Methods and apparatus for predicting impact of proposed changes and implementations in distributed networks
First Claim
1. A method of predicting a service criterion in a distributed computer network, the method comprising:
- collecting a set of features about at least one of requests and responses that arrive at an input of the network;
collecting a set of data associated with the requests or responses, the data set including at least one of network data and system data;
determining a subset of the features which are relevant based upon the collected data set;
learning dependencies between features of the subset;
specifying a scenario associated with the service criterion of the network, the scenario including one or more conditions;
preparing an input distribution, including;
filtering the collected data set based on the conditions specified in the scenario, and;
executing subsequent requirements in the scenario specification such that the data set is updated to be consistent with both the specified conditions and the dependencies among the subset of features; and
outputting a predicted data set for evaluating expected operation of the scenario based on the input distribution.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention pertains to specifying, analyzing and evaluating systems such as distributed content distribution networks. Systems and methods are provided to predict how new deployments and changes to existing architectures will impact the networks. A network design may prepare a “what-if” scenario and the impact of this scenario may be predicted. Various tools are provided to determine relevant network variables and collect data about such variables, to learn what dependencies may exist among relevant variables, to prepare an input distribution and to output a predicted impact for the what-if scenario. Thus, a system designer is able to see a predicted impact that a network change or new deployment will have without having to resort to back of the envelope calculation or costly field deployments.
47 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method of predicting a service criterion in a distributed computer network, the method comprising:
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collecting a set of features about at least one of requests and responses that arrive at an input of the network; collecting a set of data associated with the requests or responses, the data set including at least one of network data and system data; determining a subset of the features which are relevant based upon the collected data set; learning dependencies between features of the subset; specifying a scenario associated with the service criterion of the network, the scenario including one or more conditions; preparing an input distribution, including; filtering the collected data set based on the conditions specified in the scenario, and; executing subsequent requirements in the scenario specification such that the data set is updated to be consistent with both the specified conditions and the dependencies among the subset of features; and outputting a predicted data set for evaluating expected operation of the scenario based on the input distribution. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A system for predicting a service criterion in a distributed computer network, the system comprising:
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a scenario input module for receiving a what-if scenario from a user, the what-if scenario identifying a use parameter and at least one scenario update parameter associated with the network; a relevant feature module for receiving a dataset of features associated with the network and for determining which ones of the features of the dataset are relevant to the what-if scenario; a dependencies module for identifying which ones of the relevant features have parent or child dependencies to other ones of the relevant features; an input distribution module for filtering data associated with the relevant features and for executing subsequent requirements in the what-if scenario; a processor for managing operation of the scenario input module, the relevant feature module, the dependencies module and the input distribution module; and memory for storing instructions and data for execution by the processor, the scenario input module, the relevant feature module, the dependencies module and the input distribution module. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system for predicting a service criterion in a distributed computer network, the system comprising:
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means for receiving a what-if scenario from a user, the what-if scenario identifying a use parameter and at least one scenario update parameter associated with the network; means for receiving a set of features associated with the network and for determining which ones of the features are relevant to the what-if scenario; means for identifying which ones of the relevant features have parent or child dependencies to other ones of the relevant features; and means for filtering data associated with the relevant features and for executing subsequent requirements in the what-if scenario.
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18. A method for determining relevant variables of a distributed computer network, the method comprising:
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obtaining a dataset of variables; identifying a first variable of the dataset; determining whether the first variable is a categorical variable or a real-valued variable; if the first variable is categorical; generating a conditional distribution for the first variable, and determining whether the conditional distribution of the first variable is statistically similar. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method of processing data of a distributed computing network, the method comprising:
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receiving a what-if scenario indicating a change to the distributed computing network, the what-if scenario identifying a use parameter and at least one scenario update parameter associated with the network; obtaining a global set of data for the distributed computing network; filtering the global dataset to obtain an initial test dataset using the use parameter; applying the at least one scenario update parameter to the initial test dataset to obtain an updated test dataset; and processing the updated test dataset to output a predicted scenario result to a user. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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27. A system for processing data of a distributed computing network, the system comprising:
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at least one processor; at least one memory for storing instructions and data for execution by the at least one processor; a first module for receiving a what-if scenario indicating a change to the distributed computing network, the what-if scenario identifying a use parameter and at least one scenario update parameter associated with the network; a second module for obtaining a global set of data for the distributed computing network and for filtering the global dataset to obtain an initial test dataset using the use parameter; and a third module for applying the at least one scenario update parameter to the initial test dataset to obtain an updated test dataset and for processing the updated test dataset to output a predicted scenario result to a user; wherein the data stored by the at least one memory includes the global dataset, the initial test dataset and the updated test dataset and the instructions comprise module instructions of the first, second and third modules. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
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31. A method of predicting a service criterion in a distributed computing network, the method comprising:
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filtering a collected data set based on at least one condition specified in a network scenario, the collected data set including information associated with network operation; executing requirements of the specified network scenario to prepare an input distribution so that the collected data set is updated to be consistent with the at least one condition and with dependencies among features associated with the collected data set; and outputting a predicted data set for evaluating expected operation of the network scenario based on the input distribution.
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32. An apparatus for predicting a service criterion in a distributed computer network, the apparatus comprising:
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a relevant feature module for receiving a dataset of features associated with the network and for determining which ones of the features of the dataset are relevant to a what-if scenario; a dependencies module for identifying which ones of the relevant features have parent or child dependencies to other ones of the relevant features; an input distribution module for filtering data associated with the relevant features and for executing subsequent requirements in the what-if scenario; and a processor operable to control execution of the relevant feature module, the dependencies module and the input distribution module.
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Specification