KR102214609B1 - Supporting apparatus for fault processing, and control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a failure process support device and an operation method thereof, wherein the invention determines failures occurring in each service step for IPTV service provision without the intervention of subscribers, and shares a failure response procedure and a processing progress accordingly with the subscriber. The present invention includes: a confirmation unit for confirming received data received by a set-top box; a determination unit for determining whether or not the received data is normal; a decision unit for deciding a failure for a specific service step which has received the received data; and a generator which creates a new routing path to deliver the received data.

Description

Fault handling support device and its operation method {SUPPORTING APPARATUS FOR FAULT PROCESSING, AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF}

The present invention relates to a method for determining a failure occurring in each service step for providing an IPTV service without a subscriber's intervention, and sharing a failure response procedure and processing progress accordingly with a subscriber.

Recently, as a broadcasting-communication convergence service, an IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) service, which provides various multimedia services to TV through a high-speed Internet network, has become popular.

IPTV services can provide real-time broadcast, video, audio, and data channel services based on an IP network, which can be started from a service center of an Internet service provider (ISP) and delivered to millions of service subscribers using a network.

In such an IPTV service, the objective quality of service (QoS-Quality of Service), subjective quality (QoE-Quality of Experience), and mutual reliability need to be managed above an appropriate level.

In particular, since IPTV service quality becomes an important factor in determining subscriber churn, the demand for stable service provision continues. Accordingly, monitoring of service quality is essential to maintain the best broadcast quality with numerous channels.

Meanwhile, in the IPTV service, a problem may occur in using the service due to an in-house environment (eg, WiFi, STB malfunction, wiring) or a problem with a service provider (network failure, system failure, etc.).

However, in the existing IPTV service environment, it is common for the subscriber to not know the current state of the problem, and even if the subscriber recognizes the occurrence of the problem, it is only after registering the failure situation through the customer center that the user can receive follow-up measures accordingly. There is this.

The present invention was created in view of the above circumstances, and an object to be reached in the present invention is to determine a failure occurring in each service step for providing an IPTV service without a subscriber's intervention, and the failure response procedure and processing progress accordingly. To share with subscribers.

In order to achieve the above object, a failure handling support apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is provided to verify received data received by the set-top box in each service step for providing an IPTV service according to a data verification request from the set-top box. part; A determination unit for determining whether the received data in each service step is normal based on whether the received data matches the reference data; And a determination unit for determining a failure for a specific service step in which the received data is received when there is received data determined to be abnormal.

Specifically, the set-top box includes at least one of a failure response procedure defined for the specific service stage and a processing progress for the failure response procedure according to the failure determination result for the specific service stage. It can be shared with the terminal.

Specifically, the failure handling support apparatus further includes a generator for generating a new routing path for transmitting the received data of the specific service step to the service area based on a failure determination result for the service area to which the set-top box belongs. can do.

Specifically, the generation unit may generate the new routing path when the failure determination ratio for the specific service step exceeds a threshold ratio as a result of the failure determination for the service area.

Specifically, the generator may create a routing path through the virtual router as the new routing path by allocating a virtual router to an edge computing cloud (MEC Cloud) adjacent to a service area in which the set-top box belongs.

Specifically, the received data of the specific service step includes first received data transmitted through the new routing path for the service area, and second received data transmitted through an existing routing path for the service area, and , The generation unit may remove the virtual router allocated to the edge computing cloud (MEC Cloud) when a failure determination result based on the second received data is less than a threshold ratio for the specific service step. .

In order to achieve the above object, a method of operating a failure handling support apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes receiving data received by the set-top box in each service step for providing an IPTV service according to a data verification request from the set-top box. A confirmation step to confirm; A determination step of determining whether the received data in each service step is normal based on whether the received data matches the reference data; And a determination step of determining a failure for a specific service step in which the received data is received when there is received data determined to be abnormal.

