prevents the collection of abnormal measurement results. The alert sent in S1307 includes information to identify the measurement terminal 5 that detected the abnormality. 【0055】 If the confirmation in S1302 indicates a normal state (S1302 / YES), the communication quality measurement unit 501 obtains a URL to access the server 2 to be measured and execute the measurement communication (S1303). In the process of S1303, the communication quality measurement unit 501 obtains the URL for measurement communication by accessing the API provided by the measurement service server 1. This makes it possible to dynamically change the communication partner when the measurement terminal 5 performs measurement communication, rather than being limited to a predetermined one. 【0056】 The communication quality measurement unit 501, having obtained the URL of the communication destination, waits for a random period of time before accessing the obtained URL and executing the measurement communication (S1304). In this system, monitor users are selected in each prefecture and measurement terminals 5 are distributed to them, enabling the measurement of communication quality in each prefecture. In order to eliminate individual differences among the measurement terminals 5 and enable communication quality measurement under the same conditions, it is required that the settings of the measurement terminals 5 be as identical as possible. 【0057】 Therefore, it is assumed that the frequency and timing of executing the measurement communication process shown in Figure 13 will, in principle, be set to the same values. However, if a large number of measurement terminals 5 execute measurement communication simultaneously, the load on the measurement target server 2 will increase, which may result in inaccurate measurement results. To avoid such a situation, the processing in S1304 slightly staggers the timing at which the measurement terminals 5 execute measurement communication, thereby distributing the load on the measurement target server 2. The waiting time in S1304 is determined randomly, for example, between 0 and 60 seconds. 【0058】 When the waiting time in S1304 has elapsed, the communication quality measurement unit 501 executes the measurement communication (S1305). The process in S1305 is the measurement communication process. In the measurement communication, the communication quality measurement unit 501 measures the download speed and upload speed using TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), and measures the RTT, jitter value, and packet loss rate using ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol). 【0059】 Once the measurement results are obtained through the process in S1305, the communication quality measurement unit 501 generates the measurement information described in Figure 6 and the additional data described in Figure 7, and transmits them to the measurement service server 1 (S1306). The process in S1306 is the measurement result transmission process, and the information transmitted is the line quality measurement result. This completes the measurement communication process. In this embodiment, the measurement terminal 5 performs the operation shown in Figure 13 once every hour. 【0060】Figure 14 is a flowchart detailing the identification information recording process in S1005. As shown in Figure 14, the access response unit 101 of the measurement service server 1 acquires the access information shown in Figure 15 (S1401) upon access from the user terminal 3 in S1004. As described above, in S1004, the user terminal 3 accesses the URL described in the URL email sent from the measurement service server 1. This URL is the URL of an API that provides a function to notify the measurement service server 1 of the global IP address of the access source along with the user ID of a specific user. In other words, this URL is identifier access information, which is network access information associated with a participant identifier, and the process in S1003 is the access information notification process. The process in S1004 is the identifier access process. The process in S1401 is the identifier acquisition process. 【0061】 Therefore, in S1401, access information including the user ID and IP address is obtained as shown in Figure 15. The access response unit 101, having obtained the access information, searches the user database in the user database storage unit 103 based on the obtained user ID and extracts the record of the corresponding user (S1402). 【0062】 Figure 16 shows the flow of information matching and extraction in the flowchart of Figure 14. As shown in Figure 16, in S1402, the corresponding record in the user database is extracted based on the "user ID" included in the access data. Once the record of the corresponding user is extracted from the user database, the access response unit 101 updates the "IP address" information in the user database using the IP address included in the access information (S1403). 