JP4687590B2 - Information distribution system and failure determination method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information distribution system for distributing information data from an information distribution server to an information receiving terminal via a network, and a failure determination method thereof.

  As an information distribution system, in a video distribution system that distributes video data from a video distribution server to a terminal, there are unicast and multicast as distribution methods of the video data. Unicast is a method of distributing video data to a single terminal, and is used for VOD (Video On Demand) service. Multicast is a method of distributing video data to a large number of terminals at the same time, and is used for broadcasting services.

  In order to provide video data over a network, it is necessary to continue sending data at a constant speed, and it is necessary to ensure a stable band between the server and the terminal. Generally, on an IP network, video data is transmitted using a connectionless protocol called UDP (User Datagram Protocol), and there is no response confirmation for the transmitted data, so that packet loss occurs at the terminal. However, the packet loss at the terminal cannot be detected on the transmission side.

  There is a method of using a ping command to check whether there is a problem in communication between the server and the terminal (see Non-Patent Document 1). When a ping command is executed from the server to the terminal, an ICMP echo request packet is sent to the terminal, and the terminal returns a reply (response) to the server. By transmitting ICMP echo request packets at regular intervals, packet loss rate, delay, jitter (transmission delay fluctuation), and the like can be examined. If no reply is returned, it can be determined that there is a problem with the network between the server and the terminal.

As another method, there is a method of examining a data transmission band between the server and the terminal, and a program for speed measurement is used. A specific program is executed from a terminal, a data packet is transmitted from the server at a constant rate, and the packet reception result is checked to check the network state and bandwidth.
"How to check network communication?", Katsuya Kaya [Search June 8, 2006], (http://www.atmarkit.co.jp/fnetwork/netcom/netcom01/netcom01.html)

  However, the above-described conventional method has the following problems, and it is difficult to determine where the cause is when a failure such as packet loss occurs.

  (1) Since only the state when ping is executed can be obtained, a problem that temporarily causes a failure occurs in the network, and the cause of the failure cannot be found after recovery.

  (2) Since it is not guaranteed that the terminal is always powered on, it is not possible to determine whether or not a failure has occurred simply because there is no response from the terminal.

  (3) When packet loss occurs at about 0.5% or less, it is difficult to determine the cause.

  (4) Ping cannot check whether the network bandwidth is insufficient.

  (5) It cannot be applied even when a problem occurs in the reachability of only the multicast packet, for example, there may be a case where a unicast packet can be normally transmitted and received even when a multicast packet routing failure occurs.

  In order to avoid the above problems (1) and (2), it is possible to execute ping periodically.However, if the number of terminals increases, the load on the server and network will increase, making it difficult to implement. is there. Further, the above problems (3) to (5) cannot be avoided at all.

  In the method using the program for speed measurement, the bandwidth can be investigated, but the above problems (1), (3), and (5) cannot be solved.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an information distribution system and a failure determination method that can determine the cause of a failure that occurs when distributing information data from an information distribution server to an information receiving terminal via a network. is there.

An information distribution system according to the present invention includes an information receiving terminal that receives information data transmitted from an information distribution server and transmitted via a network, and acquires failure information related to a failure when a failure occurs when the information data is received. A failure information collection server for collecting failure information acquired by the information receiving terminal via the network and storing it in a database, analyzing the stored failure information to determine the cause of the failure , and The failure information collection server includes first determination means for determining whether or not the number of pieces of failure information collected per unit time is equal to or greater than a first threshold, and a failure having the same failure content within the unit time. Second discriminating means for discriminating whether or not the number of times more than a second threshold has occurred in the same network; and a plurality of information receiving terminals within the unit time, A third discriminating means for discriminating whether or not the number of connection failures to the bus is greater than or equal to a third threshold; and whether or not the number of failures occurring in the same multicast reception within the unit time is greater than or equal to a fourth threshold. A fourth discriminating means for discriminating; and a fifth discriminating means for discriminating whether or not the number of fault occurrences of the same type of fault content in the same type of terminal within the unit time is equal to or greater than a fifth threshold; If the number of pieces of failure information collected by the first determination unit is smaller than the first threshold value, it is determined that there is no failure, and the number of pieces of failure information collected by the first determination unit is equal to or greater than the first threshold value. If it is determined that the failure of the same failure content has occurred more than the second threshold in the same network by the second determining means, it is determined as a network failure, Collected by the first discrimination means. When it is determined that the number of the failure information is equal to or greater than the first threshold, the number of connection failures from the plurality of information receiving terminals to the information distribution server is equal to or greater than the third threshold by the third determination means. If it is determined that there is a server failure, and if it is determined that the number of the failure information collected by the first determination unit is equal to or greater than the first threshold, the same is determined by the fourth determination unit. If it is determined by multicast reception that the number of failures is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, it is determined that a multicast failure has occurred, and it is determined that the number of failure information collected by the first determination means is greater than or equal to the first threshold. If it is determined by the fifth determining means that the number of failure occurrences of the same type of failure in the same type of terminal is greater than or equal to the fifth threshold, it is determined that the terminal has failed, If it is determined that the number of pieces of failure information collected by one determination unit is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, if all the determination results are obtained by the second to fifth determination units, the other failure It is characterized by judging .

