METHOD AND APPARATUS TO ANALYZE A WIRELESS INFORMATION DELIVERY SYSTEM

• US 20130100830A1
• Filed: 10/20/2011
• Published: 04/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2011
• 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: Brady, Mark, Sposato, Stephen, Wang, Jin, Wu, Xidong
• Granted Patent: US 9,143,962 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/12 Network monitoring probes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/29 using a combination of thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

A method includes receiving a packet stream via a wireless signal from a device of a wireless information delivery system. The method includes determining wireless signal data associated with the wireless signal during a particular time interval, determining packet stream data associated with the packet stream during the particular time interval, and analyzing the wireless signal data and the packet stream data to produce an assessment of at least a portion of the wireless information delivery system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a packet stream via a wireless signal from a device of a wireless information delivery system;

determining wireless signal data associated with the wireless signal during a particular time interval;

determining packet stream data associated with the packet stream during the particular time interval; and

analyzing the wireless signal data and the packet stream data to produce an assessment of at least a portion of the wireless information delivery system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing predefined test data to be transmitted via the wireless information delivery system, wherein the packet stream received via the wireless signal corresponds to the predefined test data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting a first value of a wireless signal parameter at a first geographic location within a particular space and detecting a second value of the wireless signal parameter at a second geographic location within the particular space, wherein the wireless signal data is determined based on the first value of the wireless signal parameter and the second value of the wireless signal parameter.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting a first value of a packet stream parameter at a first geographic location within a particular space and detecting second packet stream data at a second geographic location within the particular space, wherein the packet stream data is determined based on the first value of the packet stream parameter and the second value of the packet stream parameter.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the wireless signal data and the packet stream data comprises correlating the wireless signal data and the packet stream data to produce a wireless signal/packet stream correlation.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining a suspected cause of a particular behavior of the wireless information delivery system based upon the wireless signal/packet stream correlation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the wireless signal data and the packet stream data comprises:

performing a first comparison of the wireless signal data to a signal parameter threshold and determining a wireless signal acceptability based on the first comparison;

performing a second comparison of the packet stream data to a packet stream parameter threshold and determining a packet stream acceptability based on the second comparison; and

determining a degree of correlation by comparing the wireless signal acceptability to the packet stream acceptability.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the wireless signal data and the packet stream data comprises:

comparing each of one or more wireless signal parameter values associated with the wireless signal data, and each of one or more packet stream parameter values associated with the packet stream data, to corresponding threshold parameter values to determine the assessment; and

in response to a determination of the assessment being unacceptable, suggesting a cause of the assessment as unacceptable based at least in part on one or more of the one or more wireless signal parameter values and at least in part upon one or more of the one or more packet stream parameter values.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting the assessment of the wireless information delivery system to a user.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing, at a subscriber information database, the wireless signal data, the packet stream data, an identifier associated with a subscriber, and an identifier of the particular time interval.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a system analysis tool including a processor configured to execute instructions to;

determine wireless signal data associated with a wireless signal received from a device of a wireless information delivery system during a particular time interval;

determine packet stream data associated with a packet stream received during the particular time interval via the wireless signal; and

analyze the wireless signal data and the packet stream data to produce an assessment of at least a portion of the wireless information delivery system.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the system analysis tool is configured to cause predefined test data to be transmitted via the device of the wireless information delivery system, wherein the packet stream sent via the wireless signal corresponds to the predefined test data.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the system analysis tool is configured to detect a first value of a wireless signal parameter at a first geographic location within a particular space and to detect a second value of the wireless signal parameter at a second geographic location within the particular space, wherein the wireless signal data is determined based on the first value of the wireless signal parameter and the second value of the wireless signal parameter.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the system analysis tool is configured to detect a first value of a packet stream parameter at the first geographic location within the particular space and to detect a second value of the packet stream parameter at the second geographic location within the particular space, wherein the packet stream data is determined based on the first value of the packet stream parameter and the second value of the packet stream parameter.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein analyzing the wireless signal data and the packet stream data comprises:

determining a wireless signal acceptability by comparing the wireless signal parameter to a wireless signal threshold;

determining a packet stream acceptability by comparing the packet stream parameter to a packet stream threshold; and

determining a degree of correlation between the wireless signal acceptability and the packet stream acceptability.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the system analysis tool is configured to store, at a subscriber information database, the wireless signal data, the packet stream data, an identifier of a subscriber, and an identifier of the particular time interval.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the subscriber information database resides at a server that is distinct from the apparatus.

18. A tangible computer-readable medium storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

receive a packet stream via a wireless signal from a device of a wireless information delivery system;

determine wireless signal data associated with the wireless signal during a particular time interval;

determine packet stream data associated with the packet stream during the particular time interval; and

analyze the wireless signal data and the packet stream data to produce an assessment of at least a portion of the wireless information delivery system.

19. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein analyzing the wireless signal data and the packet stream data comprises correlating the wireless signal data and the packet stream data to produce a wireless signal/packet stream correlation.

20. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine a suspected cause of a particular behavior of the wireless information delivery system based upon the wireless signal/packet stream correlation.