【0063】When the IP address in the user database is updated, the access response unit 101 searches the measurement result information storage unit 105 for the additional data shown in Figure 7 that has already been collected based on that IP address, and extracts the record with the matching IP address (S1404). When the Wi-Fi router 4 and measurement terminal 5 are distributed to users and connected to the network and start operating, the connection maintenance process described in Figure 12 is executed, so the global IP address is kept single. Therefore, the global IP address when a URL access is made by a single user in S1004 matches the global IP address used in the measurement communication process in S1002 that was executed up to that point. Consequently, the processing in S1404 extracts the additional data uploaded by the measurement terminal 5 operating in the user environment of the user who made the URL access. 【0064】 The access response unit 101, which has extracted the additional data, updates the "MAC address hash value" in the user DB using the "MAC address hash value" contained in the extracted additional data (S1405). The process in S1405 is the management information update process. This completes the identification information recording process in S1005. Through this process, the "IP address" and "MAC address hash value" of the user DB are recorded, the judgment in S1204 explained in Figure 12 becomes "address confirmed," and this process is no longer executed after the connection maintenance process of the measurement terminal 5 is completed. 【0065】 Once the connection maintenance process is complete, the global IP address of the Wi-Fi router 4 may change. However, after the identification information recording process is complete, the "MAC address hash value" recorded in the user database is used as identification information. Since this value is immutable, it is possible to identify which user the measurement terminal 5 distributed to sent the measurement result information to be sequentially stored in the measurement result information storage unit 105 from that point onward using the "MAC address hash value". As shown in Figure 16, the additional data and the measurement information are associated one-to-one by the "measurement result ID," thereby linking the measurement information with the user database. This operation makes it possible to aggregate the measurement information based on the information in the user database. 【0066】 Figure 17 is a flowchart showing the operation of the monitoring data transmission process in S1006. As shown in Figure 17, the Wi-Fi router 4, which has started operating in the user environment of the distribution destination, starts a count to determine the timing of updating the list of URLs to be monitored. When the count value reaches the threshold for determining the update timing (S1701 / YES), it performs the URL list update process (S1702). 【0067】 Figure 18 shows the format of the URL list to be captured, which is stored internally by the Wi-Fi router 4. As shown in Figure 18, the URL list is stored in a format in which the URLs to be accessed are enumerated. 【0068】 The URL list update process in S1702 is provided as an API by the measurement service server 1, and the API information storage unit 104 always stores the latest list of URLs to be captured by the operator. In the process of S1702, the Wi-Fi router 4 accesses the API for updating the URL list provided by the measurement service server 1, retrieves the list of URLs to be captured stored in the API information storage unit 104, and updates the URL list stored internally. 【0069】 Then, when a device connected to the internet via the Wi-Fi router 4, such as user terminal 3, detects access to the outside, i.e., to the WAN (Wide Area Network) side of the Wi-Fi router 4 (S1703 / YES), the Wi-Fi router 4 refers to the URL list shown in Figure 18 to check whether the access destination is included in the list (S1704). 【0070】 If the confirmation in S1704 indicates that the URL is in the list (S1704 / YES), the Wi-Fi router 4 generates the monitoring data described in Figure 11 (S1705) and sends it to the measurement service server 1 (S1706). The monitoring data transmission process in S1706 is provided as an API by the measurement service server 1, and the Wi-Fi router 4 transmits the generated monitoring data via the API. 【0071】 The Wi-Fi router 4 repeats this process and continues to send the history of access to a specific URL as monitoring data to the measurement service server 1. The monitoring data sent to the measurement service server 1 is received by the measurement result collection unit 102 and stored in the measurement result information storage unit 105. 【0072】 The URLs picked up in the URL list to be captured shown in Figure 18 are, as described above, access destinations that may strain the communication bandwidth and affect the measurement results of the measurement communication by the measurement terminal 5, such as URLs where large amounts of data are expected to be continuously downloaded. Such URLs include, for example, URLs for downloading game programs. The monitoring data shown in Figure 11, which is accumulated in the measurement service server 1 in this way, is mainly used when the measurement service server 1 receives the measurement results in order to judge the reliability of the measurement results. 