The failure determination method of the present invention is a failure determination method for an information distribution system in which information receiving terminal receives information data transmitted from an information distribution server via a network, and the information receiving terminal The step of acquiring failure information related to a failure when a failure occurs during reception, collecting the acquired failure information via the network and storing it in a database, and analyzing the stored failure information to determine the cause of the failure A failure information determination step for determining, wherein the failure information determination step determines whether or not the number of the failure information collected per unit time is equal to or greater than a first threshold; and the unit A second determination step of determining whether or not a failure having the same failure content has occurred more than a second threshold value in the same network within a time period; A third determination step of determining whether or not the number of connection failures from a plurality of information receiving terminals to the information distribution server within the unit time is greater than or equal to a third threshold; and the same multicast reception within the unit time A fourth determination step of determining whether or not the number of failure occurrences is equal to or greater than a fourth threshold; and whether or not the number of failure occurrences of the same type of failure in the same type of terminal within the unit time is equal to or greater than a fifth threshold A first determination step, and if the number of pieces of failure information collected in the first determination step is smaller than the first threshold, it is determined that there is no failure, and the first determination step When it is determined that the number of pieces of failure information collected by the above is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the second determination step causes a failure having the same failure content to be generated more than the second threshold value in the same network. If it is determined that a network failure has occurred, and it is determined that the number of pieces of failure information collected in the first determination step is greater than or equal to the first threshold, a plurality of determinations are made in the third determination step. If it is determined that the number of connection failures from the information receiving terminal to the information distribution server is equal to or greater than the third threshold, it is determined that the server has failed, and the number of failure information collected in the first determination step is If it is determined that the number of failure occurrences is equal to or greater than the fourth threshold in the same multicast reception in the fourth determination step when it is determined that the value is greater than or equal to the first threshold, it is determined that a multicast failure occurs, and the second When it is determined that the number of pieces of failure information collected in one determination step is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the same type of terminal is determined in the fifth determination step. If it is determined that the number of failure occurrences of the same type of failure content is greater than or equal to the fifth threshold value, it is determined as a terminal failure, and the number of failure information collected in the first determination step is the first threshold value. In the case where it is determined that the above is true, if all the determination results are obtained in the second to fifth determination steps, it is determined that the failure is other .

  According to the present invention, failure information relating to a failure is acquired when a failure occurs when the information data is received at an information receiving terminal to which the information data is distributed, and the acquired failure information is transmitted to the failure information collection server via the network. The failure information stored in the failure information collection server is stored in the database, and the failure information stored by the failure information collection server is analyzed to determine the cause of the failure. Therefore, when a failure occurs in the system, the failure information collection server collects failure information from each terminal on the network, making it possible to comprehensively analyze the collected failure information and efficiently It can be judged quickly and well.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a video distribution system to which the present invention is applied. This video distribution system includes a distribution server network device 100 and a terminal network device 300. Distribution server network device 100 and terminal network device 300 are connected by a network 200 such as the Internet.

  The distribution server network device 100 includes a video distribution server 101, a failure information collection server 102, and a router 103. The video distribution server 101, the failure information collection server 102 and the router 103 are connected to each other via a LAN line 104.

  The terminal network device 300 includes a video receiving terminal 301 and a router 302. The video receiving terminal 301 and the router 302 are connected to each other via a LAN line 303.

