Service quality monitoring process

• US 20030097442A1
• Filed: 12/13/2002
• Published: 05/22/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Channel IP BV
• Original Assignee: iPass, Inc. - Corporation of Delaware
• Inventors: Sunder, Singam, Farhat, Jay, Rozenfeld, Alla
• Granted Patent: US 6,985,945 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5691 Access to open networks; Ingress point selection, e.g. ISP selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5692 Selection among different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters

Abstract

A method and system are provided for monitoring service quality of at least one network connection point of a roaming service access system. The method includes establishing a network connection between a client device and the roaming service access system via the network connection point. The network connection point may be one of a plurality of remotely located network connection points via any one of which access to the service access system is obtainable. The method includes monitoring access performance of the network connection point to generate access performance data, and processing the access performance data thereby to monitor the service quality of the network connection point.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring service quality of at least one network connection point of a roaming service access system, the method including:

selecting the network connection point from one of a plurality of network connection points via any one of which access to the roaming service access system is obtainable;

initiating a network connection between a client device and the roaming service access system via the selected network connection point;

monitoring access performance of the selected network connection point to generate access performance data; and

processing the access performance data thereby to monitor the service quality of the selected network connection point of the roaming service access system.

2. The method of claim 1, which includes:

generating the access performance data at the client device; and

communicating the access performance data via any one of the plurality of network connection points to a monitoring server for processing.

3. The method of claim 2, which includes generating access performance data relating a plurality of selected network connection points with which the client device initiates a network connection even if no network connection is established.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the network connection points are point-of-presence (POP) gateways and the access performance data includes a POP identifier.

5. The method of claim 2, which includes communicating the access performance data of a first selected network connection point to the monitoring server via a second selected network connection point of the plurality of network connection points.

6. The method of claim 1, which includes modifying connection data on the client device in response to the processing of the network performance data, the connection data being used by a connection application to select a network connection point.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the connection data includes a plurality of telephone numbers in a connection point list, each telephone number being associated with a network connection point defined by a point-of-presence gateway (POP) providing Internet access, the method including updating the connection point list based on the monitored service quality of the selected network connection point.

8. The method of claim 1, which includes:

modifying a priority list of the plurality of network connection points at a monitoring server wherein a higher priority level is assigned to a better performing network connection point than to a poorer performing network connection point; and

downloading the priority list to at least one client device for subsequent use in selecting a connection point.

9. The method of claim 8, which includes storing the priority list of the plurality of network connection points on a Web site for downloading by any one of the plurality of client devices.

10. The method of claim 1, which includes:

prioritizing the plurality of network connection points; and

selecting a connection point with a highest priority to establish the network connection.

11. The method of claim 10, which includes modifying the priority of the network connection point based on the monitoring of the network connection point.

12. The method of claim 10, which includes selecting a connection via a second network connection point of the plurality of network connection points when the network connection point first selected is unavailable.

13. The method of claim 1, which includes monitoring at least one client device based connection error resulting from the client device to identify at least one apparent network connection error that is a client device based connection error.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the client based connection error includes one of an access denial due to invalid password entry, a user cancelled access operation, a client device hardware error, and a dialed number error.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the access performance data includes at least one network connection error including one of a line busy error, a no answer error, a PPP time out error, a connection dropped error, a roaming server non-response error, and a port disconnected by the client error.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the access performance data includes one of connection type data, a dial start time, a dial end time, time taken to connect to the network connection point, time taken for network access negotiations, a baud rate of the network connection, a source country code, a location code, a destination country code, a download start time, a download end time, a connection dropped error, a no answer error, and no response from a network connection point.

17. The method of claim 1, which includes aggregating the access performance data.

18. The method of claim 1, which includes:

monitoring access performance at each of the plurality of connection points provided for use by a plurality of client devices; and

modifying connection point data on the plurality of client devices in response to processing the access performance data, the connection point data being associated with each of the plurality of network connection points.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the connection point data includes a list of telephone numbers for use by a connect dialer.

