JP2010232970A - Failure position confirmation apparatus and failure position confirmation method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a failure position confirmation apparatus that quickly responds to obstruction reported by a customer. <P>SOLUTION: Network apparatuses are correlated to customer information, and failure information is correlated to a combination of conditions of the network apparatuses. When receiving an inquiry of failure from a customer, a collection part 12 collects the conditions of network apparatuses correlated to the customer, and an estimation part 13 obtains the failure information corresponding to the collected combination of conditions of the network apparatuses. Thus, failure information concerning a specific customer is easily and quickly confirmed without investigating the entire network. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for identifying a failure location when a network failure is reported from a customer.

  When a network failure is reported by a customer, a failure responder makes an inquiry to each of the network devices arranged on the network, and estimates the suspected failure location based on the inquiry result. This operation is complicated and requires personnel with high skills.

  There is an urgent need to respond quickly to a failure inquiry from a customer, and various failure isolation techniques have been proposed. For example, in Patent Document 1, a table in which an event indicating an abnormality is associated with a classified element is prepared, the communication status of each network device is monitored, and a failure occurrence location on the network is determined. Yes.

JP 2005-167347 A

  However, since the technique described in Patent Document 1 targets a failure of the entire system, it cannot be separated for directly solving a failure reported by a customer. In addition, there is a problem that even if a failure is identified for the entire system, an operator with a low skill level cannot handle it.

  On the other hand, there is a method using scattered light, such as an OTDR (Optical Time Domain Reflectometer), for estimation of a suspicious part of an optical fiber, but an OTDR device is expensive and cannot be applied to all customer lines. For this reason, it is a problem to easily and inexpensively estimate the suspicious location in the optical section.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a failure position confirmation device that can quickly respond to a failure reported by a customer.

  A failure location confirmation device according to a first aspect of the present invention is a failure location confirmation device that isolates the location of a failure that has occurred in a network, and stores facility information storage means that stores one or more pieces of facility information associated with customer information; Correspondence table storage means storing the combination of device states indicated by the equipment information and failure information, input means for receiving customer information input, and equipment information associated with the customer information received by the input means. A state acquisition unit that searches from the storage unit and acquires the state of the device indicated by the facility information, and a failure estimation unit that reads and presents failure information corresponding to the combination of the acquired device states from the correspondence table storage unit. It is characterized by having.

  In the above-described failure location confirmation apparatus, the facility information indicates a terminating device connected to the end of the optical fiber, and the failure information indicates an installed section of the optical fiber where the occurrence of the failure is estimated. It is characterized by.

  A failure location confirmation method according to a second aspect of the present invention is a failure location confirmation method for identifying the location of a failure that has occurred in a network, the step of receiving customer information input, and associating one or more pieces of equipment information with customer information The facility information storage means stored in this step retrieves the facility information associated with the input customer information, acquires the device status indicated by the facility information, the combination of the device status indicated by the facility information, and failure information. A step of reading out and presenting failure information corresponding to the acquired combination of device states from the correspondence table storage means stored in correspondence.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the failure position confirmation apparatus which can respond quickly to the failure reported from the customer can be provided.

It is the schematic which shows the structure of the failure location confirmation apparatus and network in one Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the said failure position confirmation apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of operation | movement of the said failure position confirmation apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of the facility information linked | related with the contract ID which is customer information, and the contract ID. It is a figure which shows the example of the state of the network apparatus collected based on the installation information of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the conversion table which matched the combination of the state of a network apparatus, and failure information. It is the schematic which shows the example of a structure of the optical cable area of the network of FIG. 1, and the example of a communication confirmation order. It is a figure which shows the example of the correspondence table which matched the combination of the communication state of the termination | terminus apparatus, and failure information. It is a figure which shows the example of another corresponding table which matched the combination of the communication state of a termination device, and failure information. It is the schematic which shows another example of the communication confirmation order of the optical cable area of the network of FIG.

