Report generation and visualization systems and methods and their use in testing frameworks for determining suitability of a network for target applications

• US 8,868,715 B2
• Filed: 10/15/2002
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TP-Link USA Corporation (TP-Link Technologies Co Limited)
• Original Assignee: Volli Polymer GmbH LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Bearden, Mark J., Denby, Lorraine, Karacali, Bengi, Meloche, Jean, Stott, David Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Joo, Joshua
• Application Number:
  US10/270,011
• Publication Number:
  US 20030091165A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,389 Days
• Field of Search: 709220-225, 715734-736
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0631 using root cause analysis; using analysis of correlation between notifications, alarms or events based on decision criteria, e.g. hierarchy, tree or time analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0681 Configuration of triggering conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2236 Quality of speech transmission monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2254 in networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

A system visualizes and generates reports from stored data, concerning various measured parameters related to a network carrying call traffic. The network is displayed in an easily recognized arrangement, with various parameters being indicated by different shapes and colors for each device on the network. The parameters are changed to indicate the status of the network at different times. More detailed information about a parameter, a device or a path between devices may be obtained simply using a mouse or keystrokes. A variety of different types of detailed displays allows the operator to troubleshoot problems in the network.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

analyzing network traffic statistics of a network using at least one processor;

analyzing end-to-end QoS measurements of two directions of at least one call;

identifying network devices and links traversed by the at least one call, wherein the identified links are communication links connecting the network devices;

determining QoS metrics for at least one of the identified network devices and at least one of the identified links traversed by the at least one call;

relating the network traffic statistics with the end-to-end QoS measurements on a common timescale and across network paths;

displaying network topology using the at least one processor;

displaying traffic measurements of the network devices and links;

displaying one or more graphs of the end-to-end QoS measurements of the two directions of the at least one call and the QoS metrics for the at least one of the identified network devices and the at least one of the identified links over a measured time period; and

displaying a visually distinctive area that indicates a threshold of acceptable calls.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining load, utilization, and error statistics of the network devices and links at specified times.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein analyzing the end-to-end QoS measurements of the two directions of the at least one call includes analyzing end-to-end one-way delay.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein analyzing the end-to-end QoS measurements of the two directions of the at least one call comprises analyzing jitter.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein analyzing the end-to-end QoS measurements of the two directions of the at least one call comprises analyzing packet loss.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein analyzing the end-to-end QoS measurements of the two directions of the at least one call comprises analyzing packet loss burst.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving stored data about the network from a data store; and

determining whether the network devices and links traversed by the at least one call have poor QoS metrics.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

assigning specific shapes to different types of devices and links in the network; and

displaying the network with the network devices and links represented by the assigned specific shapes.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

assigning colors to the network devices and links in the network reflecting load, utilization, and error statistics associated with the network devices and links over a given time interval; and

displaying the network with the network devices and links represented by the colors.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising displaying the given time interval along with the network devices and links represented by the colors.

11. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

detecting a path for the at least one call between two devices in the network; and

displaying the path with at least one of color and shading.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining percentages of utilization for links in the network during specified measurement intervals; and

displaying a graph of inbound and outbound utilization of the links in the network separately for specified time measurement intervals.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

determining load, utilization, or error data during a measurement interval for a device; and

displaying a graph of inbound and outbound load, utilization, or error of each interface of the device.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

determining total counts of a load or error variable of each interface of the device during the measurement interval; and

displaying a graph of the total counts of each interface of the device.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining one or more of load, utilization, and error data over time during a measurement interval; and

displaying a graph of the one or more of load, utilization, and error data versus time for an interface of a device separately for packets entering and packets leaving the device.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the measurement interval is a series of days including weekdays and weekends.

17. The method according to claim 2, further comprising plotting a distribution of the load, utilization, and error statistics versus time.

18. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving a selection of an item in a display via a mouse click or a key stroke.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the selected item is a network device.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein the selected item is a network link.

21. The method according to claim 18, wherein the selected item is an endpoint pair.

22. The method according to claim 18, wherein the selected item is a network path.

23. The method according to claim 1, wherein analyzing the end-to-end QoS measurements comprises analyzing end-to-end QoS metrics obtained at endpoints of a plurality of calls.

