Delta state tracking for event stream analysis

• US 10,210,071 B1
• Filed: 07/13/2007
• Issued: 02/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Roskowski, Steve
• Primary Examiner(s): Elfervig, Taylor A
• Application Number:
  US11/777,949
• Time in Patent Office: 4,239 Days
• Field of Search: 709224, 707 3, 370338
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3051 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3452 Performance evaluation by statistical analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3656 using a specific debug interface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring

Abstract

Systems and methods for delta state tracking for event stream analysis. Events at a device are tracked and stored locally or forwarded to a server. The events collectively form an event stream. When an event of interest occurs, the precise configuration of a device at the time of the event of interest can be determined by applying the event stream in chronological or reverse chronological order to a snapshot of the device'"'"'s configuration. Thus, the snapshot can be taken at any time. Tracking the deltas to the device'"'"'s configuration enables the precise configuration at the time of the event of interest to be determined.

Claims

1. A method for performing an analysis based on a wireless mobile communication device operating in a network, the method comprising:

receiving, at a server, information concerning each of a plurality of events that occurred at the wireless mobile communication device, wherein each of the plurality of events corresponds to a respective identified change in a configuration of the wireless mobile communication device, and wherein the plurality of events collectively constitute an event stream that is associated with the wireless mobile communication device and that identifies a chronological relationship between the plurality of events included in the event stream and the configuration of the wireless mobile communication device, wherein the plurality of events include one or more metrics and wherein the plurality of events each include a time of each of the plurality of events, a previous value of each of the one or more metrics affected by each of the plurality of events and a current value of each of the one or more metrics;

creating, at any time relative to an occurrence of an event of interest, a snapshot of an entire configuration of the wireless mobile communication device, wherein the entire configuration includes information about a configuration of all applications and functions of the wireless mobile communication device;

reconstructing a specific configuration of the wireless mobile communication device, wherein the specific configuration is a configuration of the wireless mobile communication device as of the time that the event of interest occurred, and wherein reconstruction of the specific configuration is performed by applying at least a portion of the event stream to the snapshot of the entire configuration of the wireless mobile communication device; and

analyzing the event of interest using the event stream and the specific configuration of the wireless mobile communication device that is reconstructed to determine why the event of interest occurred, wherein analysis of the event stream comprises identifying the event of interest in the event stream and then evaluating the event of interest by examining events in the event stream that occurred prior to the event of interest and that occurred after the event of interest with respect to the specific configuration, and wherein performance of the analysis of the event stream need not be based on all of the information of the configuration of the wireless mobile communication device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting an event on the wireless mobile communication device and identifying a metric to include in the event, wherein the event is included in the plurality of events.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the snapshot of the entire configuration of the wireless mobile communication device resides at the server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein performance of the event stream analysis identifies a problem relating to the wireless mobile communication device and/or the network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein events in the event stream are provided to the server as the events in the event stream occur.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the event of interest is a failing event, and an event in the data stream that occurred prior to the failing event is a contributing event.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the event of interest is an indicator of a likely root problem.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the event stream includes filtering the events in the event stream.

9. A method for performing an analysis for a wireless mobile communication device in a network, the method comprising:

recording one or more changes to configuration data of the wireless mobile communication device that occur at the wireless mobile communication device, wherein the one or more changes to the configuration data are included in one or more events, wherein the configuration data includes information for operating the wireless mobile communication device, wherein the one or more events include one or more metrics and the one or more events are generated in response to the one or more changes in the configuration data by including, in the one or more events, a time of each of the one or more events, a previous value of each of the one or more metrics affected by the one or more events and a current value of each of the one or more metrics;

storing the one or more events to the configuration data in an event stream such that each of the one or more events in the event stream corresponds to a respective change in the configuration data of the wireless mobile communication device, wherein the one or more events of the event stream are provided to a server as they occur at the wireless mobile communication device;

identifying an event of interest for analysis, wherein the event of interest was identified at the wireless mobile communication device, and wherein the event stream includes an event that took place prior to an occurrence of the event of interest and the event stream further includes an event that took place after the occurrence of the event of interest; and

analyzing a performance of the network and/or the wireless mobile communication device related to the event of interest using the event stream of the wireless mobile communication device, wherein analyzing the performance includes generating configurations of the wireless mobile communication device at, before, and after a time of the event of interest.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein recording changes to the configuration data of the wireless mobile communication device further comprises operating a client at the wireless mobile communication device to monitor the configuration data, wherein the client generates events to include in the one or more events for the changes to the configuration data, the events being delivered to an agent on the wireless mobile communication device, wherein the agent transmits the changes to the server as the events occur or in batches.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the method is performed in connection with the wireless mobile communication device operating in a wireless communications network.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising creating a snapshot of an entire configuration of the wireless mobile communication device, and applying the one or more events in the event stream in either chronological order or reverse chronological order to the snapshot until a specific configuration of the wireless mobile communication device is determined, wherein the specific configuration is a configuration of the wireless mobile communication device as of the time that the event of interest occurred.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the snapshot is created either prior to occurrence of the event of interest or in response to occurrence of the event of interest.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the event of interest is an indicator of a likely root problem.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the event stream further includes context events that occurred at least one of prior to or after the event of interest, wherein the context events are used in the analysis of the event of interest.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein analysis of the performance of the network and/or device cannot be determined from the configuration data of a single application.

17. A method for performing an analysis for a wireless mobile communication device operating in a network that provides service to multiple devices, the method comprising:

creating, either prior to or after occurrence of an event of interest that is identified at the wireless mobile communication device, a snapshot of an entire configuration of the wireless mobile communication device, wherein the entire configuration of the wireless mobile communication device includes configuration data in a hierarchical directory with all parameters for any application and function of the wireless mobile communication device;

tracking one or more changes to the configuration data of the wireless mobile communication device that occurred at the wireless mobile communication device, wherein the one or more changes to the configuration data are included in one or more events, wherein the one or more events include one or more metrics, wherein the one or more events are generated in response to the one or more changes in the configuration data by including, in the one or more events, a time of each of the one or more events, a previous value of each of the one or more metrics affected by the one or more events and a current value of each of the one or more metrics;

storing the one or more events of the wireless mobile communication device in an event stream such that each of the events in the event stream corresponds to a respective change in the configuration data of the wireless mobile communication device at, before, and after the event of interest;

detecting the event of interest for analysis in the wireless mobile communication device in response to one or more of a network problem, a user reported problem, an application initiated request, a device initiated request, a network initiated request, or any combination thereof; and

utilizing particular events from the event stream that are in context of the event of interest to perform the analysis to determine whether a cause of the event of interest relates to the network or the wireless mobile communication device, wherein the event stream identifies a chronological relationship between the one or more events and wherein the event stream allows the entire configuration of the wireless mobile communication device to be determined before, at, and after the event of interest, and wherein the analysis can be performed using less than all of the information in the hierarchical directory.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein tracking one or more changes to the configuration data of the wireless mobile communication device further comprises configuring event collection instructions on the wireless mobile communication device, the event collection instructions provided by a server.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the event collection instructions specify one or more of the following:

a number of events to collect before or after the event of interest;

a node or elements of the configuration data where configuration change events are to be captured for a specific event of interest;

or

a timeframe before or after the event of interest.