  In addition, a plurality of terminal network devices (including the terminal network device 400) having the same configuration as the terminal network device 300 are connected to the network 200.

  The video distribution server 101 includes a video data database (not shown), and distributes video data in response to a data request from a terminal such as the video receiving terminal 301 of the terminal network device 300. The routers 103 and 302 transfer transmission data such as video data to the transmission destination. Video data transmitted from the video distribution server 101 to the video receiving terminal 301 is transmitted to the video receiving terminal 301 via the LAN line 104, the router 103, the network 200, the router 303, and the LAN line 303.

  The video receiving terminal 301 is composed of, for example, a PC (personal computer), and receives video data transmitted from the video distribution server 101. In addition, when a video data reception failure occurs, the video reception terminal 301 stores therein failure information regarding the failure as a log. Furthermore, statistical information about the reception state of the video data is calculated and stored as a log inside. The calculation of statistical information may be performed periodically.

  Failure information includes (A1) time information at the time of failure, (A2) time of failure occurrence (in seconds) or time when statistical information was acquired, (A3) terminal ID, (A4) terminal firmware version, (A5) Terminal network address, (A6) network type (wireless / wired, optical / ADSL, etc.), (A7) content of failure, (A8) multicast information, and (A9) unicast information are included.

  The contents of the failure in (A7) include, for example, (a) interruption of video data in which packets cannot be received for a certain period of time, (b) frequent packet loss when the packet loss rate exceeds the threshold, and (c) to the server. Connection failure, (d) error from server, (e) data error when receiving abnormal data that cannot be processed normally, (f) buffer in terminal overflows because data is received too fast or too slow There is an underflowed buffer overflow / underflow.

  The multicast information (A8) is a transmission address of a multicast packet when multicast data is received.

  The unicast information (A9) includes a received content ID and a failure occurrence position. The received content ID is an identification code (ID) of the content that has been reproduced up to that point when a failure has occurred. The failure occurrence position is a content reproduction position when a failure occurs.

  Statistical information includes (B1) packet loss rate, (B2) Jeddah, (B3) RTT (Round Trip Time), (B4) burst loss (maximum number of consecutive losses), and (B5) packet replacement rate. .

  The packet loss rate of (B1) is obtained by the number of packets lost within a certain time / the number of transmitted packets. Packet loss can be determined by checking the sequence number of the packet. The jitter of (B2) is obtained by using the fluctuation of the arrival time of the packet as a value. The RTT in (B3) is a network round-trip delay time which occurs from transmission of a control packet to reception of the control packet. The burst loss (B4) is the maximum value when packets are lost continuously. The packet replacement rate in (B5) is the rate at which the order of received packets is switched. The change of the order can be determined by checking the sequence number in the received packet.

  When receiving the video data, the video receiving terminal 301 determines whether or not a failure has occurred as shown in FIG. 2 (step S1). When a failure such as that indicated by the above (A7) failure occurs, the failure information and statistical information are recorded in a log (step S2), and the failure information is transmitted to the failure information collection server 102 ( Step S3).

  In step S3, if the failure information collection server 102 is accessed immediately when a failure occurs, the load on the server increases when failures occur simultaneously in a large number of terminals, so a delay time is randomly added.

  Further, the video receiving terminal 301 determines whether or not the value included in the statistical information exceeds an allowable threshold (step S4), and transmits information to the failure information collection server 102 when the threshold is exceeded. (Step S5). In step S4, for example, it is determined whether or not the packet loss rate exceeds a predetermined rate, whether or not the packet replacement rate exceeds a predetermined rate.

  If access to the failure information collection server 302 fails, the connection is attempted again after waiting for a certain time, and the connection is repeated until the connection is successful. As a result, even when a connection to the server 302 cannot be made due to a network failure, information can be reliably notified. Information that has been notified to the failure information collection server 302 may be deleted from the inside of the terminal.

  When the failure information collection server 102 receives the above failure information or statistical information from the terminals including the video receiving terminal 301, the failure information collection server 102 records the contents in the failure information database and periodically executes a failure determination operation.

  In the failure determination operation, the failure information collection server 102 determines whether or not the number of failure information received within a unit time (for example, in units of 1 minute) is greater than or equal to a first threshold as shown in FIG. S11). If the number of pieces of failure information received within the unit time is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the cause of failure is determined based on a plurality of conditions (first condition to fourth condition). The failure information collection server 102 determines that there is no failure if the number of pieces of failure information received within the unit time is equal to or less than the first threshold (step S12).

