Fault model and rule based fault management apparatus in home network and method thereof

• US 7,979,744 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2007
• Issued: 07/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Lee, Chang-Eun, Park, Jun-Hee, Moon, Kyeong-Deok, Kim, Dong-Hee
• Primary Examiner(s): Bonzo; Bryce P
• Application Number:
  US11/949,234
• Publication Number:
  US 20080133979A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,317 Days
• Field of Search: 714/26
• US Class Current: 714/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/004 Error avoidance G06F11/07 and subgroups take precedence
• 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 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0663 Performing the actions predefined by failover planning, e.g. switching to standby network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/16 using machine learning or artificial intelligence

Abstract

Provided are a fault model and rule based fault management apparatus and method for a home network. The fault management apparatus includes: a plurality of fault generation unit formed in a multilevel structure and generating fault notification when a fault is generated; a plurality of fault communication unit for transferring fault notification from one of the fault generation unit; a fault agent unit for transferring each fault notification from a plurality of the fault communication unit; and a fault diagnosis and process unit for receiving the fault notification from the fault agent unit, diagnosing a corresponding fault, and processing the corresponding fault using a fault model, a fault decision rule, and a fault process rule.

Claims

1. A fault management apparatus comprising:

a plurality of fault generation means formed in a multilevel structure of a home network and generating fault notification when a fault is generated;

a plurality of fault communication means for transferring fault notification from one of the fault generation means;

a fault agent means for transferring each fault notification from a plurality of the fault communication means; and

a fault diagnosis and process means for receiving the fault notification from the fault agent means, diagnosing a corresponding fault, and processing the corresponding fault using a fault model, a fault decision rule, and a fault process rule,

wherein each of the plurality of fault generation means is configured to be classified into a different API (application programming interface) type for each of at least two or more different levels of the multilevel structure of the home network,

wherein each of the different API types for each of the at least two or more different levels of the multilevel structure of the home network transfer their respective fault notification from their respective fault communication means to the fault agent means according to a software program acceptable to the respective API type which is transferring the fault notification,

wherein each of the software programs acceptable to their respective API type are different,

wherein the fault agent means transfers each the respective fault notifications from the at least two or more different API types for each of the at least two or more different levels of the multilevel structure of the home network to the fault diagnosis and process means using the same software program for each of the different levels of the multilevel of the home network as was received.

2. The fault management apparatus of claim 1, wherein the fault diagnosis and process means defines each of possible faults generated from a plurality of the fault generation means as the fault modules, defines the fault decision rules for diagnosing causes of faults, defines the fault process rules for each cause, and diagnoses and process a corresponding fault using the fault model, the fault decision rule, and the fault process rule if the fault diagnosis and process means receives fault information from the fault agent means.

3. The fault management apparatus of claim 1, wherein the fault diagnosis and process means has a self-restoration redundancy function through a primary-shadow structure.

4. The fault management apparatus of claim 1, wherein the fault diagnosis and process means includes:

a fault self-healing means for processing a corresponding fault when an actual fault is generated from one of the fault generation means; and

a fault preventing means for preventing a fault from being generated.

5. The fault management apparatus of claim 4, wherein the fault self-healing means includes:

a fault diagnosing means for diagnosing a fault; and

a fault process means for processing a fault according to the diagnosing result of the fault diagnosing means.

6. The fault management apparatus of claim 5, wherein the fault diagnosing means includes:

a fault pattern deciding unit for determining which of the fault models where a corresponding fault belongs to based on the fault notification transferred from the fault agent means; and

a fault cause search means for finding causes of a fault based on the fault decision rule.

7. The fault management apparatus of claim 6, wherein the fault process means process a fault based on a fault process rule of a corresponding cause if a fault is diagnosed by the fault diagnosis and process means.

8. The fault management apparatus of claim 7, wherein the fault process means includes:

a fault process rule decision means for determining which fault process rule is applied according to a corresponding cause based on the diagnosing result of the fault diagnosis and process means;

a fault process rule analysis means for analyzing the decided fault process rule from the fault process rule decision means; and

a fault process execution means for processing a fault based on the analysis result of the fault process rule analysis means.

