JP4772075B2 - Information communication system and information communication method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information communication system and method in which an information terminal provided with an IP address including a hierarchy identifier for identifying a hierarchy in a hierarchically structured IP address space communicates with an information server apparatus via a relay apparatus. .

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an IP network has been developed in which a communication destination information terminal is identified by an IP address assigned to each information terminal and information is transmitted and received. In such an IP network, not only character information but also various content information such as images, sounds, and moving images are distributed, and RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol) or the like is used as a transmission protocol for streaming streaming of sounds and videos. Is widely used.
In such a highly developed IP network, when an abnormality such as a failure or congestion occurs in any section of the network and a transfer delay or packet loss occurs and the quality deteriorates, the IP network is widespread. The more the computer devices are connected, the more difficult it is to specify the quality degradation section. As a method for identifying the quality degradation section, for example, a method of measuring the load status for each router installed on the network, or sending a ping or traceroute to each information terminal installed on the network and responding to the response Based on this, there may be a method of dividing the quality deterioration section. In addition, as a method for specifying a quality deterioration section, Patent Document 1 specifies a quality deterioration section by placing a quality measurement site at a predetermined point on the network and communicating with each of the quality measurement sites. A method has been proposed. Patent Document 2 describes a technique for measuring quality in such an IP network.

JP 2007-36839 A JP 2007-221318 A

  However, in the method of measuring the load situation for each router and specifying the quality deterioration section by the response of ping or traceroute, it takes time to specify the quality deterioration section, and the quality deterioration section depends on the experience and skill of the user. There may be variations in the time until the identification of the information and the specific reliability. In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to communicate with a plurality of quality measurement sites in order to identify a quality degradation section, so that the network load increases, and the IP addresses of neighboring routers and information terminals are managed. Therefore, when the IP address of the information terminal is changed, it is necessary to change and manage the IP address corresponding to each information terminal, which places an operational load.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and provides an information communication system and an information communication method capable of efficiently specifying a quality degradation section on a network in a short time.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a plurality of information terminals to which IP addresses are assigned, a plurality of relay apparatuses that are assigned IP addresses and relay packets transmitted and received by the information terminals, and IP addresses are assigned. An information communication system comprising an information terminal device that transmits and receives packets to and from an information terminal via a relay device, wherein IP addresses assigned to the plurality of information terminals and the plurality of relay devices have a hierarchical structure The IP address includes a hierarchy identifier for identifying a hierarchy in the structured IP address space, and a plurality of information terminals and a plurality of relay apparatuses are connected in a configuration according to the hierarchy structure. The information terminal is connected to the relay device at the highest layer, and the information terminal uses the IP address assigned to the information terminal as the source IP address, A terminal packet transmission unit for transmitting a packet whose destination is the IP address assigned to the server device, and the information server device includes relay device identification information for identifying each of the plurality of relay devices, and each relay device. A hierarchical identifier storage unit in which a hierarchical identifier included in the assigned IP address is stored in association with each other, a server packet receiving unit that receives a packet transmitted via the relay device, and a server packet receiving unit A relay device determination unit that reads relay device identification information associated with a hierarchical identifier included in the transmission source IP address of the received packet from the hierarchical identifier storage unit.

  Further, according to the present invention, the server packet reception unit of the information server device described above receives packets transmitted from a plurality of information terminals, and the relay device determination unit includes the hierarchy identifier stored in the hierarchy identifier storage unit. , In order from the highest layer identifier to the lower layer identifier, the layer identifier includes the layer identifier included in the source IP address of each of the plurality of packets received by the server packet receiver as the lower layer. Relay device identification associated with the lowest layer hierarchical identifier among the hierarchical identifiers that include all of the hierarchical identifiers included in the source IP addresses of a plurality of packets as lower layers The information is read from the hierarchical identifier storage unit.

  Further, according to the present invention, the above-described information terminal includes a terminal packet receiving unit that receives a packet transmitted from an opposite server device connected to a relay device at the highest layer in the hierarchical structure, and a packet received by the terminal packet receiving unit. A terminal quality calculation unit for calculating quality information indicating numerical degradation of packet quality based on the packet header information, a terminal quality threshold storage unit in which quality threshold information corresponding to the quality information is stored in advance, and a quality calculation Terminal quality for comparing the quality information calculated by the unit and the quality threshold information stored in the quality threshold storage unit to determine whether the value indicated by the quality information exceeds the value indicated by the quality threshold information An abnormality determination unit, and the terminal packet transmission unit is determined by the terminal quality abnormality determination unit that the value indicated by the quality information exceeds the value indicated by the quality threshold information Includes information indicating that an abnormality has occurred, and the assigned IP address to itself and the source IP address, and transmits a packet of which destination the assigned IP address to the information server apparatus.

