Remotely Monitoring and Troubleshooting a Videoconference

• US 20110149013A1
• Filed: 12/23/2009
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lifesize, Inc. (Enghouse Systems Limited)
• Original Assignee: Lifesize, Inc. (Enghouse Systems Limited)
• Inventors: Ranganath, Prithvi, Lakshmipathy, Sandeep, Belur, Raghuram, Khot, Gautam, Kulkarni, Hrishikesh G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,427,522 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/14.09
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/24 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. monitoring of server load, available bandwidth, upstream requests monitoring of server performance or load G06F11/34; arrangements for observation, testing or troubleshooting for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems

Abstract

System and method for performing a videoconference. One or more computers are utilized to passively monitor a videoconference call between a plurality of participants at respective participant locations, where the videoconference call is performed using a plurality of videoconferencing endpoints at respective ones of the participant locations, and where the monitoring includes monitoring one or more parameters from each of the videoconferencing endpoints. The videoconference call is actively monitored upon detecting values of the one or more parameters from a first videoconferencing endpoint indicating a lack of call quality, thereby generating active monitor data. The active monitor data is automatically analyzed to determine at least one problem causing lack of call quality, and at least one action is automatically determined and performed to address the at least one problem. The active monitoring may also be invoked manually, e.g., in response to user input.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for performing a videoconference, comprising:

utilizing one or more computers to perform;

passively monitoring a videoconference call between a plurality of participants at respective participant locations, wherein the videoconference call is performed using a plurality of videoconferencing endpoints at respective ones of the participant locations, and wherein said monitoring comprises monitoring one or more parameters from each of the videoconferencing endpoints;

actively monitoring the videoconference call upon detecting values of the one or more parameters from a first videoconferencing endpoint indicating a lack of call quality, thereby generating active monitor data;

automatically analyzing the active monitor data to determine at least one problem causing lack of call quality; and

automatically determining and performing at least one action to address the at least one problem.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said passive monitoring one or more parameters from each of the videoconferencing endpoints comprises passively monitoring one or more of:

jitter, packet loss, frame rate, resolution, audio packet receive/transmit, video packet receive/transmit, CPU load, memory load, or network load of each videoconferencing endpoint.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said actively monitoring the videoconference call comprises invoking an active monitoring program comprised in the first videoconferencing endpoint to:

collect one or more of;

network data of the first videoconferencing endpoint, comprising one or more of;

media packets of the first videoconferencing endpoint;

or

signaling packets of the first videoconferencing endpoint;

critical log data of the first videoconferencing endpoint;

or

configuration data of the first videoconferencing endpoint.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein said actively monitoring the videoconference call further comprises:

the active monitoring program comprised in the first videoconferencing endpoint invoking an active monitoring program comprised in a second videoconferencing endpoint to;

reflect network data received from the first videoconferencing endpoint back to the first videoconferencing endpoint; and

the active monitoring program comprised in the first videoconferencing endpoint sending the collected and reflected data to a server computer for said automatically analyzing.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein said actively monitoring the videoconference call further comprises invoking an active monitoring program comprised in a second videoconferencing endpoint to:

collect one or more of;

network data of the second videoconferencing endpoint, comprising one or more of;

media packets of the second videoconferencing endpoint;

or

signaling packets of the second videoconferencing endpoint;

critical log data of the second videoconferencing endpoint;

or

configuration data of the second videoconferencing endpoint; and

invoke the active monitoring program comprised in the first videoconferencing endpoint to;

reflect network data received from the second videoconferencing endpoint back to the second videoconferencing endpoint; and

the active monitoring program comprised in the second videoconferencing endpoint sending the collected and reflected data to the server computer for said automatically analyzing.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein said automatically analyzing comprises:

comparing source and destination addresses and ports of the media packets with source and destination addresses and ports indicated by the signaling packets.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising:

utilizing the one or more computers to perform;

the active monitoring program analyzing at least some of the active monitor data to generate endpoint analysis results; and

sending the endpoint analysis results to a server computer;

wherein said automatically analyzing the active monitor data to determine at least one problem causing lack of call quality further comprises receiving and analyzing the endpoint analysis results.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

utilizing the one or more computers to perform;

in response to determining that said automatically analyzing the active monitor data from the first videoconferencing endpoint cannot determine the at least one problem;

actively monitoring at least one other videoconferencing endpoint of the plurality of videoconferencing endpoints, thereby generating additional active monitor data;

