JP2014171037A - Method for evaluating push notification service - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for evaluating a push notification service allowing a delay state of a push notification common infrastructure provided by a third party to be easily grasped by a user of the service.SOLUTION: A push notification server 1 comprises: a first delay measurement unit 11 for measuring a transmission delay Td1 between a push notification common infrastructure 2 and itself; a second delay acquisition unit 12 for acquiring, from a user terminal 3, the result of measurement of a transmission delay Td2 between the push notification common infrastructure 2 and the user terminal 3; and a push notification delay calculation unit 13 for calculating a push notification delay Td in the push notification common infrastructure 2 on the basis of the transmission delays Td1, Td2 and a push notification time Td3 at which notified from the push notification server 1 to the user terminal 3. The user terminal 3 includes a second delay measurement unit 31 for measuring a transmission delay Td2 between the push notification common infrastructure 2 and itself and a second delay notification unit 32 for notifying the push notification server 1 of the result of measurement of the transmission delay Td2.

Description

  The present invention relates to a push notification service evaluation method using an IP network, and in particular, a delay when a message is pushed from a push notification server to a user terminal via a push notification common infrastructure provided by a third party. It relates to a method for evaluating a push notification service by measuring time.

  In recent years, with the widespread use of mobile communication terminals such as smartphones, a technology called so-called push notification has been widely used in which messages are transmitted from the server side to mobile terminals used by users in order to effectively communicate information updates to users. It has come to be used.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of an implementation form of push notification. When information published on the information server is updated, the fact is notified to the user communication terminal via the push notification server. In FIG. 9, the information server and the push notification server are separate servers, but they may be the same server. The user terminal receiving the notification obtains updated information by accessing the information server triggered by the notification. As an advantage of such a push notification, there is no need to confirm information update from the user terminal side, so that the amount of communication and the power consumption of the terminal can be reduced.

  The push notification method shown in FIG. 9 assumes that the information server operator also operates a push notification server. However, since the spread of mobile communication terminals in recent years has led users to always carry communication terminals, the effectiveness of push notifications has increased and push notifications have been used in many services.

  In such a background, as shown in an example in FIG. 10, in order to efficiently perform push notification, a portion that performs push notification to the user terminal is cut out as a common platform for push notification and is operated by a third party. The form to do has also appeared. For example, there are Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) shown in Non-Patent Document 1, and Apple Push Notification Service (APNS) shown in Non-Patent Document 2. According to such a push notification method, a plurality of push notification servers can perform push notification efficiently by using the same push notification infrastructure.

  On the other hand, as a method for measuring the arrival time of a push notification between the push notification server and the user terminal in the push notification system as described above, an email arrival time measuring method disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 The same method can be applied. That is, the arrival time can be calculated by recording the transmission time at the push notification server and the reception time at the user terminal and collecting the records at the aggregation server.

  In Patent Document 1, when measuring the arrival time of an e-mail, not only the end-to-end arrival time but also the mail reception time and transmission time are recorded in a server in the middle of the e-mail delivery route. In addition, a technique that can grasp a delay state in the middle of an e-mail transmission path is disclosed. Patent Document 3 discloses a method for measuring communication quality between a server and a terminal in a mobile communication terminal.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-196658 JP 2007-52540 A JP 2007-60189

http://developer.android.com/guide/google/gcm/index.html https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/RemoteNotificationsPG/ApplePushService/ApplePushService.html

  With the above-mentioned conventional technology, it is possible to measure the end-to-end push notification arrival time, but the end-to-end arrival time is determined based on the network delay and the push notification common platform. It cannot be divided into delays. That is, it is difficult for the user of the push notification common base to grasp the delay state in the push notification common base existing during the delivery of the push notification.

  In the push notification common platform, if the push notification reception time from the push notification server and the push notification transmission time to the user terminal are sequentially recorded, it is possible to grasp the delay state in the push notification common platform. However, when the push notification common base is operated by a third party different from the user such as GCM and APNS, there is no way for the user to confirm the delay state in the push notification common base.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems of the prior art and to provide a method for evaluating a push notification service that allows the user to easily grasp the delay situation of the push notification common base provided by a third party. It is in.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises the following configuration as an invention-specific item in a push notification service evaluation method that accepts a push notification request from a push notification server and provides a push service to a user terminal. There is a feature in the point.