  The information communication system according to the present invention further includes a quality measuring device connected to a relay device in the highest hierarchy in the hierarchical structure, and the quality measuring device receives a packet transmitted from the information terminal. Based on the packet header information of the packet received by the receiving unit, the measuring unit receiving unit, the measuring device quality calculating unit for calculating quality information indicating the quality degradation of the packet in numerical values, and the quality threshold information corresponding to the quality information The stored quality of the measuring device quality threshold storage unit, the quality information calculated by the measuring device quality calculation unit, and the quality threshold information stored in the measuring device quality threshold value storage unit are compared. If the value indicated by the quality information exceeds the value indicated by the quality threshold information by the measuring instrument quality abnormality determining unit that determines whether or not the value indicated by the quality threshold information exceeds the value indicated by the quality threshold information Size A measuring device packet transmitter for transmitting a quality abnormality information packet including information indicating that there is an abnormality and a transmission source IP address of the packet received by the measuring device receiver to the information server device, It is characterized by providing.

  In addition, the present invention provides a plurality of information terminals to which IP addresses are assigned, a plurality of relay devices to which IP addresses are assigned and relay packets transmitted and received by the information terminals, and IP addresses are assigned via the relay devices. An information communication method in an information communication system comprising an information terminal and an information server device that transmits and receives packets, wherein IP addresses assigned to each of a plurality of information terminals and a plurality of relay devices are hierarchically structured The IP address includes a hierarchy identifier for identifying a hierarchy in the IP address space, and the plurality of information terminals and the plurality of relay apparatuses are connected in a configuration according to the hierarchical structure. Is associated with the hierarchy identifier included in the IP address assigned to each relay device. Is stored in a hierarchical identifier storage unit, is connected to a relay device at the highest layer in the hierarchical structure, and the terminal packet transmission unit of the information terminal uses the IP address assigned to itself as the transmission source IP address And a step of transmitting a packet whose destination is the IP address assigned to the information server device, a step of receiving a packet transmitted by the server packet receiving unit of the information server device via the relay device, and a relay A device determination unit comprising: reading from the layer identifier storage unit relay device identification information associated with the layer identifier included in the source IP address of the packet received by the server packet reception unit. Information communication method.

  As described above, according to the present invention, each of a plurality of information terminals and a plurality of relay apparatuses is assigned an IP address including a hierarchy identifier for identifying a hierarchy in a hierarchically structured IP address space. The information terminal and the plurality of relay apparatuses are connected in a configuration according to the hierarchical structure of the hierarchical identifier, the information server apparatus is connected to the relay apparatus of the highest hierarchy in the hierarchical structure of the hierarchical identifier, and the information terminal A packet having the assigned IP address as a transmission source IP address and the IP address of the information server device as a communication destination is transmitted, and the information server device relays the relay device identification information for identifying each of the plurality of relay devices, and the relay thereof A packet that is stored in association with the hierarchical identifier included in the IP address assigned to the device, relayed through the relay device, and transmitted. Since the relay device identification information associated with the layer identifier included in the source IP address of the received packet is read out, the layer included in the source IP address of the packet transmitted from the information terminal It is possible to determine the relay device to which the hierarchical identifier corresponding to the identifier is assigned, and thereby it is possible to specify the relay device corresponding to the information terminal that transmitted the packet.

  Further, according to the present invention, the information server device receives packets transmitted from a plurality of information terminals, and from among the pre-stored layer identifiers, the layer identifier of the highest layer to the layer identifier of the lower layer In order, it is determined whether or not the layer identifier included in the source IP addresses of the plurality of packets received by the packet receiver is included as a lower layer, and the layer identifier included in the source IP address is included as a lower layer. Since the relay device identification information associated with the lowest layer hierarchy identifier is read, the relay device to which the layer identifier corresponding to the layer identifier included in the source IP address of the packet transmitted from the information terminal is assigned Can be identified efficiently, reducing the processing load to identify the relay device corresponding to the information terminal that sent the packet, It is possible to shorten the.

  Further, according to the present invention, the information terminal can determine the packet transfer delay time or the loss rate based on the packet header information of the packet transmitted from the opposite server device connected to the relay device at the highest layer in the hierarchical structure. When the quality information indicating either one is calculated and compared with the quality threshold information stored in advance, the value indicated by the quality information exceeds the value indicated by the quality threshold information, the information server device Since the packet containing the information indicating that there was an abnormality was transmitted, the information server device receives the packet transmitted when there is an abnormality, and determines the relay device corresponding to the transmission source of the packet. Thus, it is possible to efficiently identify the relay device that causes the quality degradation. Also, according to this, for example, even when quality degradation occurs due to a peripheral device having no IP address such as a switch, the device that is the cause can be specified.

  Further, according to the present invention, the quality measuring device connected to the relay device at the highest layer in the hierarchical structure receives the packet transmitted from the information terminal, and based on the packet header information of the received packet, When the quality information indicating either the transfer delay time or the loss rate is calculated as a numerical value and compared with the quality threshold information stored in advance, the value indicated by the quality information exceeds the value indicated by the quality threshold information The information server includes the information indicating that there is an abnormality, the source IP address of the received packet is set as the source IP address, and the IP address of the information server device is transmitted as the destination. The device can receive the packet transmitted from the quality measuring device when there is an abnormality, and determine the relay device that is the transmission source of the packet in which the abnormality is detected. More, it is possible to identify efficiently relay device that causes quality degradation. In addition, by this, by providing a quality measuring device connected to the relay device of the highest hierarchy in the hierarchical structure with a functional unit that calculates quality information, a functional unit that calculates quality information for each of a plurality of information terminals It is possible to identify a relay device that causes quality degradation without imposing a load on the information terminal.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
<Network configuration>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the concept of a layered IPv6 address space. In the IPv6 address space, a subnet mask for identifying a prefix (network address) and a host address is expressed by concatenating “/ (subnet mask numerical value)” after the address, for example. For example, it is expressed as “3ffe: 1234: 5678 :: / 48”. In this case, 48 bits (3ffe: 1234: 5678) from the head of the address is the prefix.

