IPTV Network Monitoring via Alarm Synthesis and Topology Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Communication networks face issues with false equipment failure alerts due to conditions like latency, which can be exacerbated by routing protocols prioritizing customer traffic over network management traffic, leading to inefficient troubleshooting.
Innovation Solution
A system that monitors the physical, data link, and network layers of an IPTV network by synthesizing alarm signals and customer reports to isolate issues using topology information and perform remote testing to validate the isolation of undesired conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If routing protocols prioritize customer traffic over network management traffic, then customer service quality is improved, but false equipment failure alerts increase due to latency
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by sending probe packets along the customer traffic path before actual failures occur. This allows the network management system to pre-establish baseline performance metrics and detect anomalies that would otherwise be masked by latency, thereby resolving the contradiction between prioritizing customer traffic and maintaining alert accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism - a separate probe traffic system that acts as a mediator between customer traffic and network management monitoring. This intermediary probe traffic specifically targets network management messages and equipment responses, allowing accurate failure detection without interfering with customer traffic prioritization.
2Measurement precision
If alerts are generated for multiple devices affected by a single failure, then comprehensive monitoring is improved, but troubleshooting efficiency deteriorates due to false positives
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and isolates the root cause by tracing probe packet failures to their specific source location in the network path. Instead of generating alerts for all potentially affected devices, the system identifies and reports only the actual failing component, thereby maintaining comprehensive monitoring while eliminating false positives that reduce troubleshooting efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the network monitoring function into distinct probe packet transmissions that traverse specific network paths. By dividing the monitoring task into discrete, traceable probe sequences, the system can precisely identify which segment of the network is failing, avoiding the generation of multiple spurious alerts for unrelated devices.
Data Source
AI summary
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a server comprising a controller to monitor a physical layer, a data link layer and a network layer of an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) network, obtain a plurality of alarm signals from one or more of the physical layer, the data link layer and the network layer that are associated with an undesired condition of the IPTV network, synthesize the plurality of alarm signals to determine a correlation, obtain topology information associated with network devices in the IPTV network, and isolate the undesired condition to a network component in the IPTV network using the correlation and the topology information. Other embodiments are disclosed.