  (1) Procedure for measuring the first delay based on the first transmission timing of the request message from the push notification server to the push notification common base and the first reception timing of the response message to the request message, and the push notification from the user terminal in common A procedure for measuring the second delay based on the second transmission timing of the request message to the base and the second reception timing of the response message to the request message, the push notification time from the push notification server to the user terminal, and the first and And a procedure for evaluating the service quality of the push notification common infrastructure based on the second delay.

  (2) The first transmission timing is the timing at which the push notification server sends a TCP connection request message to the push notification common infrastructure, and the first reception timing is the push notification server from the push notification common infrastructure to receive the TCP connection confirmation response message. Is the timing of receiving.

  (3) The first transmission timing is the timing at which the push notification server sends an ICMP echo request message to the push notification common platform, and the first reception timing is the push notification server from the push notification common platform to send an ICMP echo reply message. It was set as the reception timing.

  (4) The second transmission timing is the timing at which the user terminal sends an ICMP echo request message to the push notification common platform, and the second reception timing is the user terminal that has received an ICMP echo reply message from the push notification common platform. It was time.

  (5) A procedure for sending a request message with a time stamp option added to the push notification common platform, a procedure for obtaining the time stamp value described in the push notification sent from the push notification common platform, and the request message In the push notification common platform based on the procedure for calculating the RTT based on the elapsed time from the transmission timing of the response message to the reception timing of the response message, the reception time of the push notification, the time stamp value described in the push notification, and the RTT A request message including a procedure for identifying a correspondence relationship between a time stamp value and a time, and a procedure for estimating a response time in the push notification common base based on the correspondence relationship and the time stamp value described in each push notification. Based on the estimated transmission timing and the response time estimation result And to calculate the second delay.

According to the present invention, the following effects are achieved.
(1) A user of the push notification common infrastructure can easily grasp the delay state in the push notification common infrastructure by simple measurement at the push notification server or the user terminal. Therefore, by using this measurement result, it is possible to switch to a push notification common base with less delay.

  (2) If the push notification server detects the timing of sending a TCP connection request message to the push notification common infrastructure and the timing of receiving a TCP connection confirmation response message from the push notification common infrastructure, the push notification server pushes It becomes possible to evaluate the notification common infrastructure.

  (3) If the push notification server detects the timing at which the ICMP echo request message is sent to the push notification common platform and the timing at which the ICMP echo reply message is received from the push notification common platform, the push notification server performs push notification. The common base can be evaluated.

  (4) If the user terminal detects the timing at which the ICMP echo request message is sent to the push notification common infrastructure and the timing at which the ICMP echo reply message is received from the push notification common infrastructure, the push notification common infrastructure at the user terminal Can be evaluated.

  (5) Since the delay time can be measured using the time stamp described in the message, a push notification common platform can be created without sending and receiving a delay time measurement message, that is, while suppressing power consumption at traffic and user terminals. Can be evaluated.

It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the network to which this invention is applied. It is the figure which showed the measuring method of the push notification delay by this invention. It is the sequence flow which showed the 1st measuring method of delay time. It is the sequence flow which showed the 2nd measuring method of delay time. It is the sequence flow which showed the 3rd measuring method of delay time. It is the sequence flow (the 1) which showed the 4th measuring method of delay time. It is the sequence flow (the 2) which showed the 4th measuring method of delay time. It is the figure which showed the list of the data collected prior to implementation of the 4th measuring method of delay time. It is the figure which showed the network configuration (the 1) of a prior art. It is the figure which showed the network configuration (the 2) of a prior art.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a network to which the present invention is applied. Here, the configuration unnecessary for the description of the present invention is omitted.

  When a push notification event to the user terminal 3 occurs, the push notification server 1 establishes a TCP connection with the push notification common base 2 via the network and requests a push notification to the user terminal 3. The user terminal 3 always establishes a TCP connection with the push notification common base 2 via the network. The push notification common infrastructure 2 transmits a push notification to the user terminal 3 using the TCP connection.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a method for measuring the response delay (push notification delay) of the push notification common infrastructure 2 according to the present invention, and here, the configuration unnecessary for the description of the present invention is also omitted. .

  The push notification server 1 includes a first delay measurement unit 11 that measures a transmission delay Td1 between itself and the push notification common board 2, and a measurement result of the transmission delay Td2 between the push notification common board 2 and the user terminal 3. Push that calculates the push notification delay Td in the push notification infrastructure 2 based on the second delay acquisition unit 12 acquired from the user terminal 3 and the transmission delays Td1 and Td2 and the push notification time Td3 from the push notification server 1 to the user terminal 3 A notification delay calculation unit 13 is included.