  In the IPv6 address space, address assignment by a hierarchical structure is possible. As shown in FIG. 1B, for example, the subnet mask is represented by a (hereinafter referred to as “/ a”. In the description of FIG. 1, the lowercase alphabetic character is a numerical value indicating the subnet mask, and the numerical value is a. Assuming that the address space of the prefix that is << b <c << x <y <z) is the first layer, the specific prefix of the address space of “/ a” is “/ b Is divided into the second hierarchy by the prefix of the address space. Similarly, the specific prefix in the “/ b” address space is divided into the third layer by the prefix in the “/ c” address space.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 1A, for example, a specific prefix (z−1, z−2) in the address space of “/ z” is an upper “/ y” (y−1). Included in the address space. Similarly, a specific prefix (z-3, z-4) in the address space of “/ z” is included in the address space of “/ y” (y-2) above it. Here, the specific prefix (z-1, z-2, z-3, z-4) in the address space of “/ z” is included in the address space of the upper prefix “/ x” (x−1). Is done.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of a concept in which the information communication system in the present embodiment is applied to a telecommunications carrier network. In this embodiment, hierarchical addresses in the IPv6 address space as shown in FIG. 1 are set in each device connected to the information communication system. In the present embodiment, the opposing server 500, the opposing terminal 510, and the quality management server 400 are each connected to a router (interblock router) 330-1. Here, the opposite server 500 is, for example, a video distribution server device that performs moving image distribution by RTP and RTCP (RTP Control Protocol) in response to a request from an information terminal. The opposite terminal 510 is, for example, a user terminal that transmits and receives information by P2P communication. The quality management server 400 is a server device that manages the network quality of the information communication system.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, the router 320-1 and the router 320-2 are addresses that aggregate the entire “/ 24” network obtained by dividing a specific prefix in the “/ 21” address space into eight. Among prefixes in space, a specific prefix is given. The specific prefix in the “/ 24” address space includes the lower-layer “/ 32” address space. In FIG. 2, the address space of the router 320-1 includes the address space of the router (edge router) 310-1 and the router 310-2 as a lower layer.

  Similarly, the address space of “/ 32” of the router 310-1 includes the address space of the router (home gateway) 300-1 and the router 300-2 as a lower layer. The router 300-1 is connected to the quality measuring device 100-1 and the user terminal 200-1, and provides a user address space. The quality measuring device 100-1 monitors the packet transmitted / received between the opposing server 500 or the opposing terminal 510 and the user terminal 200-1, and measures the quality. The user terminal 200-1 is a computer device that receives information transmitted from the opposite server 500, and is, for example, a set-top box (STB) that receives and displays a moving image distributed by the RTP from the opposite server 500.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a computer device included in the information communication system according to the present embodiment and a prefix set in each router. In the information communication system according to the present embodiment, the router 330 to which the opposite server 500 and the quality management server 400 are connected is defined as the first hierarchy, the router 320-1 and the router 320-2 are defined as the second hierarchy, and the router 310- 1, the router 310-2, the router 310-3, and the router 310-4 are in the third layer, the router 300-1, the router 300-2, the router 300-3, the router 300-4, The router 300-5, the router 300-6, the router 300-7, and the router 300-8 are configured in the fourth layer. The router of the fourth layer is connected to an information terminal of a user terminal 200 used by each user and a quality measuring device 100 that measures the quality of RTP communication between the opposite server 500 and the user terminal 200 under its control. .

