Cable Network Data Analytics System

• US 20150095960A1
• Filed: 09/29/2014
• Published: 04/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Profusion Analytics
• Original Assignee: Profusion Analytics
• Inventors: Hurst, Lukas, Fiske, Christine F., Gorman, Tom, Harrison, Raymond H., Hurwitz, Richard M., Moncivais-Pinedo, Idilio
• Granted Patent: US 9,497,451 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/107
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/46 Monitoring; Testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/00 Diagnosis, testing or measuring for television systems or their details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/004 for digital television systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6168 involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem

Abstract

A cable network data analytics system is configured to aggregate spectrum data sets of one or more readable devices connected to one or more cable networks. The spectrum data sets may include video spectrum data. The video spectrum data may be indicative of performance aspects of one or more standard channels of the cable network. The aggregated spectrum data may be analyzed against predetermined performance requirements such that an alert may be generated if one or more performance aspects do not meet the predetermined performance requirements.

Claims

1. A cable network data analytics system, comprising at least one processor coupled with non-transitory processor-readable medium storing processor executable instructions for causing the at least one processor to:

aggregate a first spectrum data set and a second spectrum data set into an aggregated spectrum data file stored in a non-transitory processor-readable medium, the first spectrum data set indicative of spectrum data from a first readable device connected to a first line of a cable network and including video spectrum data indicative of first performance aspects of a plurality of standard channels at the first line of the cable network, the second spectrum data set indicative of spectrum data from a second readable device connected to a second line of the cable network and including video spectrum data indicative of second performance aspects of the plurality of standard channels at the second line of the cable network;

analyze the aggregated spectrum data file with predetermined logic to determine whether the at least one of the first and second performance aspects meet predetermined performance requirements; and

generate an alert indicative of at least one of the first and second performance aspects not meeting the predetermined performance requirements.

2. The cable network data analytics system of claim 1, wherein the aggregated spectrum data file is indicative of the first and second performance aspects at a first set of instances in time, and wherein the predetermined performance requirements are based at least in part on a spectrum data set including video spectrum data indicative of at least one of:

one or more first service-impairment aspects of the plurality of standard channels at the first line of the cable network at a second set of instances in time and one or more second service-impairment aspects of the plurality of standard channels at the second line of the cable network at the second set of instances in time, the second set of instances in time being earlier than the first set of instances in time.

3. The cable network data analytics system of claim 2, wherein the alert is further indicative of at least one of the plurality of standard channels at the first line of the cable network not meeting the predetermined performance requirements.

4. The cable network data analytics system of claim 2, wherein the alert is further indicative of at least one of the plurality of standard channels at the second line of the cable network not meeting the predetermined performance requirements.

5. The cable network data analytics system of claim 1, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable medium storing processor executable instructions for causing the at least one processor to transmit the alert to a remotely-located user via an output port.

6. The cable network data analytics system of claim 1, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable medium stores processor executable instructions for further causing the at least one processor to:

access baseline data for the first readable device indicative of baseline performance aspects of the plurality of standard channels at the first readable device;

analyze the first spectrum data from the first readable device and the baseline data for the first readable device with predetermined logic to determine whether a predetermined threshold variance exists between the first performance aspects of the plurality of standard channels and the baseline performance aspects of the plurality of standard channels; and

generate an alert indicative of a predetermined threshold variance existing between the first performance aspects and the baseline performance aspects for the plurality of standard channels and transmit the alert to a user via an output port.

7. The cable network data analytics system of claim 6, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable medium stores processor executable instructions for further causing the at least one processor to:

access baseline data for a plurality of readable devices coupled with the network indicative of baseline performance aspects of the plurality of standard channels at the plurality of readable devices;

analyze the baseline data for the first readable device and the baseline data for the plurality of readable devices with a predetermined logic to determine whether a predetermined threshold difference exists between the baseline performance aspects of the plurality of standard channels at the plurality of readable device and the baseline performance aspects of the plurality of standard channels at the first readable device; and

generate an alert indicative of the existence of a predetermined threshold difference and transmit the alert to a user via the output port.

8. The cable network data analytics system of claim 1, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable medium stores processor executable instructions for further causing the at least one processor to:

access reference data indicative of reference performance aspects of the plurality of standard channels at a reference device coupled with the cable network at a reference location;

analyze the first spectrum data from the first readable device and the reference data with predetermined logic to determine whether a predetermined threshold variance exists between the first performance aspects of the plurality of standard channels at the first readable device and the reference performance aspects of the plurality of standard channels at the reference device; and

generate an alert indicative of a predetermined threshold variance existing between the first performance aspects and the reference performance aspects of the plurality of standard channels and transmit the alert to a user via an output port.