  First, it is determined whether or not the first condition is satisfied (step S13). The first condition is that the content of the same failure has occurred more than the second threshold at a terminal connected to the same network (here, the network 200) directly or via another network. The contents of the failure are the above-mentioned frequent packet loss, data interruption, server connection error, and the like. Whether or not the terminal belongs to the same network is determined based on whether or not the head part of the address matches. For example, in the case of an IPv6 address, if the first 64 bits of the address match, they are considered to belong to the same network. If the failure information collection server 102 satisfies the first condition, the failure information collection server 102 determines that a failure has occurred in the same network (step S14). For example, when a failure such as a packet loss due to disconnection or comparison occurs in a part of the network, the network failure can be determined under the first condition.

  If the first condition is not satisfied, it is determined whether or not the second condition is satisfied (step S15). The second condition is that the number of times that connection from a plurality of terminals to the server (the video distribution server 101 in this embodiment) has failed within the unit time is equal to or greater than the third threshold. If the failure information collection server 102 satisfies the second condition, the failure information collection server 102 determines that a server failure has occurred (step S16). If a failure occurs in the video distribution server 101, a failure in the operation of the video distribution server 101 due to application software, or a failure in the LAN line 104 to which the video distribution server 101 belongs, a determination is made based on the second condition. can do.

  If the second condition is not satisfied, it is determined whether or not the third condition is satisfied (step S17). The third condition is a condition for determining a multicast failure, and is that the number of failures occurring in the same multicast reception within a unit time is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold. If the failure information collection server 102 satisfies the third condition, the failure information collection server 102 determines that there is a multicast failure (step S18). In the case of an abnormality in video data distributed by multicast, an operation stop of a distribution server that distributes multicast data, etc., it can be determined that a multicast failure has occurred.

  If the third condition is not satisfied, it is determined whether or not the fourth condition is satisfied (step S19). The fourth condition is that the number of failure occurrences of the same type of failure content in the same type of terminal within a unit time is greater than or equal to the fifth threshold value. The same type of terminal is, for example, a PC or a dedicated terminal of the same manufacturer. If there is no problem in other types of terminals, the failure information collection server 102 determines that the failure is in the same type of terminal (step S20). If the first to fourth conditions are not met, it is determined that there is another failure (step S21).

  The determination result is output to a log file (step S22). Further, the determination result may be notified to the system administrator by a transmission means such as e-mail.

  According to the system of the above-described embodiment, failure information from each terminal is automatically collected by the failure information collection server 102. Therefore, it is possible to comprehensively analyze the collected failure information from each terminal. Can be determined efficiently and quickly. Further, since the cause of the failure is automatically determined, it is not necessary for the system administrator to investigate the failure information in detail, and the response to the failure can be taken promptly according to the automatic determination result.

  In the above-described embodiment, when a failure is assumed in addition to the first to fourth conditions, a determination condition for the failure may be added.

  In the above-described embodiment, the video distribution server 101 that distributes video data is shown as the information distribution server, and the video reception terminal 301 is shown as the information receiving terminal. However, the information data to be distributed is audio other than video data. It may be data or text data.

  Further, although the statistical information is calculated in the video receiving terminal 301, it may be calculated in the failure information collection server 102.

It is a block diagram which shows the Example of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the video receiving terminal in the system of FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a failure determination operation of a failure information collection server in the system of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Distribution server network apparatus 101 Video distribution server 200 Network 300,400 Terminal network apparatus 301 Video receiving terminal

Claims (4)