【0073】 Figure 19 is a flowchart showing the operation of the measurement service server 1 to receive the measurement results transmitted by the process in S1306. The process in S1306 is performed via the API provided by the measurement service server 1, and the transmitted measurement results and additional data are received by the measurement result collection unit 102. 【0074】 Upon receiving measurement information and additional data (S1901), the measurement result collection unit 102 performs a check of the check information included in the load data (S1902). As described above, the check information included in the additional data is a hash value of "a predetermined string" + "the current time". In S1902, the measurement result collection unit 102 stores the same "predetermined string" as the measurement terminal 5, concatenates that string with the "measurement date and time" included in the measurement information to generate a hash value, and checks whether it matches the received check information. 【0075】If the check information does not match as a result of processing in S1902 (S1903 / NO), the measurement result collection unit 102 determines that the received measurement information and supplemental data are invalid and discards them (S1908), and terminates the process. On the other hand, if the check information matches (S1903 / YES), the measurement result collection unit 102 then searches for monitoring data based on the "IP address" in the supplemental data of the received measurement information (S1904). 【0076】 If no monitoring data is extracted by the search in S1904 (S1905 / YES), the measurement result collection unit 102 determines that there were no other communications that would affect the results of the measurement communication, and stores the received measurement information and additional data in the measurement result information storage unit 105 (S1906), and terminates the process. The process in S1906 is the result saving process. 【0077】 On the other hand, if a record with a matching IP address is extracted by the search in S1904 (S1905 / NO), the measurement result collection unit 102 then compares the "measurement date and time" of the selected measurement information with the "monitoring time" of the extracted monitoring data to determine whether or not the monitored access affects the measurement results (S1907). 【0078】 The S1907 process compares the "measurement date and time" of the received measurement information with the "monitoring time" of the extracted monitoring data to determine whether the monitored access affects the measurement results. Specifically, the determination is based on whether the difference between the two times is within a predetermined threshold. Other measured values ​​such as "bandwidth usage," "CPU usage," and "memory usage" may also be taken into consideration. 【0079】 If the S1907 determination determines that the record is within the scope of influence (S1907 / NO), the measurement result collection unit 102 excludes the selected record from the aggregation target (S1908). On the other hand, if the record is outside the scope of influence (S1907 / YES), the measurement result collection unit 102 stores the received measurement information and additional data in the measurement result information storage unit 105 (S1906) and terminates the process. The processes from S1904 to S1907 constitute the reliability determination process. 【0080】 Figure 20 shows a display screen of regional measurement results aggregated by prefecture based on "regional information" in the user database, as an example of aggregation of measurement results collected by the system according to this embodiment. As shown in Figure 20, in the display screen of regional measurement results according to this embodiment, information such as "Ping value," "jitter value," "packet loss rate," "DL speed," and "UL speed" is aggregated and displayed by prefecture. 【0081】 The "Ping value" shown in Figure 20 is the average value of the "average RTT" measured by prefecture. Alternatively, the average values ​​of "maximum RTT," "minimum RTT," and "average RTT" may be used. The "jitter value" is the average value of the "jitter value" measured by prefecture. The "packet loss rate" is the average value of the "packet loss rate" measured by prefecture. The "DL speed" is the average value of the "download speed" measured by prefecture. The "UL speed" is the average value of the "upload speed" measured by prefecture. 【0082】 The information required to display the screen shown in Figure 20 is generated when the user terminal 3 accesses the measurement service server 1 via a web browser, and the access response unit 101 operates according to the API information stored in the API information storage unit 104, aggregating the information stored in the user DB storage unit 103 and the measurement result information storage unit 105. This process is the regional line quality aggregation process. 【0083】 The information generated as a result of this process is sent to the user terminal 3, which is the source of the access, as information for displaying the web page, and a screen like the one shown in Figure 20 is displayed in the web browser of the user terminal 3. 