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a flow of packets transmitted from the opposite server 500 in the information communication system according to the present embodiment. The computer device that communicates with the user terminal 200-1 may be, for example, the opposite terminal 510 in an address space outside the address space of the router 330-1, in addition to the opposite server 500.
A packet transmitted from the opposite server 500 or the opposite terminal 510 and destined for the IP address of the user terminal 200-1 is transferred to the router 320-1 by the router 330-1, and transferred to the router 310-1 by the router 320-1. And transmitted to 20-1 via the router 300-1. Similarly, a packet destined for the user terminal 200-2 is transferred in the order of the router 330-1, the router 320-1, and the router 310-1, and is transmitted to the user terminal 200-2 via the router 300-2. . Similarly, a packet destined for the user terminal 200-3 is transferred in the order of the router 330-1, the router 320-1, and the router 310-2, and then transferred to the user terminal 200-3 via the router 300-3. . Similarly, a packet destined for the user terminal 200-5 is transferred in the order of the router 330-1, the router 320-2, and the router 310-3, and then transferred to the user terminal 200-5 via the router 300-5. . Thus, the packet transmitted from the opposite server 500 to the user terminal 200 is transmitted from the communication carrier side (opposite server 500) in the highest layer of the network network formed in the pyramid shape to the user side in the lowest layer. The transfer from the upper layer router to the lower layer router is repeated toward (user terminal 200) to reach the user terminal 200.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a concept in which information is transmitted and received between the quality measuring device 100 and the counter server 500 in the present embodiment. As shown in (a) of FIG. 5, the quality measuring device 100 monitors audio / video traffic RTP-transmitted from the opposite server 500 to the user terminal 200 branched by the tap 301 at the layer 1 level. Here, the quality measuring device 100 monitors RTP packets and RTCP packets in the audio / video traffic transmitted from the opposite server 500, and performs quality measurement in real time.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, the quality measuring device 100, based on information included in the received RTP packet, for example, a network degradation value such as packet loss, reorder, delay, jitter, or R Quality information indicating quality degradation of communication such as an objective evaluation value such as a value and an MDI value is calculated. As will be described later, the quality measuring device 100 compares the calculated quality information with a threshold value stored in advance, and determines whether or not the calculated quality information exceeds the threshold value. When quality degradation is detected, an alarm notification (for example, an SNMP trap) is transmitted to the quality management server 400 via the router 300. The quality management server 400 receives alarm notifications transmitted from a plurality of quality measuring instruments 100 connected via a network, aggregates them, and displays them on the display unit. Here, the quality management server 400 displays, for example, the IP address of the quality measuring device 100, the transmission source / transmission IP address of the measurement target packet, an alarm description, a time stamp, and the like.

<Block configuration>
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a block configuration of the quality measuring device 100 and the quality management server 400 included in the information communication system according to the present embodiment.
The quality measuring device 100 is a computer device that acquires a packet transmitted from the opposite server 500 to the user terminal 200 and measures the communication quality of the packet. The quality measuring device 100 includes a packet receiving unit 110, a quality calculating unit 120, and a quality abnormality determination. Unit 130, quality threshold information management DB 140, and packet transmission unit 150.

The packet receiving unit 110 receives a packet transmitted from the opposite server 500 to the user terminal 200, and reads packet header information of the received packet.
The quality calculation unit 120 calculates a quality measurement value based on the packet header information read from the packet received by the packet reception unit 110, and indicates the quality information of the packet numerically based on the calculated quality measurement value Is generated. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of quality measurement values measured by the quality calculation unit 120. For example, the quality calculation unit 120 calculates quality information that numerically indicates quality degradation based on measurement values such as packet loss, reorder, delay, and jitter.

  Packet loss occurs when the sequence number of the received RTP packet is not continuous with the sequence number of the latest received RTP packet every time the RTP packet is received with the header field “sequence number” of the RTP packet as the source. The loss is determined, and the number of lost packets is stored and counted as a quality measurement value. If the RTP packet having the sequence number determined to be a packet loss is received thereafter, the quality calculation unit 120 regards it as a reorder and reduces the count of quality measurement values. Based on the packet loss thus counted, the quality calculation unit 120 calculates the ratio of the quality measurement value (the number of frames) to the total number of frames in a certain time (T) as quality information.

  The reorder is performed when the RTP packet header field “sequence number” is used as a source and a packet with a specific sequence number is counted as a packet loss every time an RTP packet is received, and then an RTP packet with that sequence number is received. Count quality measurements as reorders. Based on the reorder counted in this way, the quality calculation unit 120 calculates the ratio of the quality measurement value (the number of frames) to the total number of frames in a certain time (T) as quality information.

  The delay is the time when the RTCP SR is received every time the RTCP packet is received from both directions, using the header field “DLSR” (delay since last SR) of the RTCP SR (Real-time Transport Control Protocol Sender Report) packet as a source. Then, the DLSR (device processing time) of RTCPSR is subtracted from the difference from the time when the next RTCP SR is received, and the round trip delay of the packet between the quality measuring device 100 and the user terminal 200 is calculated. Further, the round-trip delay of the packet between the quality measuring device 100 and the opposite server 500 is calculated in the same procedure, and by adding them and dividing by 2, it is possible to measure the end-to-end one-way delay. The quality calculation unit 120 calculates an average value of delay measurement values over a certain time (T) as quality information.

  Jitter is determined based on RFC1889 (RTP) based on the difference between the time stamp of the received RTP packet and the time stamp of the latest received RTP packet, every time the RTP packet is received, using the header field “timestamp” of the RTP packet as a source. RTP packet described in (1)) can be calculated based on an estimate of the statistical variance of the interval time. The quality calculation unit 120 calculates an average value of jitter measurement values for a certain time (T) as quality information.

  The quality calculation unit 120 generates a quality information table having a data structure as shown in FIG. 7A, which includes the packet loss, delay, jitter, and reorder quality information calculated as described above as fields. . FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of data transmitted and received by each functional unit in the present embodiment. In each data example in FIG. 7, a vertical column is a field, a horizontal column is a record, and a set including one or more records is a table. The upper part of the data shown in FIG. 7 means field names.