wherein said automatically analyzing the active monitor data to determine the at least one problem causing lack of call quality comprises;

automatically analyzing the additional active monitor data to determine the at least one problem causing lack of call quality.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein said automatically analyzing comprises:

reflecting data sent from the first videoconferencing endpoint to the at least one other videoconferencing endpoint back to the first videoconferencing endpoint; and

comparing the sent data with the reflected data.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,

wherein said passively monitoring the videoconference call is performed by a server computer;

wherein said actively monitoring the videoconference call is performed by a program executing on the first videoconferencing endpoint; and

wherein said automatically analyzing the active monitor data and said automatically determining and performing at least one action to address the at least one problem is performed by the server computer.

11. A computer accessible memory medium storing program instructions for performing a videoconference, wherein the program instructions are executable by a processor to implement:

passively monitoring a videoconference call between a plurality of participants at respective participant locations, wherein the videoconference call is performed using a plurality of videoconferencing endpoints at each of the participant locations, and wherein said monitoring comprises monitoring one or more parameters from each of the videoconferencing endpoints;

in response to detecting values of the one or more parameters from a first videoconferencing endpoint indicating a lack of call quality, invoking an active monitoring program comprised in the first videoconferencing endpoint to actively monitor the videoconference call, thereby generating active monitor data;

receiving and automatically analyzing the active monitor data to determine at least one problem causing lack of call quality; and

automatically determining and performing at least one action to address the at least one problem.

12. The computer accessible memory medium of claim 11, wherein said passive monitoring one or more parameters from each of the videoconferencing endpoints comprises passively monitoring one or more of:

jitter, packet loss, frame rate, resolution, audio packet receive/transmit, video packet receive/transmit, CPU load, memory load, or network load of each videoconferencing endpoint.

13. The computer accessible memory medium of claim 11, wherein said actively monitoring the videoconference call comprises invoking an active monitoring program comprised in the first videoconferencing endpoint to collect one or more of:

network data of the first videoconferencing endpoint, comprising one or more of;

media packets of the first videoconferencing endpoint;

or

signaling packets of the first videoconferencing endpoint;

critical log data of the first videoconferencing endpoint;

or

configuration data of the first videoconferencing endpoint.

14. The computer accessible memory medium of claim 13, wherein said automatically analyzing comprises:

comparing source and destination addresses and ports of the media packets of the first videoconferencing endpoint with source and destination addresses and ports indicated by signaling packets of the first videoconferencing endpoint.

15. The computer accessible memory medium of claim 11, wherein the program instructions are further executable by a processor to implement:

in response to determining that said automatically analyzing the active monitor data from the first videoconferencing endpoint cannot determine the at least one problem;

invoking an active monitoring program comprised in at least one other videoconferencing endpoint to actively monitor the videoconference call, thereby generating additional active monitor data;

wherein said receiving and automatically analyzing the active monitor data to determine the at least one problem causing lack of call quality comprises;

receiving and automatically analyzing the additional active monitor data to determine the at least one problem causing lack of call quality.

16. A computer accessible memory medium storing program instructions for performing a videoconference call between a plurality of participants at respective participant locations, wherein the videoconference call is performed using a plurality of videoconferencing endpoints at respective ones of the participant locations, wherein the program instructions are executable by a processor of each videoconferencing endpoint to implement:

sending values of one or more parameters to a server computer during the videoconference call for passive monitoring by the server computer; and

in response to receiving an invocation of an active monitor program comprised in the videoconferencing endpoint from the server computer;

the active monitor program actively monitoring the videoconference call, thereby generating active monitor data; and

the active monitor program sending the active monitor data to the server computer for analysis, wherein the invocation is in response to the server computer detecting values of the one or more parameters from a first videoconferencing endpoint indicating a lack of call quality, and wherein the active monitor data is useable to determine at least one problem causing lack of call quality.

17. The computer accessible memory medium of claim 16, wherein the one or more parameters comprise one or more of:

jitter, packet loss, frame rate, resolution, audio packet receive/transmit, video packet receive/transmit, CPU load, memory load, or network load of the videoconferencing endpoint.

18. The computer accessible memory medium of claim 16, wherein said active monitor program actively monitoring the videoconference call comprises the active monitor program collecting one or more of:

network data of the first videoconferencing endpoint, comprising one or more of;

media packets of the first videoconferencing endpoint;

or

signaling packets of the first videoconferencing endpoint;

critical log data of the first videoconferencing endpoint;

or

configuration data of the first videoconferencing endpoint.