Specifically, the set-top box includes at least one of a failure response procedure defined for the specific service stage and a processing progress for the failure response procedure according to the failure determination result for the specific service stage. It can be shared with the terminal.

Specifically, the method may further include a generating step of generating a new routing path for transmitting the received data of the specific service step to the service area based on a failure determination result for the service area to which the set-top box belongs. have.

Specifically, the generating step may generate the new routing path when a failure determination ratio for the specific service step exceeds a threshold ratio as a result of determining the failure for the service area.

Specifically, in the generating step, a virtual router may be allocated to an edge computing cloud (MEC Cloud) adjacent to a service area to which the set-top box belongs, and a routing path through the virtual router may be generated as the new routing path.

Specifically, the received data of the specific service step includes first received data transmitted through the new routing path for the service area, and second received data transmitted through an existing routing path for the service area, and , The generation unit may remove the virtual router allocated to the edge computing cloud (MEC Cloud) when a failure determination result based on the second received data is less than a threshold ratio for the specific service step. .

Accordingly, according to the error handling support apparatus and its operation method of the present invention, by determining a failure occurring in each service step for providing an IPTV service without a subscriber's intervention, and sharing the failure response procedure and processing progress accordingly with the subscriber, It can improve subscriber's service satisfaction.

1 is an exemplary diagram showing a failure handling support environment according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a failure handling support apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 and 4 are exemplary views for explaining received data according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is an exemplary diagram for explaining a routing path according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flow chart illustrating a method of operating a failure handling support apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is an exemplary diagram illustrating an environment for supporting object handling according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, a failure handling support environment according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a set-top box 10 using an IPTV service, and a failure handling support device 20 that supports failure determination and a corresponding failure handling procedure. ) Can have a configuration including.

The set-top box 10 refers to a relay device installed in a specific place (for example, at home) to receive IPTV services, and not only shopping broadcasting services through a sharer (not shown), but also Internet content and VoD (Video on Demand). Various contents including services may be received.

The set-top box 10 is equipped with a separate module (hereinafter, referred to as a quality measurement module) for supporting error processing, and may be interlocked with the processing error processing support device 20 through the mounted quality measurement module.

The error handling support device 20 refers to a device that determines a failure occurring in each service step for providing an IPTV service and supports a failure handling procedure accordingly, and is implemented in the form of a server accessible through a wired or wireless communication network, for example. Or, it may be implemented in the form of a program installed in a computer system.

When the failure handling device 20 is implemented in the form of a server, it may be implemented in the form of, for example, a web server, a database server, a proxy server, and the like, and a network load balancing mechanism, or a service device may be implemented on the Internet or other network. One or more of various software to enable operation may be installed, and through this, it may be implemented as a computerized system.

Meanwhile, in the general IPTV service, real-time broadcasting, video, audio, and data channel services can be provided based on the IP network, which starts from the service center of an Internet service provider (ISP) and will be delivered to millions of service subscribers through the network. I can.

In such an IPTV service environment, since IPTV service quality becomes an important factor in determining subscriber churn, the demand for stable service provision continues. Accordingly, monitoring of service quality is essential to maintain the best broadcast quality with numerous channels. to be.

In this regard, in such an IPTV service environment, a problem may occur in using a service due to an in-house environment (eg, WiFi, STB malfunction, wiring) or a service provider problem (network failure, system failure, etc.).

However, in the IPTV service environment up to now, it is common for the subscriber to not know the current status of the problem, and even if the subscriber recognizes the occurrence of the problem, it is only after registering the failure situation through the customer center to receive follow-up measures accordingly. There is a limitation.

Accordingly, in an embodiment of the present invention, it is intended to propose a method for determining a failure occurring in each service step for providing an IPTV service without the intervention of a subscriber, and sharing the failure response procedure and processing progress with the subscriber. In the following will be described in more detail the configuration of the failure processing support device 20 for realizing this.