  The user terminal 3 includes a second delay measuring unit 31 that measures the transmission delay Td2 between itself and the push notification common board 2, and a second delay notifying unit that notifies the push notification server 1 of the measurement result of the transmission delay Td2. 32.

  3 and 4 are sequence flows showing a method of measuring the transmission delay Td1 by the first delay measuring unit 11. Here, the transmission timing of the request message to the push notification common base 2 is detected and the push notification is common. The base 2 detects the reception timing of the response message returned in response to the request message, and the transmission delay Td1 is measured based on the delay time from the transmission timing to the reception timing.

  In the first measurement method shown in FIG. 3, the transmission delay Td1 is measured when the TCP connection is established from the push notification server 1 to the push notification common base 2.

  At time t1, a TCP connection request (SYN) is transmitted from the push notification server 1 to the push notification common infrastructure 2. At time t2, the TCP connection confirmation response (SYN + ACK) returned from the push notification common infrastructure 2 to the push notification server 1 is received. At time t3, a TCP acknowledgment (ACK) is transmitted from the push notification server 1 to the push notification common platform 2. At time t4, message transmission from the push notification server 1 to the push notification common base 2 is started.

  Since the response delay (t2-t1) observed at the time of establishing the TCP connection corresponds to a round-trip delay between the push notification server 1 and the push notification common base 2, the first delay measuring unit 11 determines the transmission time t1. And the transmission delay Td1 from the push notification common infrastructure 2 to the push notification server 1 is calculated by applying the reception time t2 to the following equation (1).

  Td1 = (t2-t1) / 2 (1)

  In the second measurement method shown in FIG. 4, the response delay time is measured after the TCP connection from the push notification server 1 to the push notification common infrastructure 2 is established.

  At time t1, a TCP connection request (SYN) is transmitted from the push notification server 1 to the push notification common infrastructure 2. At time t2, the TCP connection confirmation response (SYN + ACK) returned from the push notification common infrastructure 2 to the push notification server 1 is received. At time t3, a TCP acknowledgment (ACK) is transmitted from the push notification server 1 to the push notification common platform 2. At time t4, an ICMP echo request is transmitted from the push notification server 1 to the push notification common platform 2. At time t5, an ICMP echo reply returned from the push notification common base 2 to the push notification server 1 is received.

  The first measuring unit 11 calculates the transmission delay Td1 by applying the transmission time t4 of the ICMP echo request and the reception time t5 of the ICMP echo reply to the following equation (2).

  Td1 ＝ (t5-t4) / 2… (2)

  5 and 6 are sequence flows showing a method of measuring the transmission delay Td2 by the second delay measuring unit 31 of the user terminal 3, and here, the transmission timing of the request message to the push notification common base 2 is detected, The push notification common base 2 detects the reception timing of the response message returned to the request message, and the transmission delay Td2 is measured based on the delay time from the transmission timing to the reception timing.

  In the first measurement method shown in FIG. 5, the transmission delay Td2 is measured when the TCP connection is established from the user terminal 3 to the push notification common base 2.

  At time t1, a TCP connection request (SYN) is transmitted from the user terminal 3 to the push notification common infrastructure 2. At time t2, the TCP connection confirmation response (SYN + ACK) transmitted from the push notification common base 2 to the user terminal 3 is received. At time T3, a TCP confirmation response (ACK) is transmitted from the user terminal 3 to the push notification common base 2.

  At time t4, a push notification message is received from the push notification common platform 2 to the user terminal 3. At time t5, an ICMP echo request is transmitted from the user terminal 3 to the push notification common base 2. At time t6, an ICMP echo reply returned from the push notification common base 2 to the user terminal 3 is received.

  The transmission delay Td2 at the time of message push notification is obtained by applying the transmission time t5 of the ICMP echo request and the reception time t6 of the ICMP echo reply to the following equation (3).

  Td2 = (t6-t5) / 2 (3)

  FIG. 6 is a sequence flow showing a second measurement method of the transmission delay Td2. Here, a TCP time stamp value (TSval) defined in RFC1323 issued by IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) is used. The transmission delay Td2 from the push notification common base 2 to the user terminal 3 is measured.

  At time t1, a TCP connection request (SYN) is transmitted from the user terminal 3 to the push notification common infrastructure 2. A time stamp option is added to the TCP connection request. If the push notification common infrastructure 2 supports the TCP time stamp option, the time stamp option is added to the TCP segment transmitted from the push notification common infrastructure 2 thereafter, and the transmission time of the TCP segment is included therein. A time stamp value (TSval) representative of is included.