An information receiving terminal that receives information data transmitted from an information distribution server and transmitted via a network, and acquires failure information related to a failure when a failure occurs during reception of the information data;
The failure information acquired by the information receiving terminal is collected via the network and stored in a database, and the failure information collection server that analyzes the stored failure information and determines the cause of the failure ,
The failure information collection server includes a first determination unit configured to determine whether or not the number of failure information collected per unit time is equal to or greater than a first threshold;
Second determination means for determining whether or not a failure having the same failure content has occurred a number of times equal to or greater than a second threshold in the same network within the unit time;
Third determination means for determining whether the number of connection failures from a plurality of information receiving terminals to the information distribution server within the unit time is equal to or greater than a third threshold;
Fourth determination means for determining whether or not the number of failures occurring in the same multicast reception within the unit time is equal to or greater than a fourth threshold;
A fifth determination means for determining whether or not the number of failure occurrences of the same type of failure in the same type of terminal within the unit time is greater than or equal to a fifth threshold;
If the number of the failure information collected by the first determination means is smaller than the first threshold, it is determined that there is no failure,
When it is determined that the number of pieces of failure information collected by the first determination unit is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the second determination unit causes a failure having the same failure content to occur in the same network. If it is determined that the number of occurrences exceeds the threshold, it is determined as a network failure,
Number of connection failures from a plurality of information receiving terminals to the information distribution server by the third determining means when it is determined that the number of failure information collected by the first determining means is greater than or equal to the first threshold value Is determined to be greater than or equal to the third threshold, it is determined that the server has failed,
When it is determined that the number of failure information collected by the first determination unit is equal to or greater than the first threshold, the number of failure occurrences in the same multicast reception by the fourth determination unit is equal to or greater than the fourth threshold. Is determined as a multicast failure,
When it is determined that the number of failure information collected by the first determination unit is equal to or greater than the first threshold, the number of failure occurrences of the same type of failure content at the same type of terminal is determined by the fifth determination unit. If it is determined that it is equal to or greater than the fifth threshold, it is determined that the terminal is faulty,
If it is determined that the number of pieces of failure information collected by the first determination unit is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, and if all the determination results are obtained by the second to fifth determination units, the other Information distribution system characterized in that it is determined that there is a failure . The information receiving terminal acquires failure information and stores failure information acquisition means, and calculates various statistics according to the failure information, acquires statistical information, and stores statistical information acquisition means , and a transmission means for transmitting the failure information and the statistical information to the failure information collecting server,
2. The information distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the failure information collection server comprises storage means for storing the failure information and the statistical information transmitted by the transmission means in a database. The transmission unit, the information distribution system according to claim 2, wherein transmitting the statistical information to the fault information collection server when the value included in the statistics exceeds a threshold value. A failure determination method for an information distribution system in which information data transmitted from an information distribution server is received by an information receiving terminal via a network,
Acquiring failure information about the failure in the event of a failure at the time of reception of the information data in the information receiving terminal,
A failure information determination step of collecting the acquired failure information via the network and storing it in a database, analyzing the stored failure information to determine the cause of the failure, and
The failure information determination step includes a first determination step of determining whether or not the number of failure information collected per unit time is equal to or greater than a first threshold value;
A second determination step of determining whether or not a failure having the same failure content has occurred a number of times equal to or greater than a second threshold in the same network within the unit time;
A third determination step of determining whether the number of connection failures from a plurality of information receiving terminals to the information distribution server within the unit time is equal to or greater than a third threshold;
A fourth determination step of determining whether or not the number of failures occurring in the same multicast reception within the unit time is equal to or greater than a fourth threshold;
A fifth determination step of determining whether or not the number of failure occurrences of the same type of failure content in the same type of terminal within the unit time is greater than or equal to a fifth threshold;
If the number of pieces of failure information collected in the first determination step is smaller than the first threshold, it is determined that there is no failure,
When it is determined that the number of pieces of failure information collected in the first determination step is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the second determination step causes a failure having the same failure content to be in the same network. If it is determined that the number of occurrences exceeds the threshold, it is determined as a network failure,
When it is determined that the number of pieces of failure information collected in the first determination step is equal to or greater than the first threshold, the number of connection failures from a plurality of information receiving terminals to the information distribution server in the third determination step Is determined to be greater than or equal to the third threshold, it is determined that the server has failed,
When it is determined that the number of failure information collected in the first determination step is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the number of failure occurrences in the same multicast reception is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold value in the fourth determination step. Is determined as a multicast failure,
When it is determined that the number of pieces of failure information collected in the first determination step is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the number of failure occurrences of the same type of failure content in the same type of terminal is determined in the fifth determination step. If it is determined that it is equal to or greater than the fifth threshold, it is determined that the terminal is faulty,
If it is determined that the number of pieces of failure information collected in the first determination step is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, if all the determination results are NO in the second to fifth determination steps, the other A failure determination method characterized by determining a failure.

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