19. The computer accessible memory medium of claim 18, wherein said active monitor program actively monitoring the videoconference call further comprises:

the active monitor program invoking an active monitor program comprised in a second videoconferencing endpoint to;

reflect network data received from the first videoconferencing endpoint back to the first videoconferencing endpoint; and

the active monitoring program sending the collected and reflected data to a server computer for said automatically analyzing.

20. The computer accessible memory medium of claim 18, wherein said automatically analyzing comprises:

comparing source and destination addresses and ports of the media packets with source and destination addresses and ports indicated by the signaling packets.

21. The computer accessible memory medium of claim 16, wherein the program instructions are further executable by a processor of each videoconferencing endpoint to implement:

in response to the server computer determining that automatically analyzing active monitor data from a first videoconferencing endpoint cannot determine the at least one problem;

receiving an invocation of an active monitor program comprised in the videoconferencing endpoint from the server computer;

the active monitor program actively monitoring the videoconference call, thereby generating additional active monitor data;

the active monitor program sending the additional active monitor data to the server computer for analysis, wherein the additional active monitor data is useable to determine at least one problem causing lack of call quality.

22. The computer accessible memory medium of claim 16, wherein the program instructions are further executable by a processor of each videoconferencing endpoint to implement:

the active monitoring program analyzing at least some of the active monitor data to generate endpoint analysis results; and

wherein said sending the endpoint analysis results to the server computer further comprises sending the endpoint analysis results to the server computer for analysis.

23. A computer-implemented method for performing a videoconference, comprising:

utilizing one or more computers to implement;

passively monitoring a videoconference call between a plurality of participants at respective participant locations, wherein the videoconference call is performed using a plurality of videoconferencing endpoints at respective ones of the participant locations, and wherein said monitoring comprises monitoring one or more parameters from each of the videoconferencing endpoints;

in response to detecting values of the one or more parameters from a first videoconferencing endpoint indicating a lack of call quality, invoking an active monitoring program comprised in the first videoconferencing endpoint to actively monitor the videoconference call, thereby generating active monitor data;

receiving and automatically analyzing the active monitor data to determine at least one problem causing lack of call quality; and

automatically determining and performing at least one action to address the at least one problem.

24. A system for performing a videoconference call between a plurality of participants at respective participant locations, wherein the videoconference call is performed using a plurality of videoconferencing endpoints at respective ones of the participant locations, the system comprising:

a server computer, comprising;

a processor; and

a memory, coupled to the processor; and

a plurality of videoconferencing endpoints, each comprising;

a respective processor; and

a respective memory, coupled to the respective processor;

wherein each of the plurality of videoconferencing endpoints is coupled to the server computer over a network;

wherein the memory of the server computer stores program instructions executable by the processor of the server computer to;

passively monitor the videoconference call, wherein said monitoring comprises monitoring one or more parameters from each of the videoconferencing endpoints; and

in response to detecting values of the one or more parameters from a first videoconferencing endpoint indicating a lack of call quality, invoke an active monitoring program comprised in a first videoconferencing endpoint of the plurality of videoconferencing endpoints to actively monitor the videoconference call;

wherein the memory of each of the plurality of videoconferencing endpoints stores program instructions executable by the processor of the videoconferencing endpoint to;

actively monitor the videoconference call, thereby generating active monitor data; and

send the active monitor data to the server computer for analysis; and

wherein the memory of the server computer further stores program instructions executable by the processor of the server computer to;

automatically analyze the active monitor data to determine at least one problem causing lack of call quality; and

automatically determine and perform at least one action to address the at least one problem.

25. A computer accessible memory medium storing program instructions for performing a videoconference, wherein the program instructions are executable by a processor to implement:

receiving user input invoking active monitoring of a videoconference call between a plurality of participants at respective participant locations, wherein the videoconference call is performed using a plurality of videoconferencing endpoints at each of the participant location;

in response to said receiving user input, invoking an active monitoring program comprised in the first videoconferencing endpoint to actively monitor the videoconference call, thereby generating active monitor data;

receiving and automatically analyzing the active monitor data to determine at least one problem causing lack of call quality; and

automatically determining and performing at least one action to address the at least one problem.