9. The cable network data analytics system of claim 1, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable medium stores processor executable instructions for further causing the at least one processor to provide a readable device health report indicative of at least one of:

the first performance aspects of the plurality of standard channels at the first readable device and the second performance aspects of the plurality of standard channels at the second readable device to a user via an output port.

10. A cable network data analytics system, comprising at least one processor coupled with non-transitory processor-readable medium storing processor executable instructions for causing the at least one processor to:

access a spectrum data file indicative of spectrum data of a readable device connected to a distribution leg of a cable network and including video spectrum data indicative of at least one performance aspect of a plurality of standard channels at the readable device;

analyze the spectrum data file with predetermined logic to determine whether the at least one performance aspect of at least one of the plurality of standard channel meets predetermined performance requirements; and

in response to the at least one performance aspect of the at least one of the plurality of standard channels not meeting the predetermined performance requirements, generate and alert indicative of the at least one of the plurality of standard channel having at least one performance aspect not meeting the predetermined performance requirements and provide the alert to a user via an output port.

11. The cable network data analytics system of claim 10, wherein the spectrum data file indicative of spectrum data of a readable device connected to a distribution leg of a cable network is accessed in real-time, and wherein the non-transitory processor-readable medium stores processor executable instructions for further causing the at least one processor to provide the alert to the user in real-time.

12. The cable network data analytics system of claim 11, wherein the alert is indicative of a geographical location of the readable device.

13. A cable network data analytics system, comprising at least one processor coupled with at least one non-transitory processor-readable medium storing processor executable instructions for causing the at least one processor to:

access a first set of data indicative of a current video spectrum of a plurality of standard channels received by a plurality of readable devices coupled with a cable network;

access at least one second set of data indicative of a plurality of digital video channels bundled in each of the plurality of standard channels; and

aggregate the first and second sets of data into a relational database stored in the at least one non-transitory processor-readable medium and searchable by at least one search term.

14. The cable network data analytics system of claim 13, wherein the at least one non-transitory processor-readable medium further stores processor executable instructions for causing the at least one processor to:

access a third data set indicative of billing data for at least one customer having at least one of the plurality of readable devices coupled with the cable network; and

aggregate the third data set in the relational database stored in the at least one non-transitory processor-readable medium.

15. The cable network data analytics system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of readable devices are coupled with the cable network via at least one distribution leg, and wherein the at least one search term is the at least one distribution leg.

16. The cable network data analytics system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of readable devices are coupled with the cable network via at least one node, and wherein the at least one search term is the at least one node.

17. The cable network data analytics system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of readable devices are coupled with the cable network via at least one node, and wherein the at least one search term is at least one of the plurality of standard channels.

18. The cable network data analytics system of claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of readable devices have a unique identifier, and wherein the at least one search term is the unique identifier for at least one of the plurality of readable devices.

19. A cable network data analytics system, comprising at least one processor coupled with non-transitory processor-readable medium storing processor executable instructions for causing the at least one processor to:

access a first set of data indicative of a current video spectrum of a plurality of standard channels received by a plurality of readable devices coupled to a cable network;

access a second data set indicative of a historical video spectrum of at least one of the plurality of standard channels received by at least one of the plurality of readable devices coupled to the cable network, the historical video spectrum captured at a first set of instants in time preceding a second set of instants in time when the at least one of the plurality of standard channels did not meet at least one predetermined performance requirement;

analyze the current video spectrum and the historical video spectrum with a predetermined logic to determine whether the current video spectrum for at least one of the plurality of standard channel received by at least one of the plurality of readable devices and the historic video spectrum for the at least one of the plurality of standard channels are similar to one another;

in response to the historic video spectrum and the current video spectrum being similar to one another, generate an alert indicative of at least one of the plurality of standard channels received by the at least one of the plurality of readable devices expected to not meet the at least one predetermined performance requirement at a third instant in time; and

provide the alert to a user via an output port at a fourth instant in time preceding the third instant in time.

20. The cable network data analytics system of claim 19, wherein the alert is further indicative of a geographical location of at least one of the plurality of readable devices receiving the at least one of the plurality of standard channels expected to not meet the at least one predetermined performance requirement at the third instant in time.

21. The cable network data analytics of claim 20, wherein the alert is further indicative of at least one distribution leg to which the at least one of the plurality of readable devices receiving the at least one of the plurality of standard channels expected to not meet the at least one predetermined performance requirement at the third instant in time is coupled.

22. The cable network data analytics of claim 20, wherein the alert is further indicative of at least one node to which the at least one of the plurality of readable devices receiving the at least one of the plurality of standard channels is not expected to meet the at least one predetermined performance requirement at the third instant in time is coupled.

23. The cable network data analytics of claim 19, wherein the predetermined logic includes a neural network having an adaptive algorithm.

24. The cable network data analytics of claim 19, wherein the second data set at the first set of instants of time is indicative of a spectrum variance in the video spectrum.