IPTV fault integration and fault location isolation

• US 20090285106A1
• Filed: 05/15/2008
• Published: 11/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Tellabs Vienna, Inc. (Infinera Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Tellabs Vienna, Inc. (Infinera Corp.)
• Inventors: Bernard, Marc R., Atkinson, Douglas A., Merritt, Guy M., Liu, David Hwa-Wei
• Application Number:
  US12/152,797
• Publication Number:
  US 20090285106A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/242
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/065 involving logical or physical relationship, e.g. grouping and hierarchies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0677 Localisation of faults
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• 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 21/64322 IP

Abstract

A problem of collecting data unnecessarily in an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) network is, in part, caused by a centralized approach to data collection, whereby data is collected for logical channels, even if not currently streaming to an end node. A method or corresponding apparatus of fault detection according to an example embodiment of the present invention provides for detecting and reporting faults specific to a logical IPTV channel in an IPTV network for logical channels actively streaming to an end user device, such as in response to a “join” request. One or more nodes supporting a logical IPTV channel provide fault indicators, which may be reported to another node or end user. Node(s) in the IPTV network may aggregate and process multiple fault indicators from across a network, thereby enabling diagnosis of specific errors in the IPTV network. Through the use of the method or apparatus, network resources are conserved.

Claims

1. A method of detecting a fault in a network, comprising:

enabling a comparison of characteristics of a logical channel against a profile of criteria based on a request for the logical channel from a downstream node;

performing the comparison to produce a fault indicator; and

reporting the fault indicator.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the profile is one of a plurality of profiles of criteria corresponding to logical channels transmitted across a physical channel.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the profile includes criteria based on at least one preference of a channel provider or end user.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the profile is one of a plurality of profiles of criteria corresponding to the logical channel.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the profile corresponds to a plurality of logical channels configured for transmission across the network.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the profile of criteria indicates a threshold of at least one of the following:

average packet rate, burst rate, latency, jitter, or bit error rate (BER).

7. The method of claim 1 wherein enabling the comparison occurs in response to a ‘

join’

request for receipt of the logical channel.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising disabling the comparison based on a ‘

leave’

request.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein reporting the fault indicator includes transmitting the fault indicator to an upstream node.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

comparing, at the upstream node, characteristics of the logical channel against the profile of criteria;

correlating fault indicators produced by nodes comparing the characteristics of the logical channel against the profile of criteria; and

reporting results of the correlating.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein reporting the fault indicator includes transmitting the fault indicator to the downstream node.

12. An apparatus for detecting fault in a network, comprising:

a network port coupled to a network and configured to enable a logical channel between an upstream node and a downstream node in response to a request for the logical channel from the downstream node; and

logic to compare characteristics of the logical channel against a profile of criteria to produce a fault indicator; and

a reporting unit to report the fault indicator.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the profile is one of a plurality of profiles of criteria corresponding to logical channels transmitted across a physical channel.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the profile includes criteria based on preferences of one or more of a channel provider and end user.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the profile corresponds to a plurality of logical channels configured for transmission across the network.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the profile of criteria indicates a threshold of at least one of the following criteria:

average packet rate, burst rate, latency, jitter and bit error rate (BER).

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the request for receipt of the logical channel includes a join request.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the logic is further configured to disable the comparison based on a leave request.

19. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the reporting unit is configured to report the fault indicator to an upstream node.

20. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the reporting unit is configured to report the fault indicator to a downstream node.

21. A computer readable medium having computer readable program codes embodied therein for detecting a fault in a network, the computer readable medium program codes including instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

enable a comparison of characteristics of a logical channel against a profile of criteria based on a request for the logical channel from a downstream node;

perform the comparison to produce a fault indicator; and

report the fault indicator.