20. A method for monitoring service quality of at least one network connection point of a roaming service access system, the method including:

collecting network connection performance data that is generated when a connection application establishes a network connection between a client device and the network connection point, the network connection point being selected from one of a plurality of remotely located network connection points via any one of which access to the roaming service access system is obtainable;

processing the access performance data thereby to monitor the service quality of the selected network connection point; and

generating an update for the connection application for communication to at least one client device, the update being based on the service quality of the selected network connection point.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the access performance data indicates an error at the client device.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the error at the client device includes any one of a user error, a software error, and a hardware error.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the access performance data indicates a network error.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the network error comprises a network media error.

25. The method of claim 20, including establishing a further connection via a second network connection point selected from a priority list of the plurality of network connection points when connection via a first network connection point fails.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the priority list is modified based on the monitored service quality of the selected network connection point.

27. A method for monitoring service quality of at least one network connection point at a client device, the method including:

establishing a network connection between the client device and the network connection point, the network connection point being selected from one of a plurality of remotely located network connection points via any one of which access to a roaming service access system is obtainable;

monitoring access performance of the selected network connection point to generate access performance data; and

communicating the access performance data to a monitoring server to process the access performance data thereby to monitor the service quality of the selected network connection point.

28. The method of claim 27, in which the access performance data of the selected connection point is communicated via any one of the plurality of connection points to the monitoring server for processing.

29. The method of claim 27, which includes generating access performance data relating a plurality of network connection points which the client device has selected to initiate a network connection even if no network connection is established.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the network connection points are point-of-presence (POP) gateways and the access performance data includes a POP identifier.

31. The method of claim 27, which includes modifying connection data on the client device in response to the processing of the network performance data, the connection data being used by a connection application to select a connection with the selected network connection point.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the connection data includes a plurality of telephone numbers in a connection point list, each telephone number being associated with a network connection point defined by a point-of-presence gateway (POP) providing Internet access, the method including updating the connection point list based on the monitored service quality of the selected network connection point.

33. The method of claim 27, which includes downloading a priority list of the plurality of network connection points on a Web site.

34. The method of claim 27, in which the client device includes a list of priorities of the plurality of connection points and selects a connection point with a highest priority to establish the network connection.

35. The method of claim 27, in which the client device modifies a priority of the selected network connection point based on the monitored service quality of the selected network connection point.

36. The method of claim 27, which includes selecting a second network connection point from the plurality of network connection points when the network connection point selected first is unavailable.

37. The method of claim 27, which includes monitoring at least one client based connection error resulting from the client device to identify at least one apparent network connections error that is a client based connection error.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the client based connection error includes one of an access denial due to invalid password entry, a user cancelled access operation, a client device hardware error, and a dialed number error.

39. The method of claim 27, wherein the access performance data includes network connection error including one of a line busy error, a no answer error, a PPP time out error, a connection dropped error, a remote server non-response error, and a port disconnected by the client error.

40. The method of claim 27, wherein the access performance data includes one of a connection type data, a dial start time, a dial end time, time taken to connect to the network connection point, time taken for access negotiations, a baud rate of the network connection, a source country code, a location code, a destination country code, a download start time, a download end time, a connection dropped error, a no answer error, and no response from a network connection point.

41. The method of claim 27, which includes:

establishing the connection to the network connection point using a connection application; and

downloading connection point data which is generated based on the monitored service quality of the connection point, the network connection point data being used by the connection application to select a network connection point.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the connection point data includes a list of telephone numbers for use by a connection application in the form of a connect dialer.

43. A method for monitoring service quality of at least one network connection point, the method including:

receiving access performance data at a monitoring server via a network, the access performance data being generated from a network connection between a client device and the network connection point, the network connection point being selected from any one of a plurality of network connection points via any one of which access to a roaming service access system is obtainable; and

processing the access performance data thereby to monitor the service quality of the selected network connection point.

44. The method of claim 43, which includes receiving access performance data relating to the plurality of network connection points via any one of the plurality of network connection points.

45. The method of claim 43, wherein the network connection points are point-of-presence (POP) gateways and the access performance data includes a POP identifier.

46. The method of claim 43, which includes providing modified connection data for the client device in response to the processing of the network performance data, the connection data being used by a connection application to select a network connection point.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the connection data includes a plurality of telephone numbers in a connection point list, each telephone number being associated with a network connection point defined by a point-of-presence gateway (POP) providing Internet access, the method including updating the connection point list based on the monitored service quality of the selected network connection point.