  At time t2, the TCP connection confirmation response (SYN + ACK) transmitted from the push notification common base 2 to the user terminal 3 is received. At time T3, a TCP confirmation response (ACK) is transmitted from the user terminal 3 to the push notification common base 2. At time t5, a message is pushed from the push notification common base 2 to the user terminal 3. At this time, if the push notification common infrastructure 2 supports the TCP timestamp option, the user terminal 3 acquires the TCP segment in which the timestamp value (TSval = t4) is described, and the timestamp value TSval (= The actual transmission time (t4 ′) is estimated based on t4), and the transmission delay is estimated based on the actual transmission time difference.

  By the way, the TCP timestamp value is not the actual time held by the server that transmits the TCP segment, but an arbitrary value at an arbitrary timing as an initial value and an arbitrary value as an increment every time a predetermined unit time elapses. A value obtained by addition can be described. Therefore, for example, there are servers that increase the time stamp value by 1 every time when 1 ms elapses, and other servers that increase the time stamp value by 1 every time elapse of 100 ms. For this reason, if the time stamp value is used for delay time measurement, it is necessary to estimate in advance the relationship between the increment value of the time stamp value and the actual time.

  FIG. 7 shows a message sequence exchanged between the push notification server 2 and the user terminal 3 at the time of delay estimation using the TCP timestamp value. In the sequence of FIG. The actual transmission time (t4 ′) is calculated based on the time stamp value TSval (= t4) obtained at the time t5, which is performed after the time t3 when the TCP connection is established with the push notification common infrastructure 2. The parameters for are obtained.

  At time t1, a time synchronization request is transmitted by push notification from the push notification server 1 to the user terminal 3 via the push notification common infrastructure. At time t2, the user terminal 3 that has received the time synchronization request as a push notification performs time synchronization processing using NTP (Network Time Protocol). When the time synchronization processing is completed, at time t3, the user terminal 3 directly accesses the push notification server 1 to notify the completion of time synchronization.

  After time t4, test push notifications are transmitted from the push notification server 1 to the user terminal 3 via the push notification common base at intervals of one second. The user terminal 3 that has received the test push notification acquires the push reception time and the TCP time stamp value, and transmits an ICMP echo request to the push notification common base 2 at time t5 to communicate with the push notification common base 2. RTT (Round Trip Time) is measured.

  FIG. 8 is a table listing examples of data acquired in the above sequence and calculated values calculated from the acquired data. Each row corresponds to data acquired by one test push notification transmission. . The definition of each item is as follows.

“TSval”: Time stamp value described in the TCP segment transmitted from the push notification common infrastructure 2 “TSval difference (= a)”: Difference between the current “TSval” and the previous “TSval” “Reception time” : Reception time of the TCP segment transmitted from the push notification common base 2 at the user terminal 3 "Reception time difference (= b)": Difference between the current "reception time" and the previous "reception time""RTT": Push RTT between common notification platform 2 and user terminal 3
“Reception time-RTT / 2”: Calculated time (transmission time) when the push notification common infrastructure 2 transmits the TCP segment “Transmission time difference (= b ′)”: Current “transmission time” and previous “transmission” Difference from time

  Procedure 1: Each time the user terminal 3 receives a test push notification (TCP segment) from the push notification common platform 2, the “reception time” and the time stamp value “TSval” described in the TCP segment are acquired. The Further, “RTT” is calculated as the difference between the transmission time of the ICMP echo request and the reception time of the ICMP echo reply, and the transmission time in the push notification common infrastructure 2 of the test push notification is “reception time−RTT / 2”. Is calculated as Each of the acquired value and the calculated value is repeated for each test push notification, and is managed as one entry (row) each time.

  Step 2: “TSval difference value (= a)” is calculated based on the previous time stamp value “TSval” and the current time stamp value “TSval” acquired when the previous test push notification is received. The Also, a “reception time difference (= b)” is calculated based on the previous “reception time” and the current “reception time”. Further, a “transmission time difference (= b ′)” is calculated based on the previous “transmission time (reception time−RTT / 2)” and the current “transmission time”.

  Step 3: The ratio (b / a) between the reception time difference (b) and TSval difference value (a) is calculated, and outliers are identified using statistical methods such as the Smirnov-Grubbs test. Discarded. In addition, the average value is calculated for many b / a from which outliers have been removed, and the value obtained by rounding off the fractional part by rounding off, etc. is the elapsed time per TS (unit TS time). Presumed.