9. The fault management apparatus of claim 4, wherein the fault prevention means includes:

a fault estimating means for monitoring system status data by recording a system operation log and informing a possible fault if the monitored system status data is probabilistically close to a predetermined fault model; and

a fault avoidance means for informing a corresponding fault generation apparatus of a possible fault through the fault agent means in order to prevent a fault based on the estimating result of the fault estimating means.

10. The fault management apparatus of claim 4, wherein each of the fault generation means transfers fault notification of a corresponding module that generates the fault to the fault agent means through the fault communication module, and the fault agent means receives the fault notification through the fault communication means and transfers the fault notification to the fault diagnosis and process means,

the fault agent means transfers a fault process request to a corresponding fault generation means through the fault communication means and receives a fault process response from the corresponding fault generation means, and the fault generate means transfers a query fault status request to a corresponding fault generation means through the fault communication means and receives a query fault status response from the corresponding fault generation means, and

the fault agent means monitors a target module to manage at a regular interval.

11. The fault management apparatus of claim 10, wherein the fault agent means determines that a corresponding module generates a fault if the fault agent means does not receive a query hearbeat response after transferring a query hearbeat request to the fault generation means through the fault communication module and reports the generation of the fault to the fault diagnosis and process means.

12. A fault management method comprising the steps of:

at a fault agent, receiving an initial message for registration from a plurality of fault generation apparatuses formed in a multilevel structure of a home network;

at a fault manager, receiving the initial message from the fault agent and registering the fault generation apparatuses using the initial message;

at the fault agent, receiving fault notification from the fault generation apparatuses and transferring the received fault notification to the fault manager; and

at the fault manager, diagnosing a fault and processing a corresponding fault using the received fault notification,

wherein each of the plurality of fault communication apparatused transfers the fault notification from one of the fault generation apparatuses

wherein each of the plurality of fault generation apparatuses are configured to be classified into a different API (application programming interface) type for each level of the multilevel structure of the home network,

wherein each of the different API types for each of the at least two or more different levels of the multilevel structure of the home network transfer their respective fault notification from their respective fault communication apparatus to the fault agent apparatus according to a software program acceptable to the respective API type which is transferring the fault notification,

wherein each of the software programs acceptable to their respective API type are different,

wherein the fault agent apparatuses transfers each the respective fault notifications from the at least two or more different API types for each of the at least two or more different levels of the multilevel structure of the home network to the fault diagnosis and process means using the same software program for each of the different levels of the multilevel of the home network as was received.

13. The fault management method of claim 12, wherein the diagnosing a fault and processing a corresponding fault includes the steps of:

self-healing a corresponding fault when an actual fault is generated in a fault generation apparatus; and

preventing a fault from being generated.

14. The fault management method of claim 13, wherein the self-healing a corresponding fault includes the steps of:

diagnosing a fault; and

processing a fault based on the diagnosing result.

15. The fault management method of claim 14, wherein the diagnosing a fault includes the steps of:

determining which of previously defined fault models where a fault belongs to based on fault notification from the fault agent; and

searching a cause of a corresponding fault based on a fault decision rule.

16. The fault management method of claim 15, wherein in the processing a fault, a fault is processed based on a fault process rule for a corresponding cause if a fault is diagnosed in the diagnosing a fault.

17. The fault management method of claim 16, wherein the processing a fault includes the steps of:

deciding which of fault process rules to apply based on a corresponding cause of a fault when a fault is diagnosed in the diagnosing a fault;

analyzing the decided fault process rule; and

processing a fault based on the analyzing result.

18. The fault management method of claim 13, wherein the preventing a fault includes the steps of:

informing a possible fault if system status data is probabilistically close to a predetermined fault model while monitoring the system status data by recording a system operation log; and

informing a corresponding module of the possible fault through the fault agent in order to prevent a fault from being generated according to the estimating result.

19. The fault management method of claim 12, wherein in the registering the fault generation apparatuses using the initial message, a fault manager receiving the initial message from the fault agent stores information about each of the fault generation apparatuses to a system field, a fault agent ID field, a module ID field, a module type field, and a module name field of a module management table.

20. The fault management method of claim 12, wherein the initial message includes a module ID, a module type, a module name, and a fault message.