Returning to FIG. 6, the quality threshold information management DB 140 is a storage unit in which a quality threshold information table including information indicating the threshold of quality information is stored by a communication carrier that manages the information communication system of the present embodiment. FIG. 7B shows the data structure of the quality threshold information table.
Returning to FIG. 6, the quality abnormality determination unit 130 compares the quality information table generated by the quality calculation unit 120 with the quality threshold information table read from the quality threshold information management DB 140, and the values included in the corresponding fields. Are compared to determine whether each value included in the quality information table exceeds each value included in the quality threshold information table. Then, the quality abnormality determination unit 130 determines that an abnormality has been detected for a field determined to have a value included in the quality information table exceeding a value included in the quality threshold information table, and indicates that there is an abnormality. An alarm type is generated. And the quality abnormality determination part 130 produces | generates the quality abnormality information table containing the time information which shows the time which detected abnormality, and the produced | generated alarm classification. Here, when abnormality is detected in a plurality of fields, the quality abnormality determination unit 130 generates a quality abnormality information table in which the alarm type includes information indicating that an abnormality has been detected for a plurality of fields.

  The packet transmission unit 150 embeds the quality abnormality information table generated by the quality abnormality determination unit 130 in the payload, generates a quality abnormality information packet using the IPv6 address assigned in advance to the quality measuring device 100 as the transmission source IP address, It transmits to the management server 400. The packet transmission unit 150 also includes a quality including a plurality of alarms included in a plurality of quality abnormality tables generated in the quality abnormality determination unit 130 at a predetermined time (T) every predetermined time (T). An abnormality information packet may be generated and transmitted to the quality management server 400. In this way, the processing load on the network load, the quality measuring device 100, and the quality management server 400 can be reduced.

  The quality management server 400 is a computer device that determines an abnormality occurrence location on the network based on quality abnormality information packets received from a plurality of quality measuring devices 100 connected via the network. A quality information management DB 420, a failure determination unit 430, a failure isolation unit 440, a display unit 450, and a prefix information management DB 460 are provided.

  Based on the quality abnormality information packet received from the quality measuring device 100, the packet receiving unit 410 generates a quality management information record in which the transmission source IP address is added to the quality abnormality information record. When the packet reception unit 410 extracts the quality abnormality information table from the payload of the quality abnormality information packet received from the quality measuring device 100, the packet reception unit 410 indicates that the alarm type included in the extracted quality abnormality information table has detected an abnormality for a plurality of fields. In the case of the information shown, the alarm type is divided for each field, each alarm type is set to one record, and the time information, the alarm type, and the IP address of the transmission source of the quality abnormality information packet are The quality management information record to be included is stored in the quality information management DB 420. At this time, the packet receiving unit 410 assigns a record number indicating the arrival order received from the quality measuring device 100 to each quality management information record, and stores it in the quality information management DB 420. FIG. 7D is a diagram illustrating a data structure example of a quality management information record generated by the packet receiving unit 410 and stored in the quality information management DB 420.

Returning to FIG. 6, the quality information management DB 420 is a storage unit in which a plurality of quality management information records are stored by the packet receiving unit 410.
The failure determination unit 430 reads from the quality information management DB 420 a quality management information record including time information in a range from the current time to a time obtained by subtracting a certain time (T), and an alarm including the read quality management information record A type failure information table is generated. (E) of FIG. 7 is a figure which shows the example of a data structure of an alarm classification failure information table.

  Returning to FIG. 6, the prefix information management DB 460 includes a name of a router for identifying each router connected to the communication information system and a prefix included in the router by the communication carrier that manages the information communication system of the present embodiment. It is a storage unit for storing the associated prefix information table. FIG. 7F shows the data structure of the quality threshold information table. FIG. 3A shows an example of prefix information data stored in the prefix information management DB 460.

Returning to FIG. 6, the fault isolation unit 440 is connected to the quality measuring device 100 that detects an abnormality based on the alarm type information table generated by the fault determination unit 430 and the prefix information table read from the prefix information management DB 460. A failure information table including the determined router name is generated. FIG. 7G is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the failure information table generated by the failure isolation unit 440.
The display unit 450 is a display that displays information included in the failure information table generated by the failure isolation unit 440.

<Operation example>
Next, an operation example of the information communication system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
First, when the packet receiving unit 110 of the quality measuring device 100 receives a packet transmitted from the opposite server 500 (step S1), the packet receiving unit 110 extracts packet header information from the received packet. Then, the quality calculation unit 120 obtains information indicating the communication quality such as packet loss rate, delay, jitter, reorder, etc. every certain time (T) from the packet header information read in step S1 at a certain time (T). The quality information table is generated by calculation (step S2).

  Then, the quality abnormality determination unit 130 reads out the quality threshold information table including thresholds such as packet loss rate, delay, jitter, reorder, and the like stored in the quality threshold information management DB 140, and includes each of the quality threshold information tables read out. The threshold value is compared with each value included in the quality information table generated in step S2, and it is determined whether or not the value included in the quality information table exceeds each threshold value included in the quality threshold information table. If it is determined, a quality abnormality information table including an alarm type corresponding to the excess value and time information at which the threshold value is detected is generated. Here, in the quality abnormality information table to be generated, fields that did not exceed are discarded (step S3).