2 shows a schematic configuration of a failure handling support device 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Fig. 2, the error processing support device 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a confirmation unit 21 that checks the received data received by the set-top box 10, and determines whether the received data is normal. It may have a configuration including a determination unit 22 that determines the failure and a determination unit 23 that determines the failure.

In addition, in addition to the above-described configuration, the error processing support device 21 according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include a generator that generates a routing path for transmitting received data.

The entire or at least a part of the configuration of the failure handling support device 20 including the above confirmation unit 21, the determination unit 22, the determination unit 23, and the generation unit 24 is in the form of a hardware module or a software module. It may be implemented or may be implemented in the form of a combination of a hardware module and a software module.

Here, the software module may be understood as, for example, an instruction executed by a processor that controls an operation in the failure processing support device 20, and such instructions are mounted in a memory in the failure processing support device 20. You will be able to have it.

On the other hand, the remote management apparatus 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include a configuration of the communication unit 25, which is an RF module responsible for a practical communication function, in addition to the above configuration.

Here, the communication unit 25 includes, for example, an antenna system, an RF transceiver, one or more amplifiers, a tuner, one or more oscillators, a digital signal processor, a codec chipset, and a memory, but is not limited thereto. Any known circuit to be performed may be included.

As described above, the failure processing support apparatus 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention determines a failure occurring in each service step for providing an IPTV service through the above-described configuration, without the intervention of a subscriber, and the failure response procedure and processing progress accordingly. It can support to share with the subscriber. Hereinafter, each configuration in the failure handling support device 20 for realizing this will be described in more detail.

The confirmation unit 21 performs a function of confirming the received data received by the set-top box 10.

More specifically, the verification unit 21 checks the received data received by the set-top box 10 in each service step for providing an IPTV service according to a data verification request from the set-top box 10.

Here, the service step for providing the IPTV service includes, for example, providing a high-quality service reflecting the network quality by utilizing the necessary resources from the provisioning step of obtaining information necessary for service use during the booting process, and then receiving the update information It may include a service use step of receiving a service launched as a

In addition, the received data received by the set-top box 10 in each of these service steps may be identified in, for example, an XML format.

The determination unit 22 performs a function of determining whether the received data is normal.

More specifically, when the received data received by the set-top box 10 in each service step for providing an IPTV service is confirmed, the determination unit 22 checks each received data and reference data (normal data) provided for each service step. It is determined whether or not the received data for each service step is normal based on whether they match.

At this time, the determination unit 22 may determine whether the received data is normal or not by checking whether the data size and the XML format match between the received data and the reference data, and if at least one of the data size and the XML format is If they do not match, the received data can be determined as abnormal.

In this regard, FIGS. 3 and 4 exemplarily show the XML format of the received data.

That is, in FIG. 3, it is possible to check the normal received data matching the reference data, whereas in FIG. 4, it is possible to exemplarily confirm a case in which the “My Btv menu” cannot be displayed normally on the service screen due to the loss of information in the received data. have.

As a result, in the case of the received data illustrated in FIG. 4 above, it can be expected that the result of comparison with the reference data does not match the reference data due to the loss of information in the received data, and thus it can be determined to be abnormal.

Meanwhile, the operation of determining whether the received data is normal may be performed through a quality measurement module mounted in the set-top box 10 through a method of providing only reference data in response to a data verification request from the set-top box 10. Yes, of course.

The determination unit 23 performs a function of determining a failure for the service stage.

More specifically, as a result of determining whether the received data is normal or not, when there is received data determined to be abnormal, the determination unit 23 determines a failure for a specific service stage that has received the received data.

At this time, when determining a failure for a specific service stage as described above, the determination unit 23 transmits the failure determination result to the set-top box 10, thereby causing the set-top box 10 to respond to the specific service stage in which the failure is determined. The defined failure response procedure is processed, and further processing progress information on the failure response procedure can be shared with a customer terminal (eg, a smartphone) matched with the set-top box 10.

