Media Service Diagnostics via Local Logging and Suppression
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current diagnostic systems for media service quality in networks face challenges in efficiently processing and reporting errors, particularly due to network outages and changes in client device states, which lead to increased diagnostic polling and data spikes, causing latency and impacting network performance.
Innovation Solution
An automated system that includes client devices publishing diagnostic reports to collectors, which compress and transmit data to aggregators, allowing for delayed or suppressed reporting of additional diagnostic information based on correlated data analysis, thereby reducing unnecessary data transmission and focusing on actionable issues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If periodic polling of client devices is performed to collect diagnostic information, then service quality monitoring is improved, but network traffic and processing load increase during outages
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by having client devices continuously log diagnostic information locally in rolling counters before outages occur. This pre-collection of data in a ready-to-report state eliminates the need for increased polling during outages, as devices can immediately report accumulated diagnostic data when connected, thus maintaining monitoring precision without impacting network performance during critical periods.
2Reliability
If diagnostic polling frequency is increased during network outages, then outage detection capability is improved, but network overhead and latency increase
Solution Approach 1:
Client devices perform preliminary logging of diagnostic events locally without requiring real-time network communication. This allows the system to detect outages immediately when devices reconnect, as all diagnostic events are already recorded in local rolling counters, eliminating polling latency while maintaining reliable outage detection.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service by allowing client devices to autonomously log and track diagnostic information locally without requiring network polling. Devices independently maintain rolling counters that record events such as reboots, channel changes, and service disruptions, eliminating the need for network-initiated polling and its associated latency.
3Productivity
If client devices transmit diagnostic reports frequently, then real-time error logging is improved, but network bandwidth consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of frequent periodic transmission, the system uses event-triggered transmission where diagnostic reports are sent only when specific conditions occur (service outages, quality degradation, device reboots). This maintains real-time error logging efficiency by reporting only when necessary, significantly reducing network bandwidth consumption compared to frequent periodic transmissions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts only the essential diagnostic information that indicates actual service issues from the total possible diagnostic data. By focusing transmission on specific error events and quality degradation markers rather than all possible diagnostic parameters, the system maintains effective error logging while minimizing network bandwidth consumption.
Data Source
AI summary
A system that incorporates the subject disclosure may include, for example, a device receiving diagnostic information from a plurality of client devices delivering media content, wherein the diagnostic information relates to a media delivery service quality and wherein the diagnostic information is sent automatically by the client devices; performing a data compression procedure for the diagnostic information; transmitting compressed data comprising the diagnostic information to an aggregator device; and sending to the client devices a message to delay or prevent transmission of additional diagnostic information in accordance with an instruction received from the aggregator device. Other embodiments are disclosed.