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

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a failure location confirmation apparatus and a network in the present embodiment. The network shown in the figure includes OLT (Optical Line Terminal) 21 and 22 connected to the NW network 200, splitters 31, 32, 33, and 34 that are connected to the OLTs 21 and 22 and branch the optical fiber, Optical network units (ONUs) 41, 42, and 43 connected to optical cables branched at 32, 33, and 34, and HGWs 51, 52, and 53 connected to the ONUs 41, 42, and 43 and arranged at customer's homes . Information terminals 101, 102, and 103 used by customers are connected to the HGWs 51, 52, and 53, respectively. As the information terminals 101, 102, 103, in addition to the personal computer shown in the figure, a telephone, a FAX, a home appliance, or the like may be connected.

  When the failure reception operator 300 receives a failure inquiry from a customer, the failure reception operator 300 inputs information for identifying the customer into the failure position confirmation apparatus 1 and starts an investigation. The failure location confirmation apparatus 1 searches for a network device associated with a designated customer, collects information from the network device, and estimates and presents a failure location, a coping method, and the like based on the collected information. Network devices such as the OLTs 21 and 22 and the HGWs 51, 52, and 53 have a system that responds to an inquiry from the failure location confirmation device 1. As for inquiries to the ONUs 41, 42, and 43, the OLTs 21 and 22 acquire the states of the ONUs 41, 42, and 43 and respond to the failure location confirmation apparatus 1.

  Hereinafter, details of the failure position confirmation apparatus 1 will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the failure location confirmation apparatus in the present embodiment. The failure location confirmation apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes an input unit 11, a collection unit 12, an estimation unit 13, an output unit 14, a contract information storage unit 15, a facility information storage unit 16, and a correspondence table storage unit 17.

  The input unit 11 receives input of information for identifying a customer from the failure reception operator 300, for example, a contract ID.

  The collection unit 12 collects the current state of the network device associated with the contract ID input by the input unit 11. Specifically, information on the network device associated with the contract ID is acquired from the contract information storage unit 15, facility information about each network device is acquired from the facility information storage unit 16, and each piece of information is acquired based on the acquired facility information. Queries the status of network devices and collects the current status of each network device. As the network device associated with the contract ID, for example, in the case of the network configuration example shown in FIG. 1, if the input contract ID is that of the customer who uses the information terminal 101, This corresponds to the OLT 21, ONU 41, HGW 51, and the like that exist in the communication path.

  The estimation unit 13 refers to the correspondence table stored in the correspondence table storage unit 17 and estimates the failure location and the countermeasure method based on the current state of the network devices collected by the collection unit 12. The correspondence table associates failure positions and countermeasures with combinations of states of network devices. Since the network equipment to be used is different for each customer, the correspondence table is also different for each customer.

  The output unit 14 presents the failure position estimated by the estimation unit 13 and the coping method.

  Next, the operation of the failure position confirmation device 1 will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of operations of the failure location confirmation apparatus 1 of the present embodiment.

  When the input unit 11 inputs the customer contract ID, the facility information associated with the contract ID is searched (step S1). FIG. 4 shows an example of facility information associated with the contract ID and contract ID. In the figure, OLT 21, ONU 41, and HGW 51 are associated with the contract ID.

  Subsequently, the state of the network device indicated by the retrieved facility information is collected (step S2). FIG. 5 shows an example of the collected network device status. This figure shows the current state of each network device collected by inquiring the network device indicated by the facility information shown in FIG. The state of the OLT 21 and the ONU 41 is OK, and the state of the HGW 51 is NG.

  Then, the failure location and the coping method corresponding to the collected combination of network device states are searched from the correspondence table (step S3). FIG. 6 shows an example of a correspondence table in which combinations of network device states are associated with failure locations and countermeasures. When the collected current state of the network device is shown in FIG. 5, since it corresponds to pattern 3 of the correspondence table shown in FIG. 6, the failure location is “HGW51”, and the coping method is “confirm HGW”.

  Next, a description will be given of how to isolate a failure position in an optical cable section.