【0084】As described above, in the system according to this embodiment, a Wi-Fi router 4 and a measurement terminal 5 are distributed to participant users who participate in measuring line quality as monitors, and the measurement terminal 5 is connected to the LAN side terminal of the Wi-Fi router 4 only via a LAN cable. Therefore, the path taken by the measurement terminal 5 when communicating with the server 2 to be measured for measurement communication is minimized and is the same in the environment of multiple monitors, thereby improving the accuracy of the measurement results and eliminating environmental differences between monitors. 【0085】 Furthermore, in this embodiment, all commonizable settings are standardized for the measurement terminal 5. Therefore, individual differences between terminals distributed to each monitor can be reduced. On the other hand, since the "terminal name" individually set for each measurement terminal 5 is also standardized due to the standardization of settings, the hash value of the MAC address of the measurement terminal 5 is used to identify which measurement terminal 5 the collected measurement results belong to at the measurement service server 1. Although a hash value is used for security reasons, the MAC address itself may also be used. 【0086】 In this case, the measurement service server 1 needs to associate the user participating as a monitor with the MAC address hash value of the measurement terminal 5 distributed to that user. Checking and recording the MAC address when distributing the measurement terminal 5 to each user is an extremely cumbersome procedure, placing a heavy burden on the service provider and potentially leading to human error. In this system, the MAC address hash value of each user and the distributed measurement terminal 5 are automatically associated through the processes S1003 to S1005 in Figure 10, thus avoiding manual work by operators and preventing human error. 【0087】This automatic association between user ID and MAC address hash value will not work if the global IP address of Wi-Fi router 4 during measurement communication in S1002 is different from the global IP address of Wi-Fi router 4 during URL access in S1004. Therefore, the connection maintenance process described in Figure 12 is performed to prevent a change in the global IP address of Wi-Fi router 4. Furthermore, by terminating this connection maintenance process after the association between user ID and MAC address hash value in the measurement service server 1 has been confirmed, unnecessary repetition of processing can be avoided. 【0088】 In the above embodiment, as explained in Figure 19, the example described was to refer to monitoring data when collecting measurement information and to exclude data from storage if it is determined that it may affect the measurement results. However, this is just one example, and the measurement result information storage unit 105 may also be configured to store the data and then add a flag to indicate that it should be excluded from the aggregation. 【0089】 Furthermore, in the above embodiment, we described an example where data deemed to affect the measurement results based on monitoring data is completely excluded from the aggregation. However, instead of completely excluding the data, it is also possible to reduce the proportion reflected in the aggregation results by weighting. 【0090】 Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the case in which the measurement terminal 5 is directly connected to the Wi-Fi router 4 via a LAN cable was described as an example. However, this is just one example, and it is a configuration for collecting measurement results based on a connection via a LAN cable. Another example is the case via Wi-Fi. That is, the measurement terminal 5 may be connected to the Wi-Fi router 4 via a Wi-Fi module. 【0091】 In this case as well, the Wi-Fi router 4 and the measurement terminal 5 are directly connected and able to communicate with each other. In this case, all measurement terminals 5 included in the system are connected to the Wi-Fi router 4 via Wi-Fi. 【0092】Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the case in which the Wi-Fi router 4 and the measurement terminal 5 are provided in separate enclosures was described as an example. Alternatively, the measurement terminal 5 may be provided inside the Wi-Fi router 4. In this case, the functions of the Wi-Fi router 4 and the functions of the measurement terminal 5 will coexist within the enclosure of the Wi-Fi router 4, but even in this case, the Wi-Fi router 4 and the measurement terminal 5 are directly connected for communication. This makes it possible to obtain measurement results that are closer to the quality of the communication line itself, by eliminating the influence of passing through the Wi-Fi router 4. 【0093】 1 Measurement service server 2, 2a, 2b Servers to be measured 3, 3a, 3b User terminal 4 Wi-Fi router 5 Measurement terminal 10 CPU 20 RAM 30 ROM 40 Storage unit 50 Display unit 60 Operation unit 70 Communication unit 80 Bus 101 Access response unit 102 Measurement result collection unit 103 User DB storage unit 104 API information storage unit 105 Measurement result information storage unit 501 Communication quality measurement unit 502 Connection maintenance unit

