Integrated diagnostic and debugging of regional content distribution systems

• US 9,992,551 B1
• Filed: 12/21/2016
• Issued: 06/05/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CSC Holdings LLC (Altice USA, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CSC Holdings LLC (Altice USA, Inc.)
• Inventors: Azralon, Alan, Silver, Ken, Almeida, Heitor
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn, Nathan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Somera, Caroline
• Application Number:
  US15/386,365
• Time in Patent Office: 531 Days
• Field of Search: 725107
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/004 for digital television systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2404 Monitoring of server processing errors or hardware failure error or fault detection G06F11/07; monitoring in general G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/442 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/29; arrangements for identifying or recognising characteristics with a direct linkage to broadcast information H04H60/35; monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; monitoring in wireless networks H04W24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6118 involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6338 directed to network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6473 Monitoring network processes errors for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38

Abstract

System, method, and computer program product embodiments are disclosed for integrated diagnosis and debugging of content distribution systems. A system includes a networking module that receives, from a central server, instructions for running network diagnostics on a cable headend. A diagnostics environment module is configured to perform diagnostic operations based on the received instructions. The networking module transmits results of the diagnostic operations to the central server.

Claims

1. A central server system within a cable infrastructure, the central server system comprising:

a memory configured to store a software code and instructions; and

a processor, coupled to the memory, configured to execute the instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to;

transmit the software code to a cable headend communicatively coupled to the central server system for installation and instructions to the cable headend for performing debugging operations on the software code before deploying the software code to a plurality of end user devices communicatively coupled to the cable headend,

receive debugging information related to the installed software code from the cable headend, the debugging information identifying one or more modules and/or components of the cable headend requiring a hard reset in response to a failure of the one or more modules and/or components during the debugging operations, and

deploy the software code to the plurality of end user devices after debugging the installed software code at the cable headend.

2. The central server system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further configure the processor to:

send a monitoring script to the cable headend to monitor operations of the cable headend,

detect an outage within the cable infrastructure based on results of the cable headend executing the monitoring script, and

send a diagnostics script, to the cable headend upon detecting the outage, the diagnostics script being configured perform diagnostics operations to resolve the outage.

3. The central server system of claim 2, wherein the diagnostic operations comprise tuning a channel, and

wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor configure the processor to detect the outage within the cable infrastructure based on reporting logs of the tuning received from the cable headend.

4. The central server system of claim 2, wherein the diagnostic operations comprise:

actions to acquire video or informational content at a specified time interval, or

instructions specific to a type of the outage as detected by the central server system.

5. The central server system of claim 2, wherein the cable headend is unattended by a technician with knowledge for detecting and resolving problems within the cable infrastructure.

6. The central server system of claim 1, wherein the cable headend is from among a plurality of cable headends communicatively coupled to the central server system, and

wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to:

transmit the software code to the plurality of cable headends for installation and instructions to the plurality of cable headends for performing the debugging operations on the software code before deploying the software code to the plurality of end user devices,

receive the debugging information related to the installed software code from the plurality of cable headends, and

deploy the software code to the plurality of end user devices after debugging the installed software code at the plurality of cable headends.

18. The central server system of claim 1, wherein the software code comprises:

an update of a software code previously installed by the cable headend onto the plurality of end user devices;

or

a new software code that has not been previously installed by the cable headend onto the plurality of end user devices.

7. A computer implemented method for debugging and deploying a software code, the computer implemented method comprising:

transmitting, by a central server system, the software code to a cable headend communicatively coupled to the central server system for installation and instructions to the cable headend for performing debugging operations on the software code before deploying the software code to a plurality of end user devices communicatively coupled to the cable headend;

receiving, by the central server system, debugging information related to the installed software code from the cable headend, the debugging information identifying one or more modules and/or components of the cable headend requiring a hard reset in response to a failure of the one or more modules and/or components during the debugging operations; and

deploying, by the central server system, the software code to the plurality of end user devices after debugging the installed software code at the cable headend.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:

sending, by the central server system, a monitoring script to the cable headend to monitor operations of the cable headend;

detecting, by the central server system, an outage within the cable infrastructure based on results of the cable headend executing the monitoring script; and

transmitting, by the central server system, a diagnostics script to the cable headend upon detecting the outage, the diagnostics script being configured perform diagnostics operations to resolve the outage.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the diagnostic operations comprise tuning a channel, and

wherein the detecting comprises:

detecting the outage within the cable infrastructure based on reporting logs of the tuning received from the cable headend.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the diagnostic operations comprise:

actions to acquire video or informational content at a specified time interval, or

instructions specific to a type of the outage as detected by the central server system.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the cable headend is unattended by a technician with knowledge for detecting and resolving problems within the cable infrastructure.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 7, wherein the cable headend is from among a plurality of cable headends communicatively coupled to the central server system,

wherein the transmitting comprises:

transmitting the software code to the plurality of cable headends for installation and the instructions to the plurality of cable headends for performing the debugging operations on the software code before deploying the software code to the plurality of end user devices,

wherein, the receiving comprises;

receiving the information related to the installed software code from the plurality of cable headends, and

wherein the deploying comprises;

deploying, by the central server system, the software code to the plurality of end user devices after debugging the installed software code at the plurality of cable headends.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:

storing, by the central server system, the software code, the software code relating to an update of a software code previously installed by the cable headend or to new software code that has not been previously installed by the cable headend.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computing device of a central server system, cause the at least one computing device to perform operations, the operations comprising:

transmitting, by the central server system, a software code to a cable headend communicatively coupled to the central server system for installation and instructions to the cable headend for performing debugging operations on the software code before deploying the software code to a plurality of end user devices communicatively coupled to the cable headend;

receiving, by the central server system, debugging information related to the installed software code from the cable headend, the debugging information identifying one or more modules and/or components of the cable headend requiring a hard reset in response to a failure of the one or more modules and/or components during the debugging operations; and

deploying, by the central server system, the software code to the plurality of end user devices after debugging the installed software code at the cable headend.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

sending, by the central server system, a monitoring, script to the cable headend to monitor operations of the cable headend;

detecting, by the central server system, an outage within the cable infrastructure based on results of the cable headend executing the monitoring script; and

transmitting, by the central server system, a diagnostics script to the cable headend upon detecting the outage the diagnostics script being configured perform diagnostics operations to resolve the outage.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the diagnostic operations comprise tuning a channel, and

wherein the detecting comprises:

detecting the outage within the cable infrastructure based on reporting logs of the tuning received from the cable headend.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the diagnostic operations comprise:

actions to acquire video or informational content at a specified time interval, or

instructions specific to a type of the outage as detected by the central server system.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the cable headend is unattended by a technician with knowledge for detecting and resolving problems within the cable infrastructure.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

storing, by the central server system, the software code, the software code relating to an update of a software code previously installed by the cable headend or to new software code that has not been previously installed by the cable headend.