Automated analysis of collected field data for error detection

• US 20070256114A1
• Filed: 04/28/2006
• Published: 11/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Synamedia Limited
• Original Assignee: Scientific-Atlanta LLC (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Felts, William, Blackmon, James, Johnson, Lee
• Granted Patent: US 8,191,099 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/139
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2404 Monitoring of server processing errors or hardware failure error or fault detection G06F11/07; monitoring in general G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4432 Powering on the client, e.g. bootstrap loading using setup parameters being stored locally or received from the server resetting in general G06F1/14; program loading or initiating in general G06F9/445; bootstrapping in general G06F9/4401; secure boots of computer platforms G06F21/57

Abstract

Included are embodiments of a method for detecting errors in a set top terminal (STT). At least one embodiment of a method includes receiving error data related to at least one error that occurred in at least one STT and comparing the received error data to at least one signature file, the at least one signature file including a pattern related to at least one documented error. Additional embodiments of the method may also include in response to determining that the received error data does not match the pattern related to at least one documented error, creating a new signature file, the new signature file including at least one pattern associated with the received error data.

Claims

1. A method for detecting errors in a set top terminal (STT), comprising:

receiving error data related to at least one error that occurred in at least one STT;

comparing the received error data to at least one documented signature file, the at least one documented signature file including a pattern related to at least one documented error; and

in response to determining that the received error data does not match the pattern related to at least one documented error, creating a new signature file, the new signature file including at least one pattern associated with the received error data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received error data is included in an error log, the error log including error data related to a plurality of STTs.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising separating the received error data according to STT.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising separating the received error data according to error pattern.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the received error data is associated with a log file associated with a plurality of STTs.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the error data is received pursuant to an STT reboot.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the error data is received aperiodically over a predetermined interval of time.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the received error data is included in an error log, the error log including error data related to a plurality of STTs.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising logic configured to separate the received error data according to STT.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising logic configured to separate the received error data according to error pattern.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the received error data is associated with a log file associated with a plurality of STTs.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 1 further comprising logic configured to create a directory for storing the received error data.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the error data is received aperiodically over a predetermined interval of time.

8. A computer readable medium having a computer program for detecting errors in a set top terminal (STT), comprising:

logic configured to receive error data related to at least one error that occurred in at least one STT;

logic configured to compare the received error data to at least one signature file, the at least one signature file including a pattern related to at least one documented error; and

logic configured to, in response to determining that the received error data does not match the pattern related to at least one documented error, facilitate creation of a new signature file, the new signature file including at least one pattern associated with the received error data.

15. A system for detecting errors in a set top terminal (STT), comprising:

error collecting logic configured to receive error logs from a plurality of STTs, the error collecting logic further configured to create a log file from the received error logs; and

error processing logic configured to receive the log file, the error processing logic further configured to separate error data related to an STT and determine whether the error data is associated with a documented error.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the error processing logic is further configured to separate the received log file into a plurality of individual STT files, each individual STT file corresponding to a single STT.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the error processing logic is further configured to separate the received log file into a plurality of individual error files, each individual error file corresponding to a single error.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the error processing logic is further configured to, in response to determining that the error data is not associated with a documented data, facilitate creation of a signature file for the error data.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the error processing logic is further configured to facilitate creation of an identifier for the created signature file.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the error collecting logic is further configured to receive error logs aperiodically over a predetermined interval of time.