Here, the failure response procedure defined for a specific service level means, for example, a self-response procedure that the subscriber can handle at home, to the service screen or the customer terminal, or if the self-response is not possible, the failure content is reported to the customer center. It can be understood as a procedure that allows users to select the date and time of visit through a service screen or a customer terminal for a disability that needs to be automatically reported and inspected at home.

In this way, in order to share the process progress information on the failure response procedure and the failure response procedure between the set-top box 10 and the customer terminal, the set-top box 10 and the customer terminal are interconnected through short-range communication (eg, Bluetooth). Of course, it can be assumed that an application for interworking with the product measuring module mounted in the box 10 is installed in the customer terminal.

The generation unit 24 performs a function of generating a routing path for transmitting received data.

More specifically, the generation unit 24 generates a new routing path for transmitting received data of the corresponding service stage according to the type of failure of the specific service stage in which the failure is determined.

At this time, the generation unit 24 determines a failure for the specific service stage according to the failure determination result for the service area (a certain area) to which the set-top box 10 belongs, and the type of failure of the specific service stage is a network failure of the operator. When the ratio exceeds the threshold ratio, a new routing path for transmitting received data of a corresponding service stage may be created.

Here, the new routing path may be created through a method of allocating a virtual router to an edge computing cloud (MEC Cloud) adjacent to the service area to which the set-top box 10 belongs, and thus, the newly created routing path is an edge computing cloud. The virtual router path assigned to (MEC Cloud) is included.

In this way, when a new routing path is created for the service area to which the set-top box 10 belongs, the received data of the specific service stage in which the failure is determined is, for example, the service area through the new routing path (a), as shown in FIG. It can be divided into data transmitted to the service area (hereinafter, first received data) and data transmitted to the service area through the existing routing path (b) (hereinafter, referred to as second received data).

Here, the first received data is transmitted to the set-top box 10 in the service area and exposed as a service screen accordingly, while the second received data is used only for fault monitoring, and the set-top box 10 in the service area is It can be continuously transmitted to the failure handling support device 20 by simply passing through.

In this regard, the generation unit 24 continuously checks the failure determination result based on the second received data for the purpose of monitoring the failure, and as a result of the confirmation, the failure determination ratio for the specific service stage in the service area is less than the threshold ratio. In the case of recovery (if the failure is recovered), the available resources on the edge computing cloud (MEC Cloud) are continuously secured by removing the virtual router allocated to the edge computing cloud (MEC Cloud).

As described above, according to the configuration of the error handling support device 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention, a failure occurring in each service step for providing an IPTV service is determined without a subscriber's intervention, and a failure response procedure accordingly It can be seen that the service satisfaction of the subscriber can be improved by sharing and processing progress with the subscriber.

Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 6, an operation flow of the error processing support apparatus 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

First, the verification unit 21 checks the received data received by the set-top box 10 in each service step for providing an IPTV service according to a data verification request from the set-top box 10 (S11).

Here, the service step for providing the IPTV service includes, for example, providing a high-quality service reflecting the network quality by utilizing the necessary resources from the provisioning step of obtaining information necessary for service use during the booting process, and then receiving the update information A service use step of receiving a service launched as a service may be included. In addition, the received data received by the set-top box 10 in each of these service steps may be identified in the form of, for example, an XML format.

Subsequently, when the received data received by the set-top box 10 in each service step for providing an IPTV service is confirmed, the determination unit 22 matches each of the identified received data and the reference data (normal data) provided for each service step. It is determined whether the received data for each service step is normal based on whether or not (S12-S14).

At this time, the determination unit 22 may determine whether the received data is normal or not by checking whether the data size and the XML format match between the received data and the reference data, and if at least one of the data size and the XML format is If they do not match, the received data can be determined as abnormal.

In this regard, in FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrated above, XML format of received data is exemplarily shown.

That is, in FIG. 3, it is possible to check the normal received data matching the reference data, whereas in FIG. 4, it is possible to exemplarily confirm a case in which the “My Btv menu” cannot be displayed normally on the service screen due to the loss of information in the received data. have.

