METHOD AND SYSTEM TO IDENTIFY A SOURCE OF SIGNAL IMPAIRMENT

• US 20160197768A1
• Filed: 03/14/2016
• Published: 07/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Beattie, James G. Jr., Marsh, Edward
• Granted Patent: US 10,367,683 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2889 Multiservice, e.g. MSAN
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/065 involving logical or physical relationship, e.g. grouping and hierarchies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0661 by reconfiguring faulty entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0677 Localisation of faults
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/062 using different frequency bands for speech and other data
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/304 and using xDSL modems xDSL line qualification H04M3/306

Abstract

A method and system for managing performance of over a multimedia content distribution network (MCDN), such as a digital subscriber line network, involves receiving an indication of an impairment in network performance from an MCDN client. The MCDN node associated with the client may be identified and a community of MCDN clients coupled to the MCDN node may be further identified Impairment information, representative of MCDN equipment, may be collected for each of the MCDN clients. Detailed network diagnostics and field service may be performed for MCDN clients based on a characterization of the impairment parameters. After remediation of the MCDN node, collection of the impairment information may be terminated.

Claims

1-20. -20. (canceled)

21. A method comprising:

responsive to a determination of impaired network performance, identifying, by a system including a processor, a network node coupled, via an access network, to a plurality of network clients of a multimedia network;

performing, by the system, diagnostics on a candidate network client selected from among the plurality of network clients according to impairment data associated with the plurality of network clients, wherein the impairment data indicates re-initializations of a customer premises equipment device; and

determining, by the system based on the diagnostics, whether the impaired network performance is attributable to an external source, wherein the external source is external to the multimedia network and electromagnetically coupled to a particular network client of the plurality of network clients.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the determination of impaired network performance is based on a service request from a customer premises equipment to a network provider.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the network node includes a digital subscriber line access multiplexer.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the impaired network performance is associated with a digital subscriber line service provided to the particular network client via a galvanic loop from the network node.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the candidate network client is a different client than the particular network client.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein the diagnostics include determining whether the particular network client and the candidate network client share a proximate network connection.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein the impairment data indicates a number of re-initializations of a gateway.

28. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

identifying a plurality of network clients of a network that share a network node with a first network client that has indicated a network impairment;

identifying selected network clients from among the plurality of network clients based on customer premises parameter data;

performing network diagnostics on the selected network clients to determine a predicted impairment source; and

determining whether the predicted impairment source is electromagnetically coupled to the first network client, wherein the customer premises parameter data is indicative of re-initializations of a customer premises equipment device.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the customer premises equipment device comprises a gateway.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the network node comprises a digital subscriber line access multiplexer that provides digital subscriber line service to the plurality of network clients.

31. The system of claim 28, wherein the network comprises a multimedia content distribution network.

32. The system of claim 28, wherein the identifying the selected network clients includes identifying a second network client included in the plurality of network clients as a probable contributor to the network impairment, wherein the second network client is different from the first network client.

33. The system of claim 28, wherein the identifying the selected network clients includes identifying network clients associated with particular customer premises parameter data of the customer premises parameter data that exceeds a threshold value.

34. The system of claim 28, wherein the identifying the selected network clients includes identifying network clients associated with a value of the customer premises parameter data within a particular percentile of all values of the customer premises parameter data.

35. The system of claim 28, wherein the identifying the selected network clients comprises:

ranking the plurality of network clients according to the customer premises parameter data; and

responsive to determining, based on the ranking, that the network node is operating normally, stopping obtaining values for the customer premises parameter data.

36. The system of claim 28, wherein the identifying the selected network clients is performed responsive to detecting a network uplink associated with the first network client operating normally.

37. A machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

responsive to a determination of impaired network performance, identifying a network node coupled to a plurality of network clients of a multimedia network;

performing diagnostics on a candidate network client selected from among the plurality of network clients according to impairment data associated with the plurality of network clients, wherein the impairment data indicates re-initializations of a customer premises equipment device; and

determining, based on the diagnostics, whether the impaired network performance is attributable to an external source, wherein the external source is external to the multimedia network and electromagnetically coupled to a particular network client of the plurality of network clients.

38. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 37, wherein the candidate network client is selected by:

ranking the plurality of network clients according to the impairment data; and

responsive to determining, based on the ranking, that the network node is operating normally, stopping obtaining values for the impairment data.

39. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 37, wherein the candidate network client is a different client than the particular network client.

40. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 37, wherein the diagnostics include determining whether the particular network client and the candidate network client share a proximate network connection.