Inference-based home network error handling system and method

• US 7,962,790 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2007
• Issued: 06/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Park, Jun Hee, Son, Young Sung, Ku, Tai Yeon, Moon, Kyeong Deok
• Primary Examiner(s): Bonzo; Bryce P
• Application Number:
  US11/949,737
• Publication Number:
  US 20080133970A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,289 Days
• Field of Search: 714/26, 714/27
• US Class Current: 714/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0736 in functional embedded systems, i.e. in a data processing system designed as a combination of hardware and software dedicated to performing a certain function testing or monitoring of automated control systems G05B23/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0775 Content or structure details of the error report, e.g. specific table structure, specific error fields
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0787 Storage of error reports, e.g. persistent data storage, storage using memory protection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0663 Performing the actions predefined by failover planning, e.g. switching to standby network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5061 characterised by the interaction between service providers and their network customers, e.g. customer relationship management

Abstract

Provided is an inference-based home network error handling system and method capable of recognizing an error which occurs in a home network environment including a plurality of devices and services that are connected and executed, handling the error on the basis of an inference function, and providing support information used to recognize a cause of the error and handle the error to the user for the convenience of the user. Accordingly, errors are recognized according to devices, networks, and services, types of the errors recognized by applying inference rules set in advance and error handling rules are inferred, a result of the inferring is provided to the user, and error handling operations are performed according to a selection of a user.

Claims

1. An inference-based home network error handling system for handling an error in a home network system that includes a device, a network and a service, comprising:

three error recognition modules, including;

a service error recognition module recognizing a first irregularity that has occurred in services of the home network system, and collecting information on the first irregularity;

a home network error recognition module recognizing a second irregularity that has occurred in networks of the home network system, and collecting information on the second irregularity; and

a device error recognition module recognizing a third irregularity that has occurred in devices of the home network system, and collecting information on the third irregularity; and

an error handling management module inferring an error type, using the collected information, that indicates whether a recognized one of the first, second and third irregularities is an error in the device, an error in the network or an error in the service, and inferring error handling rules for correcting the inferred error type, guiding a result of the inferring for a user, and executing one of the error handling rules selected by the user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the error handling management module comprises:

an inference rule storage unit storing inference rules which are used to infer the error type and the error handling rules;

an error recognition information analyzer analyzing the collected information from the error recognition modules and extracting from the collected information needed for error inference;

an inference engine inferring the error type and the error handling rules for correcting the error from the information extracted by the error recognition information analyzer on the basis of the inference rules stored in the inference rule storage unit; and

an error handling execution manager guiding error occurrence information and error handling operations to the user, and performing error handing according to the error handling rule selected by the user.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the error handling management module further comprises an error recognition rule storage unit storing error recognition rules for error recognition by the service error recognition module, the home network error recognition module, and the device error recognition module.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the service error recognition module recognizes the first irregularity from service status information, whether or not the service is performed, and the usage of service execution resources extracted by monitoring the service.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the home network error recognition module recognizes the second irregularity from home network status information, network topology information, and network usage extracted by monitoring the network.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the device error recognition module recognizes the third irregularity from a data type and a data value extracted from status information provided from the device.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein

the home network system includes a plurality of services, and

when the recognized irregularity is caused by an error of the device, the error handling management module retrieves services used by the device from the plurality of services, provides a list of the services to the user, and stops one of the services on the list selected by the user.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein, when the recognized irregularity is caused by an error of the network, the error handling management module handles the error according to the user'"'"'s selection or a management rule.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein,

the home network system includes a plurality of services, and

when one of the services is to be reconfigured in order to continuously execute one of the services associated with the error type, the error handling management module informs the user and performs the service reconfiguration according to a selection of the user.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein,

the home network system includes a plurality of devices, and

when the service reconfiguration is performed, the error handling management module provides to the user a list of the devices and data used by the service and performs the reconfiguration according to the user'"'"'s selection.

11. An inference-based home network error handling method for handling an error in a home network system that includes a device, a network and a service, comprising:

setting inference rules describing an inference range and standard for inferring an error type and a handling rule on the basis of information of an irregularity of the home network system;

recognizing the irregularity;

inferring the error type that indicates whether the recognized irregularity is an error of the device, an error of the network, or an error of the service, and inferring an error handing rule for correcting the inferred error type by applying the set inference rules; and

providing a result of the inferring to a user and performing error handling according to a selection by the user.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising, before recognizing the irregularity, setting an error recognition rule describing an error recognition range and an error recognition standard for recognizing the irregularity-in the home network system, before the recognizing.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising, when the home network system includes a plurality of services, and after performing the error handling,

checking whether or not one of the plurality of services is to be reconfigured, and

when, based on said checking, a service reconfiguration is needed, providing service reconfiguration information to the user, and performing the service reconfiguration according a selection of the user.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising, when the service reconfiguration is not needed after the checking, providing a list of the plurality of services to be terminated in connection with the error handling to the user, and terminating a corresponding service.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein,

the home network system includes a plurality of devices, and

performing the service reconfiguration further comprises providing a list of the plurality of devices and data used by the service and performing reconfiguration according to a selection of the user in order to perform the service reconfiguration.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein recognizing the irregularity comprises recognizing the irregularity from service status information, whether or not the service is performed, and the amount of service execution resources used extracted by monitoring the service.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein recognizing the irregularity comprises recognizing the irregularity from home network status information, network topology information, and network usage extracted by monitoring the network.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein recognizing the irregularity comprises recognizing the irregularity from a data type and a data value extracted from status information provided from the device.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein, when an irregularity occurs, performing the error handling comprises handling the error according to the selection of the user or a management rule.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein

the home network system includes a plurality of services, and

when an irregularity occurs, performing the error handling comprises retrieving services used by the device from the plurality of services, providing a list of the retrieved services to the user, and terminating one of the retrieved services selected by the user.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein performing the error handling, when one of the plurality of services is to be reconfigured in order to continuously execute the service associated with the error type, includes informing the user and performing the service reconfiguration according to the selection of the user.