As a result, in the case of the received data illustrated in FIG. 4 above, it can be expected that the result of comparison with the reference data does not match the reference data due to the loss of information in the received data, and thus it can be determined to be abnormal.

Meanwhile, the operation of determining whether the received data is normal may be performed through a quality measurement module mounted in the set-top box 10 through a method of providing only reference data in response to a data verification request from the set-top box 10. Yes, of course.

Further, as a result of determining whether the received data is normal or not, when there is received data determined to be abnormal, the determination unit 23 determines a failure with respect to a specific service step that has received the received data (S15).

At this time, when determining a failure for a specific service stage as described above, the determination unit 23 transmits the failure determination result to the set-top box 10, thereby causing the set-top box 10 to respond to the specific service stage in which the failure is determined. The defined failure response procedure is processed, and further processing progress information on the failure response procedure can be shared with a customer terminal (eg, a smartphone) matched with the set-top box 10.

Here, the failure response procedure defined for a specific service level means, for example, a self-response procedure that the subscriber can handle at home, to the service screen or the customer terminal, or if the self-response is not possible, the failure content is reported to the customer center. It can be understood as a procedure that allows users to select the date and time of visit through a service screen or a customer terminal for a disability that needs to be automatically reported and inspected at home.

In this way, in order to share the process progress information on the failure response procedure and the failure response procedure between the set-top box 10 and the customer terminal, the set-top box 10 and the customer terminal are interconnected through short-range communication (eg, Bluetooth). Of course, it can be assumed that an application for interworking with the product measuring module mounted in the box 10 is installed in the customer terminal.

Thereafter, the generation unit 24 generates a new routing path for transmitting the received data of the corresponding service stage according to the type of failure of the specific service stage in which the failure is determined (S16-S18).

At this time, the generation unit 24 determines a failure for the specific service stage according to the failure determination result for the service area (a certain area) to which the set-top box 10 belongs, and the type of failure of the specific service stage is a network failure of the operator. When the ratio exceeds the threshold ratio, a new routing path for transmitting received data of a corresponding service step may be created.

Here, the new routing path may be created through a method of allocating a virtual router to an edge computing cloud (MEC Cloud) adjacent to the service area to which the set-top box 10 belongs, and thus, the newly created routing path is an edge computing cloud. The virtual router path assigned to (MEC Cloud) is included.

In this way, when a new routing path is created for the service area to which the set-top box 10 belongs, the received data of the specific service stage in which the failure is determined is, for example, the service area through the new routing path (a), as shown in FIG. It can be divided into data transmitted to the service area (hereinafter, first received data) and data transmitted to the service area through the existing routing path (b) (hereinafter, referred to as second received data).

Here, the first received data is transmitted to the set-top box 10 in the service area and exposed as a service screen accordingly, while the second received data is used only for fault monitoring, and the set-top box 10 in the service area is It can be continuously transmitted to the failure handling support device 20 by simply passing through.

In this regard, the generation unit 24 continuously checks the failure determination result based on the second received data for the purpose of monitoring the failure, and as a result of the confirmation, the failure determination ratio for the specific service stage in the service area is less than the threshold ratio. In the case of recovery (if the failure is recovered), the available resources on the edge computing cloud (MEC Cloud) are continuously secured by removing the virtual router allocated to the edge computing cloud (MEC Cloud) (S19-S21).

As described above, according to the operation method of the error handling support device 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention, a failure occurring in each service step for providing an IPTV service is determined without a subscriber's intervention, and a corresponding failure response It can be seen that by sharing the procedure and processing progress with the subscriber, the subscriber's service satisfaction can be improved.