  Next, the packet transmitter 150 of the quality measuring device 100 reads the quality abnormality information table generated by the quality abnormality determining unit 130 in step S3 into the payload, and uses the IP address previously given to the quality measuring device 100 as the transmission source IP address. An abnormal quality information packet (for example, an SNMP trap) is generated and transmitted to the quality management server 400 (step S4). When receiving the quality abnormality information packet transmitted from the quality measuring device 100, the packet reception unit 410 of the quality management server 400 extracts the quality abnormality information table from the payload of the quality abnormality information packet and is included in the extracted quality abnormality information table. When a plurality of alarm types are included in the alarm type record, it is divided into records for each alarm type, and a record is generated by adding the packet transmission source address as a field to the divided records. The packet receiving unit 410 then assigns record numbers to the records in the order of arrival of the packets transmitted from the plurality of quality measuring devices 100 connected via the network, and writes them in the quality information management DB 420 as quality management information records ( Step S5).

  Then, the failure determination unit 430 reads from the quality information management DB 420 a quality management information record including time information in a range from the current time to a time obtained by subtracting a certain time (T) from the current time. The failure determination unit 430 generates an alarm type failure information table using the alarm type of the read quality management information record as a key (step S6). The fault isolation unit 440 reads the prefix information table from the prefix information management DB 460, and generates a fault information table based on the read prefix information table and the alarm type fault information table generated by the fault determination unit 430 in step S6. To do.

  Here, in the failure information table generation process by the failure isolation unit 440, for example, the failure isolation unit 440 includes the prefix of the upper layer field included in the prefix information table and the source IP address included in the alarm type failure information table. And which prefix matches each source address. At this time, the prefixes in the highest hierarchy are compared in order from the prefixes in the lower hierarchy, and all the source IP addresses included in the alarm type failure information table are identified with a specific identical prefix (for example, “/ x”). If it is determined that they match, the prefix (for example, “/ y”) one level below the prefix (“/ x”) and each source IP address included in the alarm type failure information table are displayed. Compare.

  Then, when the source IP address included in the alarm type failure information table matches a plurality of prefixes of a specific layer included in the prefix information table, the failure isolation unit 440 selects the layer one level higher than that one. The router name corresponding to the prefix is determined as the suspected router in which an abnormality has occurred, and the router name, the alarm type of the table, and the time information range (start time and end time of a certain time (T)) A failure information table is generated (step S7). The display unit 450 outputs, to the display unit 450, information indicating what kind of failure has occurred on which device based on the failure information table generated in step S7 (step S8).

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the suspected router determination process performed by the fault isolation unit 440 in step S7 described above. For example, as shown in (a), it is assumed that an abnormality has occurred in the router 320-1 (inter-area router). In this case, as shown in (b), first, the source IP address of the quality abnormality information packet is compared with each prefix of the second layer (the layer of “/ 32”, the layer of the router 320), and the quality abnormality A prefix that matches the prefix of the source IP address of the information packet is detected (step S10). If a plurality of second-layer prefixes that match the prefix of the source IP address of the quality abnormality information packet are detected, the router 330 in the upper layer of the second-layer prefix is determined as the suspected router (step S11). ).

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S10 that all of the prefixes of the source IP address of the quality abnormality information packet match any one of the prefixes of the second layer, the source IP address of the quality abnormality information packet and the third layer (“ / 40 "layer and router 310 layer) are compared, and a prefix that matches the prefix of the source IP address of the quality abnormality information packet is detected (step S12). If a plurality of third layer prefixes matching the prefix of the source IP address of the quality abnormality information packet are detected, the router 320 in the upper layer of the third layer prefix is determined as the suspected router (step S13). ). In the example of FIG. 10, here, the router 320-1 is determined as the suspected place.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S12 that all of the prefixes of the source IP address of the quality abnormality information packet match one of the prefixes of the third layer, the source IP address of the quality abnormality information packet and the fourth layer (“ / 48 "layer and router 300 layer) are compared, and a prefix that matches the prefix of the source IP address of the quality abnormality information packet is detected (step S14). If a plurality of fourth-layer prefixes that match the prefix of the source IP address of the quality abnormality information packet are detected, the router 310 in the upper layer of the fourth-layer prefix is determined as a suspected router (step S15). ).

  Here, if there are further lower layers (fifth layer, sixth layer,...), Similarly, it is determined whether the prefix matches any one of the lower layers, and the transmission of the quality abnormality information packet is performed. The source IP address is compared with each lower layer prefix, and the process of detecting a prefix that matches the prefix of the source IP address of the quality abnormality information packet is repeated to match the prefix of the source IP address of the quality abnormality information packet When a plurality of lower-layer prefixes are detected, the router in the upper layer of the lower-layer prefix may be determined as the suspected router. If the specific router is not determined as the suspected location, the home gateway (router 300-1) is determined as the suspected location (step S16).

