METHODS, APPARATUS AND ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE TO CHARACTERIZE CUSTOMER-PREMISES NETWORKS

• US 20110129071A1
• Filed: 11/30/2009
• Published: 06/02/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Jin, Jiang, Baofeng, Savoor, Raghvendra, Blackburn, Stuart Lynch
• Granted Patent: US 8,515,014 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/1.04
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/306 for frequencies above the voice frequency, e.g. xDSL line qualification test methods, test equipment and test arrangements for subscriber lines using xDSL modems H04M3/304; systems modifying transmission characteristics according to link quality H04L1/0001; monitoring and/or testing of line transmission systems H04B3/46

Abstract

Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture to characterize customer-premises networks are disclosed. A disclosed example method comprises retrieving a first plurality of performance parameters for a first time interval for respective ones of a plurality of customer-premises devices, the first plurality of customer-premises devices forming a first customer-premises communication network and each communicatively coupled to a first residential gateway, retrieving a second plurality of performance parameters for a second time interval for the respective ones of the first plurality of devices, computing a first metric representative of a performance variability of the first customer-premises communication network from the first and second plurality of performance parameters, and comparing the first metric to a second metric representative of a second performance variability of a second customer-premises communication network communicatively coupled to a second residential gateway to determine whether the first customer-premises communication network is operating in accordance with a normal operating condition.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

retrieving a first plurality of performance parameters for a first time interval for respective ones of a first plurality of customer-premises devices, wherein the first plurality of customer-premises devices form a first customer-premises communication network and each of the first plurality of customer-premises devices is communicatively coupled to a first residential gateway;

retrieving a second plurality of performance parameters for a second time interval for the respective ones of the first plurality of customer-premises devices;

computing a first metric from the first and second plurality of performance parameters, the first metric representative of a performance variability of the first customer-premises communication network; and

comparing the first metric to a second metric representative of a second performance variability of a second customer-premises communication network communicatively coupled to a second residential gateway to determine whether the first customer-premises communication network is operating in accordance with a normal operating condition.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein computing the first metric comprises:

computing a performance distribution from the first and second plurality of performance parameters; and

computing a ratio of a first value associated with a first percentile of the performance distribution and a second value associated with a second percentile of the performance distribution.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving a third plurality of performance parameters for the first time interval for respective ones of a second plurality of customer-premises devices, wherein the second plurality of customer-premises devices form the second customer-premises communication network and each of the second plurality of customer-premises devices is communicatively coupled to a second residential gateway;

retrieving a fourth plurality of performance parameters for the second time interval for respective ones of the second plurality of customer-premises devices;

computing a first performance distribution from the first and third plurality of performance parameters;

computing a first ratio of a first value associated with a first percentile of the first performance distribution and a second value associated with a second percentile of the first performance distribution;

computing a second performance distribution from the second and fourth plurality of performance parameters;

computing a second ratio of a third value associated with the first percentile of the second performance distribution and a fourth value associated with the second percentile of the second performance distribution; and

comparing the first and second ratios to determine whether the first and second customer-premises communication networks are operating in accordance with the normal operating condition during the second time interval.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising selecting a collection configuration parameter for a third time interval based on the comparison of the first and second metrics.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first plurality of performance parameters represents at least one of average noise values, maximum noise values, average error rates, maximum error rates, average data rates, or maximum data rates.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising configuring firewall port forwarding on the first residential gateway, wherein the first plurality of performance parameters is retrieved at a central office location via the configured firewall port forwarding.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first plurality of performance parameters is retrieved at a central office location via an application programming interface of at least one of the first residential gateway or the first plurality of customer-premises devices.

8. An article of manufacture storing machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to:

retrieve a first plurality of performance parameters for a first time interval for respective ones of a first plurality of customer-premises devices, wherein the first plurality of customer-premises devices form a first customer-premises communication network and each of the first plurality of customer-premises devices is communicatively coupled to a first residential gateway;

retrieve a second plurality of performance parameters for a second time interval for the respective ones of the first plurality of customer-premises devices;

retrieve a third plurality of performance parameters for the first time interval for respective ones of a second plurality of customer-premises devices, wherein the second plurality of customer-premises devices form a second customer-premises communication network and each of the second plurality of customer-premises devices are communicatively coupled to a second residential gateway;

retrieve a fourth plurality of performance parameters for the second time interval for respective ones of the second plurality of customer-premises devices;

compute a first metric from the first and third plurality of performance parameters, the first metric representative of a first performance variability of the first and second customer-premises communication networks during the first time interval;

compute a second metric from the second and fourth plurality of performance parameters, the second metric representative of a second performance variability of the first and second customer-premises communication networks during the second time interval; and

compare the first and second metrics to determine whether the first and second customer-premises communication networks are operating in accordance with a normal operating condition during the second time interval.

9. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 8, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to compute the first metric by

computing a performance distribution from the first and third plurality of performance parameters;

and

computing a ratio of a first value associated with a first percentile of the performance distribution and a second value associated with a second percentile of the performance distribution.

10. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 8, wherein the first plurality of performance parameters represents at least one of average noise values, maximum noise values, average error rates, maximum error rates, average data rates, or maximum data rates.

11. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 8, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to:

configure firewall port forwarding on the first residential gateway; and

retrieve the first plurality of performance parameters via the configured firewall port forwarding.

12. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 8, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to access an application programming interface of the first residential gateway to retrieve the first plurality of performance parameters.

13. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 8, wherein the first time interval occurs prior to an event corresponding at least one of a storm, a software update a configuration change, an installation of another customer-premises device, a temperature change, a replacement of one of the first plurality of customer-premises devices, a technician repair, or a cabling change, and wherein the second time interval occurs subsequent to the event.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a data collector to retrieve a first plurality of performance parameters for a first time interval for respective ones of a first plurality of customer-premises devices, wherein the first plurality of customer-premises devices form a first customer-premises communication network and each of the first plurality of customer-premises devices is communicatively coupled to a first residential gateway, and retrieve a second plurality of performance parameters for a second time interval for the respective ones of the first plurality of customer-premises devices;

a variability analyzer to compute a first metric from the first and second plurality of performance parameters, the first metric representative of a performance variability of the first customer-premises communication network; and

a network characterizer to compare the first metric to a second metric representative of a second performance variability of a second customer-premises communication network communicatively coupled to a second residential gateway to determine whether the first customer-premises communication network is operating in accordance with a normal operating condition.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein the variability analyzer is to compute a performance distribution from the first and second plurality of performance parameters, and compute the first metric as a ratio of a first value associated with a first percentile of the performance distribution and a second value associated with a second percentile of the performance distribution.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, further comprising a collection parameter selector to select a collection configuration parameter for a third time interval based on the comparison of the first and second metrics.

17. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein the first plurality of performance parameters represents at least one of average noise values, maximum noise values, average error rates, maximum error rates, average data rates, or maximum data rates.