Meanwhile, the steps of the method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments presented herein may be directly implemented in hardware or implemented in the form of program instructions that can be executed through various computer means and recorded in a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. The program instructions recorded in the medium may be specially designed and configured for the present invention, or may be known and usable to those skilled in computer software. Examples of computer-readable recording media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tapes, optical media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs, and magnetic media such as floptical disks. -A hardware device specially configured to store and execute program instructions such as magneto-optical media, and ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions include not only machine language codes such as those produced by a compiler but also high-level language codes that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The above-described hardware device may be configured to operate as one or more software modules to perform the operation of the present invention, and vice versa.

Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments so far, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the technical field to which the present invention belongs without departing from the gist of the present invention claimed in the following claims. Anyone of ordinary skill in the art will say that the technical idea of the present invention extends to a range in which various modifications or variations are possible.

According to the error handling support apparatus and its operation method according to the present invention, it is possible to determine a failure occurring in each service step for providing an IPTV service without the intervention of a subscriber, and to share the failure response procedure and processing progress with the subscriber. In this regard, it is an invention that has industrial applicability because it exceeds the limitations of the existing technology, not only the use of the related technology, but also the possibility of marketing or sales of the applied device is sufficient, as well as a degree that can be practically clearly implemented.

10: Set-top box
20: error handling support device
21: confirmation unit 22: determination unit
23: judgment unit 24: generation unit

Claims (12)

A verification unit for checking received data received by the set-top box in each service step for providing an IPTV service according to a data verification request from the set-top box;
A determination unit for determining whether the received data in each service step is normal based on whether the received data matches the reference data;
If there is received data determined to be abnormal, a determination unit that determines a failure for a specific service step in which the received data is received; And
A generation unit for generating a new routing path for transmitting the received data of the specific service step to the service area based on a failure determination result of the service area to which the set-top box belongs,
The generation unit,
And generating a routing path through the virtual router as the new routing path by allocating a virtual router to an edge computing cloud (MEC Cloud) adjacent to the service area to which the set-top box belongs. The method of claim 1,
The set-top box,
In accordance with a failure determination result for the specific service step, at least one of a failure response procedure defined for the specific service step and a processing progress for the failure response procedure is shared with a customer terminal matched with the set-top box. Error handling support device. delete The method of claim 1,
The generation unit,
And generating the new routing path when the failure determination ratio for the specific service step exceeds a threshold ratio as a result of the failure determination for the service area. delete The method of claim 1,
The received data of the specific service step,
First received data transmitted through the new routing path for the service area, and second received data transmitted through an existing routing path for the service area,
The generation unit,
When a failure determination result based on the second received data is that the failure determination ratio for the specific service step is less than a threshold ratio, the virtual router is removed from the edge computing cloud (MEC Cloud). A verification step of checking received data received by the set-top box in each service step for providing an IPTV service according to a data verification request from the set-top box;
A determination step of determining whether the received data in each service step is normal based on whether the received data and the reference data match;
A determination step of determining a failure for a specific service step in which the received data is received when there is received data determined to be abnormal; And
And a generating step of generating a new routing path for transmitting the received data of the specific service step to the service area based on a result of determining a failure for a service area to which the set-top box belongs,
The generation step,
A method of operating a failure handling support device, characterized in that by allocating a virtual router to an edge computing cloud (MEC Cloud) adjacent to the service area to which the set-top box belongs, and generating a routing path through the virtual router as the new routing path. . The method of claim 7,
The set-top box,
In accordance with a failure determination result for the specific service step, at least one of a failure response procedure defined for the specific service step and a processing progress for the failure response procedure is shared with a customer terminal matched with the set-top box How to operate the error handling support device. delete The method of claim 7,
The generation step,
And generating the new routing path when the failure determination ratio for the specific service step exceeds a threshold ratio as a result of the failure determination for the service area. delete The method of claim 7,
The received data of the specific service step,
First received data transmitted through the new routing path for the service area, and second received data transmitted through an existing routing path for the service area,
The generation step,
As a result of the failure determination based on the second received data, when the failure determination ratio for the specific service step is less than a threshold ratio, the virtual router is removed from the edge computing cloud (MEC Cloud). How it works.

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