  In the suspected router determination process in step S7 of the present embodiment, when a different abnormality is detected at a plurality of locations on the network and a quality abnormality information packet is transmitted, a suspected router is determined for each alarm type. An apparatus that causes the quality degradation may be specified by determination. For example, as shown in FIG. 11, when a packet loss occurs in the router 310-1 and jitter occurs in the router 320-2 within a certain time (T), the quality management server 400 The fault isolation unit 440 performs the process of determining the suspected router for each alarm type for the quality abnormality information packet received from the plurality of user terminals 200 within a predetermined time (T), so that the fault occurrence unit 440 However, it is possible to identify a device that causes each quality degradation.

  Also, as shown in FIG. 12, if the quality measuring device 600 is connected to the router 330-1 that is the highest layer router, the quality measuring device 600 receives a packet transmitted from the user terminal 200. The quality of upstream traffic can be measured in the same way. In this case, the quality measuring device 600 includes the same functional units as the quality measuring device 100 described above, and the packet receiving unit 110 included in the quality measuring device 600 receives packets transmitted from the plurality of user terminals 200. . The quality calculation unit 120 of the quality measuring device 600 performs processing for generating a quality information table for each received packet, similarly to the processing after step S2 described above.

  When the quality abnormality determining unit 130 of the quality measuring device 600 generates a quality abnormality information table based on the quality information table calculated by the quality calculating unit 120 of the quality measuring device 600, the packet transmitting unit 150 of the quality measuring device 600 Then, the quality abnormality information packet including the transmission source IP address of the packet received by the packet receiver 110 of the quality measuring device 600 is transmitted to the quality management server 400. The quality management server 400 reads the source IP address of the packet included in the quality abnormality information packet and uses the packet source IP address in step S7 to perform the above-mentioned suspected router determination process, thereby causing quality degradation. It is possible to specify the device to be.

In the present embodiment, the router 300 as the lowest layer router and the quality measuring device 100 have been described as different devices. However, the quality measuring device 100 is included in the home gateway device as the lowest layer router. You may make it provide each function part provided.
In the present embodiment, the IPv6 address space has been described as an example. However, when address translation by NAT or the like is not performed, information communication in the present embodiment is performed using addresses hierarchically structured in the IPv4 address space. May be. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, if traffic is captured before NAT conversion is performed by the home gateway, the present embodiment can be applied to an IPv4 network in which NAT conversion is performed.
In the present embodiment, the user terminal 200 is an STB, but a computer including an input unit, an output unit, a control unit, a calculation unit, and a storage unit, such as a PC (Personal Computer) and a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). Equipment may be applied.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when an abnormality such as a failure occurs on the network, it is possible to identify the router in which the failure has occurred and efficiently identify the device that causes the quality degradation. . In addition, according to the present embodiment, in order to identify a device that causes a failure and causes quality degradation, it is not necessary to perform a new communication and perform a quality inspection, and no network load or processing load is applied. In addition, it is possible to identify quality degradation points. Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, the quality management server 400 for calculating the quality only needs to be connected to the router at the highest layer of the hierarchical network, and each quality point is divided into each quality point in the network. There is no need to install a measurement device.

  In addition, information communication is performed by recording a program for realizing the function of the processing unit in the present invention on a computer-readable recording medium, causing the computer system to read and execute the program recorded on the recording medium. May be. Here, the “computer system” includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices. The “computer system” includes a WWW system having a homepage providing environment (or display environment). The “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a storage device such as a flexible medium, a magneto-optical disk, a portable medium such as a ROM and a CD-ROM, and a hard disk incorporated in a computer system. Further, the “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a volatile memory (RAM) in a computer system that becomes a server or a client when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. In addition, those holding programs for a certain period of time are also included.

  The program may be transmitted from a computer system storing the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the “transmission medium” for transmitting the program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line. The program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above. Furthermore, what can implement | achieve the function mentioned above in combination with the program already recorded on the computer system, and what is called a difference file (difference program) may be sufficient.

It is a figure which shows the concept of IP address space made into hierarchical structure. It is a figure which shows the hierarchical structure of the information communication system by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the hierarchical structure of the information communication system by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the flow of the packet in the information communication system by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the packet which the quality measuring device and quality management server by one Embodiment of this invention transmit / receive. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the information communication system by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a data structure used in the information communication system by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the quality information produced | generated in the information communication system by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the operation example of the information communication system by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the process which determines a suspected router in the information communication system by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the concept in case the some failure generate | occur | produces in the information communication system by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure at the time of connecting a quality measuring device to the router of the highest hierarchy in the information communication system by one Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Quality measuring device 110 Packet receiving part 120 Quality calculation part 130 Quality abnormality judgment part 140 Quality threshold value information management DB
150 packet transmission unit 200 user terminal 300 router 301 tap 310 router 320 router 330 router 380 router 390 router 400 quality management server 410 packet reception unit 420 quality information management DB
430 Failure determination unit 440 Failure isolation unit 450 Display unit 460 Prefix information management DB
500 Opposed server 510 Opposed terminal 600 Quality measuring device

Claims (5)