  Step 4: Calculate [a × unit TS time−b] / [a × unit TS time] and [a × unit TS time−b ′] / [a × unit TS time] as an index for network stability. Is done.

  It should be noted that all values are considered to be close to zero if the network is stable, but trying to determine the stability of the network only by [a × unit TS time−b] / [a × unit TS time]. Then, for example, if the network becomes unstable immediately after receiving the test push notification in the sequence of FIG. 7, it is considered that a transmission time calculation (“reception time−RTT / 2”) error by subsequent ICMP measurement increases. . Therefore, in the present embodiment, [a × unit TS time−b ′] / [a × unit TS time] is also referred to for the purpose of reducing the calculation error of the transmission time.

  Procedure 5: An entry having a small average value of the two calculated values calculated in the above procedure 4, that is, an entry in which the network is most stable is identified. In the example shown in the figure, the entry No. 5 is identified as the measurement result when the network is most stable, and the “TSval” and “Reception time-RTT / 2” pair of the entry corresponds to the time stamp value and the corresponding Adopted as a time pair.

  When the pair of “TSval” and “reception time-RTT / 2” is obtained by the above procedure, the correspondence between TSval and the actual (estimated) time in the push notification common infrastructure 2 is established. Therefore, if the transmission time in the push notification common base 2 derived from the time stamp value TSval described in the message is subtracted from the time t5 in FIG. 6, the transmission delay Td2 from the push notification common base 2 to the user terminal 3 Is calculated.

  The transmission delay Td2 measured in this way is notified to the push notification server 1 by the second delay notification unit 32. In the push notification server 1, the transmission delay Td 2 notified from the user terminal 3 is acquired by the second delay acquisition unit 12.

  Also, the push notification time Td3 from the push notification server 1 to the user terminal 3 is calculated by [reception time at the user terminal 3] − [transmission time of the push notification server 1], so the push notification delay calculation unit 13 Calculates the push response delay Td in the push notification common infrastructure 2 by subtracting the transmission delays Td1 and Td2 from the push notification time Td3.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Push notification server, 2 ... Push notification common base, 3 ... User terminal, 11 ... 1st delay measurement part, 12 ... 2nd delay acquisition part, 13 ... Push notification delay calculation part, 31 ... 2nd delay measurement part, 32 ... second delay notification unit,

Claims (5)

In the push notification service evaluation method for evaluating the service quality of the push notification common base that accepts the push notification service request from the push notification server and provides the push service to the user terminal,
A procedure for measuring a first delay based on a first transmission timing of a request message from the push notification server to the push notification common base and a first reception timing of a response message to the request message;
A procedure for measuring the second delay based on the second transmission timing of the request message from the user terminal to the push notification common base and the second reception timing of the response message to the request message;
A push notification service evaluation method, comprising: a push notification time from a push notification server to a user terminal, and a procedure for evaluating a service quality of a push notification common base based on the first and second delays. The first transmission timing is a timing at which the push notification server transmits a TCP connection request message to the push notification common infrastructure,
2. The push notification service evaluation method according to claim 1, wherein the first reception timing is a timing at which the push notification server receives a TCP connection confirmation response message from the push notification common infrastructure. The first transmission timing is a timing at which the push notification server transmits an ICMP echo request message to the push notification common platform,
2. The push notification service evaluation method according to claim 1, wherein the first reception timing is a timing at which the push notification server receives an ICMP echo reply message from the push notification common base. The second transmission timing is a timing at which the user terminal transmits an ICMP echo request message to the push notification common platform,
2. The push notification service evaluation method according to claim 1, wherein the second reception timing is a timing at which the user terminal receives an ICMP echo reply message from the push notification common base. A procedure for sending a request message with a time stamp option to the push notification common platform;
The procedure to get the time stamp value described in the push notification sent from the push notification common platform,
A procedure for calculating an RTT based on an elapsed time from a transmission timing of the request message to a reception timing of the response message;
Based on the reception time of the push notification, the time stamp value described in the push notification, and the RTT, a procedure for identifying a correspondence relationship between the time stamp value and the time in the push notification common base,
A step of estimating a response time in the push notification common base based on the correspondence relationship and a time stamp value described in each push notification,
The push notification service evaluation method according to claim 1, wherein the second delay is calculated based on a request message transmission timing and an estimation result of the response time.