Claims

1. A method for measuring the line quality when a communication device connected to a local network capable of communicating with a wide area network uses the wide area network, comprising: a measurement communication process that performs measurement communication at a predetermined frequency using a measurement terminal, which is a communication device directly connected to an intermediary that mediates communication between the wide area network and the local network and is a device for performing measurement communication to measure line quality; a measurement result transmission process that transmits the communication results of the measurement communication to a collection server as line quality measurement results, along with information about a terminal identifier unique to the measurement terminal and the wide area network address assigned to the measurement terminal for connecting to the wide area network; a result storage process that stores the line quality measurement results transmitted from multiple measurement terminals on the collection server; and an access information notification process that notifies the participant of identifier access information, which is network access information associated with a participant identifier that identifies the participant to whom the measurement terminal is distributed as a participant in the line quality measurement. The system performs an identifier access process in which other terminals accessing the wide area network via the intermediary to which the measurement terminal is connected access the collection server via the notified identifier access information to notify the collection server of the participant identifier and the intermediary's wide area network address; and a management information update process in which the collection server updates participant management information, which is managed by the collection server and associates the participant identifier and the terminal identifier, using the notified participant identifier and the wide area network address. In the management information update process, the collection server extracts the collected line quality measurement results that have the same wide area network address as the wide area network address notified in the identifier access process, extracts the terminal identifier information attached to the extracted line quality measurement results, and stores the information relating the participant identifier and the terminal identifier notified in the identifier access process.A server for collection maintains participant management information and identifies the participant who is the source of the received line quality measurement result based on information regarding the terminal identifier attached to the line quality measurement result.

2. The line quality measurement method according to claim 1, characterized in that the measurement terminal performs connection maintenance processing to maintain the wide-area network connection.

3. The method for measuring line quality according to claim 2, characterized in that the measurement terminal terminates the connection maintenance process when information regarding the terminal identifier is stored in the participant management information.

4. The line quality measurement method according to claim 1, characterized in that the intermediary device monitors communication between communication devices in a local network and a wide area network, and when a communication device in the local network communicates with a predetermined communication destination in the wide area network, it performs a communication monitoring process which acquires a communication log and transmits it to the collection server, and the collection server performs a reliability determination process which determines the reliability of the line quality measurement result transmitted from the measurement terminal based on the communication log.

5. The method for measuring line quality according to claim 1, characterized in that, in the measurement communication process, the measurement terminal waits for a period randomly selected within a predetermined period after reaching a timing corresponding to the predetermined frequency, and then performs the measurement communication.

6. The method for measuring line quality according to claim 1, characterized in that, in the measurement result transmission process, the measurement terminal transmits the line quality measurement result to the collection server with check information generated based on predetermined information, and in the result storage process, the collection server confirms the validity of the line quality measurement result transmitted by the measurement terminal based on the check information.

7. The method for measuring circuit quality according to claim 1, characterized in that the participant management information includes information relating to the region where the participant's local network exists and the participant identifier, and that it performs a regional circuit quality aggregation process to aggregate the stored circuit quality measurement results based on the region information and generate information for displaying information on circuit quality by region.

8. The method for measuring line quality according to claim 1, characterized in that, in the measurement communication processing, the measurement terminal obtains the network address of the communication partner with whom it is performing measurement communication from the collection server.

9. A circuit quality measurement system for measuring the circuit quality when communication equipment connected to a local network capable of communicating with a wide area network utilizes the said wide area network, comprising: a measurement terminal which is a communication device directly connected to an intermediary that mediates communication between the wide area network and the local network and is used for measuring circuit quality; and a collection server which collects the circuit quality measurement results, wherein the measurement terminal performs measurement communication, which is communication for measuring circuit quality, at a predetermined frequency, transmits the communication results of the measurement communication to the collection server as circuit quality measurement results, accompanied by information about a terminal identifier unique to each measurement terminal and the wide area network address assigned to the measurement terminal for connecting to the wide area network, and the collection server stores the circuit quality measurement results transmitted from a plurality of the measurement terminals, and notifies the participant of identifier access information, which is network access information associated with a participant identifier that identifies the participant to whom the measurement terminal is distributed as a participant in the circuit quality measurement, A circuit quality measurement system characterized in that: another terminal accessing the wide area network via the intermediary to which the measurement terminal is connected accesses the collection server via the notified identifier access information to obtain the notified participant identifier and the wide area network address of the intermediary; maintains participant management information associated with the participant identifier and the terminal identifier; extracts the circuit quality measurement results from collected information that have the same wide area network address as the wide area network address obtained by access via the identifier access information; extracts the terminal identifier information attached to the extracted circuit quality measurement results; updates the participant management information by associating and storing the participant identifier and the terminal identifier information obtained by access via the identifier access information; and identifies the participant who is the source of the circuit quality measurement results based on the terminal identifier information attached to the received circuit quality measurement results.

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