48. The method of claim 43, which includes:

modifying of a priority list of the plurality of network connection points at the monitoring server wherein a higher priority level is assigned to a better performing network connection point than to a poorer performing network connection point; and

providing the priority list for downloading to at least one client device for subsequent use in selecting a network connection point.

49. The method of claim 47, which includes storing the priority list of the plurality of network connection points on a Web site for downloading by any one of the plurality of client devices.

50. The method of claim 43, in which the network access data at least one client based connection error resulting from the client device to identify at least one apparent network connections error that is a client based connection error.

51. The method of claim 50, wherein the client based connection error includes one of an access denial due to invalid password entry, a user cancelled access operation, a client device hardware error, and a dialed number error.

52. The method of claim 43, wherein the access performance data includes at least one network connection error including a line busy error, a no answer error, a PPP time out error, a connection dropped error, a remote server non-response error, and a port disconnected by the client error.

53. The method of claim 43, wherein the access performance data includes one of a connection type data, a dial start time, a dial end time, time taken to connect to the network connection point, time taken for access negotiations, a baud rate of the network connection, a source country code, a location code, a destination country code, a download start time, a download end time, a connection dropped error, a no answer error, and no response from a network connection point.

54. The method of claim 43, which includes aggregating the access performance data.

55. The method of claim 43, wherein the connection point data includes a list of telephone numbers for use by a connect dialer.

56. The method of claim 43, including downloading the priority list of the plurality of network connection points to the client device, the priority list to be utilized by the client device to identify and prioritize the plurality of network connection points.

57. The method of claim 43, wherein the modifying of the priority list of the plurality of network connection points further includes assigning a higher priority level to a better performing network connection point.

58. A machine-readable medium including instructions that, when executed on a machine, cause the machine to execute a method for monitoring service quality of at least one network connection point at a client device, the method including:

selecting the network connection point from one of a plurality of remotely located network connection points via any one of which access to a roaming service access system is obtainable;

establishing a network connection between the client device and the selected network connection point;

monitoring access performance of the selected network connection point to generate access performance data; and

communicating the access performance data to a monitoring server to process the access performance data thereby to monitor the service quality of the selected network connection point.

59. A machine-readable medium including instructions that, when executed on a machine, cause the machine to execute method for monitoring service quality of at least one network connection point, the method including:

receiving access performance data at a monitoring server via a network, the access performance data being generated from a network connection between a client device and the network connection point, the network connection point being selected from any one of a plurality of network connection points via any one of which access to a roaming service access system is obtainable; and

processing the access performance data thereby to monitor the service quality of the selected network connection point.

60. A system for monitoring service quality of at least one network connection point of a roaming service access system, the system including:

a client device to select and establish a network connection between the client device and the roaming service access system via the network connection point, the selected network connection point being one of a plurality of remotely located network connection points via any one of which access to the roaming service access system is obtainable;

a server to receive access performance related to the selected network connection point, the server being to process the access performance data thereby to monitor the service quality of the selected network connection point.

61. The system of claim 60, in which the access performance data is generated at the client device and communicated to the server for processing via any one of the plurality of network connection points.

62. The system of claim 60, in which the client device generates access performance data relating a plurality of network connection points with which the client device initiates a network connection even if no network connection is established.

63. A client device for monitoring service quality of at least one network connection point at the client device, the client device including:

a connection module to select and establish a network connection between the client device and the selected network connection point, the selected network connection point being one of a plurality of remotely located network connection points via any one of which access to a roaming service access system is obtainable;

a monitoring module to monitor application access performance of the selected network connection point to generate access performance data; and

a communication module to communicate the access performance data to a server to process the access performance data thereby to monitor the service quality of the selected network connection point.

64. The system of claim 63, in which the access performance data of the selected connection point is communicated to the server for processing via any one of the plurality of connection points.

65. The system of claim 63, wherein the network connection points are point-of-presence (POP) gateways and the access performance data includes a POP identifier.

66. A system for monitoring service quality of at least one network connection point of a roaming service access system, the system including:

means for selecting and establishing a network connection between a client device and the roaming service access system via the network connection point, the selected network connection point being one of a plurality of remotely located network connection points via any one of which access to the service access system is obtainable;

means for monitoring access performance of the selected network connection point to generate access performance data; and

means for processing the access performance data thereby to monitor the service quality of the selected network connection point.