24. A method comprising:

analyzing network traffic statistics of a network using at least one processor;

analyzing end-to-end QoS measurements of at least one call in the network;

relating the network traffic statistics with the end-to-end QoS measurements on a common timescale and across network paths;

displaying network topology using the at least one processor;

displaying traffic measurements of network devices and links;

displaying the end-to-end QoS measurements;

retrieving stored data from a data store;

summarizing QoS metric values for the at least one call;

displaying graphs of the QoS metric values for the at least one call over a measured time period for two directions of the at least one call; and

displaying a shaded area that indicates a threshold of acceptable calls.

25. The method according to claim 24, further comprising:

determining percentages of poor quality calls on a given path in the network over time;

displaying a graph of the percentages of poor quality calls over a measured time period versus time; and

displaying the given path in reference to the network.

26. The method according to claim 24, wherein analyzing the end-to-end QoS measurements of the at least one call includes analyzing end-to-end one-way delay.

27. The method according to claim 24, wherein analyzing the end-to-end QoS measurements of the at least one call comprises analyzing jitter.

28. The method according to claim 24, wherein analyzing the end-to-end QoS measurements of the at least one call comprises analyzing packet loss.

29. The method according to claim 24, wherein analyzing the end-to-end QoS measurements of the at least one call comprises analyzing packet loss burst.

30. The method according to claim 24, further comprising:

determining summary statistics for a distribution of the QoS metric values for specified time intervals in each direction for all calls that take a given path in the network;

displaying the summary statistics versus time; and

displaying the given path in reference to the network.

31. The method according to claim 24, wherein the displayed threshold of acceptable calls is determined in regard to end-to-end one-way delay.

32. The method according to claim 24, wherein the displayed threshold of acceptable calls is determined in regard to jitter.

33. The method according to claim 24, wherein the displayed threshold of acceptable calls is determined in regard to packet loss.

34. The method according to claim 24, wherein the displayed threshold of acceptable calls is determined in regard to packet loss burst.

35. The method according to claim 24, further comprising:

determining an exact path that the at least one call took through the network, including devices and interfaces;

determining one or more of load, utilization, and error data over time during a measurement interval corresponding to a period of time when the at least one call was in progress;

displaying a graph of the one or more of load, utilization, and error data over time for each interface of each device in the exact path separately for both directions of the exact path; and

displaying the exact path in reference to the network.

36. The method according to claim 35, further comprising:

determining error counts over time during a measurement interval corresponding to the period of time when the at least one call was in progress; and

displaying a graph of error counts over time for each interface of each device in the exact path separately for both directions of the exact path.

37. The method according to claim 24, further comprising:

analyzing the retrieved stored data to determine numbers of poor quality calls in different sections of the network and levels of call metrics between the different sections of the network; and

displaying a graph of the numbers of poor quality calls and the levels of call metrics for the different sections of said network.

38. The method according to claim 37, wherein the graph of the numbers of poor quality calls and the levels of call metrics is divided into sections representing different time intervals.

39. The method according to claim 38, wherein the different time intervals are adjustable.

40. The method according to claim 37, wherein the graph of the numbers of poor quality calls and the levels of call metrics comprises a box and whisker graph.

41. A method comprising:

analyzing traffic statistics in a network using at least one processor;

analyzing end-to-end QoS measurements of at least one call in the network;

displaying network topology using the at least one processor;

displaying traffic measurements of network devices and links on the displayed network topology;

displaying the end-to-end QoS measurements on the displayed network topology to relate the traffic statistics with the end-to-end QoS measurements on a common timescale and over a plurality of network paths,

retrieving data regarding prior calls from a data store connected to the network;

summarizing QoS metric values for the at least one call and for each of the prior calls;

displaying separate graphs of the summarized QoS metric values for the at least one call and for each of the prior calls versus a time the at least one call or the prior calls occurred for both inbound and outbound directions of the at least one call and the prior calls; and

displaying a shaded area that indicates a threshold of acceptable calls in each of the separate graphs.

42. The method according to claim 41, wherein displaying the network topology comprises:

assigning specific shapes to different types of devices and links in the network; and

displaying the network topology with the different types of devices and links represented by the assigned specific shapes.

43. The method according to claim 41, wherein displaying the network topology further comprises:

assigning colors to the devices and links in the network topology display based on a proportion of the poor quality calls traversing the devices and links over a given time interval, wherein the poor quality calls have a QoS measurement outside a given range.

44. The method according to claim 41, wherein the at least one call comprises a plurality of calls, and wherein analyzing the end-to-end QoS measurements comprises analyzing end-to-end QoS metrics obtained at endpoints of the plurality of calls.