  As described above, the failure location confirmation apparatus 1 acquires a state from each network device associated with a customer, and identifies the failure location based on the combination of the states. When the failure position is estimated as the optical cable section, the failure position is further separated in the optical cable section. Since the locations of splitters and optical fibers in the optical cable section vary and the repair location, repair method, or repair person is different, it is important to identify the fault location in the optical cable section. However, since the splitter, the optical fiber, and the like do not include a system that responds to the inquiry from the failure position confirmation device 1, the failure position confirmation device 1 cannot know the state by inquiring. Therefore, in the present embodiment, when there is an inquiry about a failure by associating several terminal devices for each customer and associating an estimated failure location with a combination of communication states with the terminal devices Then, the communication to the terminal device associated with the customer is confirmed, and the laying section of the optical fiber where the occurrence of the failure is estimated based on the combination of the communication states is estimated.

  FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration example of an optical cable section of the network configuration illustrated in FIG. In the configuration shown in the figure, the optical fiber connected to the OLT 20 is connected to the ONU 40 by being branched into 4 branches at the splitter 30 and 8 branches at each of the splitters 30-1 to 30-4, and 32 users are accommodated in the OLT 20. The splitter 30 is arranged in the same equipment building as the OLT 20, and the splitters 30-1 to 30-4 are arranged outside the equipment building.

  The failure location can be identified by confirming communication to a plurality of ONUs 40, since it is not possible to identify an optical fiber or a splitter that is a failure location only by confirming communication with the ONU 40 used by the customer who has inquired about the failure. For example, when there is a failure inquiry from a customer who uses the 11th ONU 40, the 11th ONU 40, the 12th ONU 40 in the splitter 30-2 to which the 11th ONU 40 is connected, and the splitter 30-2 are connected. The communication to the first ONU 40 connected to another splitter 30-1 in the splitter 30 is confirmed. Then, the failure position is identified by referring to the correspondence table in which the failure position is associated with the combination of the communication states to the ONUs 40 of No. 11, No. 12, and No. 1. The OLT 20 confirms communication with each ONU 40.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of a correspondence table in which combinations of communication states with the 11th, 12th, and 1st ONUs 40 are associated with failure positions. If the communication to the 11th ONU 40 is NG and the communication to the 12th ONU 40 is OK, it corresponds to the pattern 1 of the correspondence table shown in FIG. 8, and the failure location is between the splitter 30-2 and the ONU 40 (location Outer SP to ONU). Similarly, when both the communication to the 11th and 12th ONUs 40 is NG and the communication to the 1st ONU 40 is OK, it corresponds to the pattern 2, so the failure position is between the splitter 30 and the splitter 30-2. It is divided into (internal SP to external SP). When communication with the 11th, 12th, and 1st ONUs 40 is NG, it corresponds to pattern 3 and therefore the failure position is determined to be between the OLT 20 and the splitter 30 (OLT to in-house SP). The information of the ONU 40 that is the communication confirmation target is stored in the contract information storage unit 15 in association with the customer's contract ID, and the correspondence table used for identifying the fault location in the optical cable section is stored in the correspondence table storage unit 17.

At present, since the failure rate n is a sufficiently small value, the failure rate at which a plurality of failures occur in the same splitter is a very small value n ² . Therefore, it is possible to accurately estimate the failure position without confirming communication with all the ONUs 40 in the 8-branch splitter 30 and the 4-branch splitters 30-1 to 30-4. As shown in FIG. 8, the accuracy of each of the patterns 1, 2, 3 is 1,1-n ² , 1- (n ² + n ³ ).

  Further, the accuracy can be further increased by increasing the number of ONUs 40 for confirming communication. FIG. 9 is an example of a correspondence table that confirms communication with the 11th, 12th, and 13th ONUs 40 connected to the splitter 30-2 and identifies the failure location.

  In this way, by estimating the location of the failure in the optical cable section based on the failure report from a certain customer, it is possible to quickly without waiting for a report from another customer accommodated in the same optical fiber where the failure has occurred. It becomes possible to respond.