A plurality of information terminals to which an IP address is assigned; a plurality of relay apparatuses to which IP addresses are assigned and relay packets transmitted and received by the information terminal; and an information terminal to which an IP address is assigned and passed through the relay apparatus An information communication system comprising an information server device for transmitting and receiving packets,
The IP address assigned to each of the plurality of information terminals and the plurality of relay apparatuses is an IP address including a hierarchy identifier for identifying a hierarchy in a hierarchically structured IP address space, and The information terminal and the plurality of relay devices are connected in a configuration according to the hierarchical structure, and the information server device is connected to the relay device of the highest hierarchy in the hierarchical structure,
The information terminal
A terminal packet transmitter for transmitting a packet having the IP address assigned to itself as a transmission source IP address and the IP address assigned to the information server device as a transmission destination;
The information server device
A hierarchy identifier storage unit in which relay apparatus identification information for identifying each of the plurality of relay apparatuses and the hierarchy identifier included in the IP address assigned to each of the relay apparatuses are stored in association with each other;
A server packet receiver for receiving the packet transmitted via the relay device;
A relay device determination unit that reads the relay device identification information associated with the hierarchy identifier included in the source IP address of the packet received by the server packet reception unit from the hierarchy identifier storage unit;
An information communication system comprising: Of the information server device,
The server packet receiving unit receives the packets transmitted from a plurality of the information terminals,
The relay device determination unit sequentially receives the server packet from the hierarchical identifier stored in the hierarchical identifier storage unit in order from the highest hierarchical identifier to the lower hierarchical identifier. Determining whether to include, as a lower layer, the layer identifier included in each source IP address of the plurality of packets received by the unit, and determining whether the layer included in each source IP address of the plurality of packets The relay device identification information associated with the hierarchical identifier of the lowest hierarchy among the hierarchical identifiers including all of the identifiers as a lower hierarchy is read from the hierarchical identifier storage unit. Information communication system. The information terminal
A terminal packet receiving unit that receives a packet transmitted from the opposite server device connected to the relay device of the highest layer in the hierarchical structure;
Based on the packet header information of the packet received by the terminal packet reception unit, a terminal quality calculation unit that calculates quality information indicating numerical degradation of the quality of the packet;
A terminal quality threshold storage unit in which quality threshold information corresponding to the quality information is stored in advance;
The quality information calculated by the quality calculation unit is compared with the quality threshold information stored in the quality threshold storage unit, and the value indicated by the quality information exceeds the value indicated by the quality threshold information. A terminal quality abnormality determination unit that determines whether or not
The terminal packet transmission unit includes information indicating that there is an abnormality when the terminal quality abnormality determination unit determines that the value indicated by the quality information exceeds the value indicated by the quality threshold information. 3. The packet including the IP address assigned to itself as a transmission source IP address and the IP address assigned to the information server device as a transmission destination is transmitted. Information communication system described in 1. The information communication system further includes a quality measuring device connected to the relay device of the highest hierarchy in the hierarchical structure,
The quality measuring instrument is
A measuring instrument receiver for receiving the packet transmitted from the information terminal;
Based on the packet header information of the packet received by the measuring device receiving unit, a measuring device quality calculating unit that calculates quality information that indicates numerical degradation of the quality of the packet;
A measuring instrument quality threshold storage unit in which quality threshold information corresponding to the quality information is stored in advance;
The quality information calculated by the measuring device quality calculating unit is compared with the quality threshold information stored in the measuring device quality threshold storage unit, and the value indicated by the quality information indicates the quality threshold information. A measuring instrument quality abnormality judging section for judging whether or not the value is exceeded,
Information indicating that there is an abnormality when the value indicated by the quality information is determined to be greater than the value indicated by the quality threshold information by the measuring device quality abnormality determining unit, and the measuring device receiving unit A measurement packet transmission unit that transmits a quality abnormality information packet including a transmission source IP address of the packet received by the information server device;
The information communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: A plurality of information terminals to which an IP address is assigned; a plurality of relay apparatuses to which IP addresses are assigned and relay packets transmitted and received by the information terminal; and an information terminal to which an IP address is assigned and passed through the relay apparatus An information communication method in an information communication system comprising an information server device for transmitting and receiving packets,
The IP address assigned to each of the plurality of information terminals and the plurality of relay apparatuses is an IP address including a hierarchy identifier for identifying a hierarchy in a hierarchically structured IP address space, and The information terminal and the plurality of relay devices are connected in a configuration according to the hierarchical structure, and the information server device is provided with relay device identification information for identifying each of the plurality of relay devices and the respective relay devices. A hierarchical identifier storage unit that is stored in association with the hierarchical identifier included in the IP address, and is connected to the relay device of the highest hierarchy in the hierarchical structure;
Of the information terminal,
A terminal packet transmission unit transmitting the packet having the IP address assigned to itself as a transmission source IP address and the IP address assigned to the information server device as a transmission destination;
Of the information server device,
A server packet receiving unit receiving the packet transmitted via the relay device;
A relay device determination unit reading the relay device identification information associated with the hierarchy identifier included in the source IP address of the packet received by the server packet reception unit from the hierarchy identifier storage unit;
An information communication method comprising:

Images