  FIG. 10 shows an example of confirming communication to all ONUs 40 in order from the first ONU 40 after confirming communication to all ONUs 40 connected to the eleventh splitter 30-2 that has made a failure inquiry. FIG.

  In the example shown in FIG. 10, first, the communication from the 9th to the 16th ONU 40 connected to the same splitter 30-2 as the 11th ONU 40 in which the failure inquiry has been made is confirmed. At this point, it can be determined whether there is a problem between the splitter 30-2 and the 11th ONU 40.

  Subsequently, communication is confirmed sequentially from No. 1 to No. 32 ONU 40. At this time, ONUs No. 9 to No. 16 are not confirmed because communication has already been confirmed. If anything other than the 9th to 16th ONUs 40 is normal, it can be estimated that there is a problem between the splitter 30-2 and the splitter 30. If the communication of all the ONUs 40 from 1 to 32 cannot be confirmed, it can be estimated that there is a problem between the splitter 30 and the OLT 20.

  In this way, by confirming the communication of the ONU connected to the same splitter as the ONU that has inquired about the failure first, the result can be known more quickly. Of course, communication from the 1st to the 32nd may be confirmed in order.

  Therefore, according to the present embodiment, when the network device is associated with the customer information, and the failure information is associated with the combination of the state of the network device, and the failure inquiry is received from the customer, the collecting unit 12 However, the state of the network device associated with the customer is collected, and the estimation unit 13 acquires failure information associated with the combination of the collected state of the network device, so that the entire network is not examined. It becomes possible to quickly and easily confirm failure information relating to a specific customer. Since only failure information related to a specific customer can be confirmed, the responder does not require high skills. Therefore, it is possible for the customer himself / herself to access the failure location confirmation apparatus 1 and confirm whether there is an abnormality in the equipment in the customer's home.

  According to the present embodiment, a failure location confirmation device is provided by associating a plurality of ONUs with customer information, and associating failure information indicating an optical fiber installation section where a failure is estimated with a combination of communication states of the ONUs. It is possible to estimate the failure of equipment such as an optical fiber or a splitter that cannot respond to the inquiry from 1.

  According to the present embodiment, it is possible to shorten the time for identifying the failure location by performing the failure location isolation step by step.

  When acquiring the status of each network device, information such as the software version of the network device is also acquired, so that a version-specific defect can be determined.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Fault location confirmation apparatus 11 ... Input part 12 ... Collection part 13 ... Estimation part 14 ... Output part 15 ... Contract information storage part 16 ... Equipment information storage part 17 ... Correspondence table storage part 20, 21, 22 ... OLT
30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 30-1 to 4 ... splitter 40, 41, 42, 43 ... ONU
51, 52, 53 ... HGW
101, 102, 103 ... Information terminal 200 ... NW network 300 ... Failure acceptance operator

Claims (3)

A failure location confirmation device that identifies the location of a failure that has occurred in the network,
Facility information storage means for storing one or more facility information in association with customer information;
Correspondence table storage means for storing a combination of device states indicated by the facility information and failure information in association with each other;
Input means for receiving input of the customer information;
The facility information associated with the customer information received by the input unit is searched from the facility information storage unit, and a state acquisition unit that acquires the state of the device indicated by the facility information;
Failure estimation means for reading out and presenting the failure information corresponding to the acquired combination of the device states from the correspondence table storage means;
A fault location confirmation apparatus characterized by comprising: The facility information indicates an end device connected to the end of the optical fiber,
2. The failure position confirmation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the failure information indicates an optical fiber laying section in which occurrence of a failure is estimated. A failure location confirmation method that identifies the location of a failure that occurred in the network,
Receiving the customer information input;
Searching the facility information associated with the input customer information from the facility information storage means storing one or more facility information in association with customer information, and acquiring the device status indicated by the facility information;
Reading and presenting the failure information corresponding to the acquired combination of the device states from the correspondence table storage means storing the combination of the device states indicated by the facility information and the failure information;
A fault location confirmation method characterized by comprising:

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