The present description relates generally to communications, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to a multimedia over coax alliance (MoCA) remote monitoring and management system.
Multimedia over coax alliance (MoCA) provides the backbone for the home digital entertainment network, and is supported by MoCA standard organization. MoCA solution supports streaming media such as standard television (SDTV) and high-definition TV (MTV) and allows linking a set-top box (STB) to a TV and a number of entertainment devices in multiple rooms using existing wiring. MoCA coexists with cable TV (CATV) and terrestrial services, provides a clean dedicated medium, and supports content protection. In addition MoCA provides a layer 2 communication protocol that may be used for management and monitoring. This layer 2 protocol is called MoCA Level 2 Management Entity (L2ME), and is an integral part of MoCA protocol. Another layer-2 protocol that can be used for management and monitoring of MoCA Nodes is the IEEE 1905 standard. The IEEE 1905 standard supports communication between Wi-Fi, Home-Plug AV (HP-AV) for power-line communications, and MoCA devices.
Certain features of the subject technology are set forth in the appended claims. However, for purpose of explanation, several embodiments of the subject technology are set forth in the Wowing figures.
The detailed description set forth below is intended as a description of various configurations of the subject technology and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the subject technology can be practiced. The appended drawings are incorporated herein and constitute a part of the detailed description. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the subject technology. However, it will be clear and apparent to those skilled in the art that the subject technology is not limited to the specific details set forth herein and can be practiced using one more implementations. In one or more instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the subject technology.
According to some implementation of the subject technology, methods and implementations for multimedia over coax alliance (MoCA) remote monitoring and management are described. The disclosed technology provides service providers (e.g., multi-system operators (MSOs)) capabilities to remotely monitor performance and behavior of a number of remote home networks (e.g., home or enterprise networks) at different locations. Current MoCA implementations allow management-information base (MIB) parameters for remote control, which require remote access to each monitored MoCA node via higher layers protocols (e.g., protocols above the Internet protocol (IP) such as simple network management protocol (SNMP) and technical report 69 (TR69) protocol). These higher level protocols are more complex compared to Layer-2 protocols used by MoCA. It is desirable to have MoCA supervising capacities to facilitate for service providers to characterize the remote home network capabilities, address multifunctional issues, and correct them remotely. The subject technology enables the aforementioned with local (e.g., per node) and gateway indications of the quality of the network. The managed network is capable of automatically monitoring itself with green/orange/red status codes that enable remote monitoring and management. The described technology uses Layer-2 protocols, which are much simpler than the commonly used higher layer management protocols, enabling a simple and low-cost solution, for the highly cost sensitive home network devices.
In one or more implementations, the MoCA remote entities 120 provide the service provider 110 with a number of supervisory capabilities. Examples of such supervisory capabilities include characterization of the MoCA remote entities 120, access to statistics of failures and performance variation statistics, and prevention of failures before escalation. The failure prevention may be achieved by identifying problematic home networks and providing remote mitigation before a user complains. In one or more aspects, the service provider 110 responds to user calls by remotely monitoring, debugging, and fixing issues, and takes steps to prevent failures before escalation by identifying problematic home networks (e.g., having stationary and non-stationary noise higher than expected, bad connections, bad wiring like old cables, splitters and connectors) and providing remote mitigation.
In some implementations, the supervisory capabilities of the service provider 110 facilitated by the MoCA remote entities 120 enable the service provider 110 to use the information obtained from the MoCA remote entities 120 to identify a number of issues with the home networks. For example, the service provider 110 may be enabled to identify problems such as physical issues with the cable (e.g., identified by disconnection of links and/or receive power instability), narrow in-band external noise, in-band wide stationary noise, and strong non-stationary in-band and out-of-band (OOB) noise, or bad or old splitters with too low isolation or return loss. The information can help the service provider 110 to take various steps to mitigate these issues, for example, perform a number of remote actions, call a customer to fix a problem such as to fasten a cable, or send a technician to a customer premise fix a more complex problem. Examples of the remote actions performed by the service provider 110 includes changing operating frequency, and adding signal-to-noise (SNR) margin, as described in more details herein.
The GW 210 can communicate with the service provider using, for example, an Internet protocol (IP) such as SNMP or TR69 protocol. The communication between local nodes 220 and the GW 210 can be performed using a links L1, L2, and L3 (e.g., coax links), which can be operated using MoCA Layer 2 management entity (L2ME) protocol, or the IEEE Std 1905.1 protocol (e.g., IEEE1905.1). The GW 210 is also a part of the MoCA home Network and performs the local nodes features, besides performing the gateway network features.
In some implementations, the home network 200B, as shown in
The performance monitor 315 can be implemented by a processor and is capable of executing diagnostic algorithms to detect existing issues at the local node 300A and communicate diagnostic results to the GW 210 of
In some implementations, the performance monitor 315 can further monitor a number of operational parameters of the local node such as failure indications, SNR, bit loading, receive (RX) power, and channel impulse response, and store corresponding statistics in the node database 316. The performance monitor 315 can, for example, use a re-synch counter, a downtime counter, or various admission-failure counters to monitor failure indications. Quiet probes are periods of time in which no MoCA node is transmitting any signal and allow measuring of the existing noise alone without any signal. In other words, the quiet probes can be used for efficient noise measurements. The bit loading parameter is a measure of the number of bits that the node can load per subcarrier and is therefore an indication of the channel condition such as channel noise and channel attenuation. The performance monitor 315, in addition to statistics on average values of various operational parameters, can further store the last N instances that these parameters have deviated from predetermined values in the node database 316 or from an averaged value. For example, for quiet probe, SNR, bit loading, and RX power parameters, both average and deviating values are stored. In some implementations, the local nodes MoCA MIB parameters and optionally IEEE1905 metrics are also stored in the node database 316.
The PHY 320 is responsible for physically moving data bits across the network interfaces, and performs a number of functions such as encoding, modulating and signaling functions that transform the data from bits into signals that can be sent over the network. The performance monitor 315 measures the data rate associated with the PHY 320 and uses the PHY data rate in a performance measure. For example, the performance monitor 315 may associate the green status to a measured high PHY data rate value and/or high SNR margins, and red status to a measured PHY data rate value and/or low SNR margins. The high and low PHY data rate values depend on the physical conditions of the operating MoCA channel and can vary between different operating channel frequencies. Performance monitor 315 can also measure PHY data rate variation statistics and the corresponding deviations over a time period, on the operating as well as other MoCA channel frequencies, which can be stored in the node database 316 and communicated to the GW 210.
In the high-level implementation shown in
The GW processor 335 can further receive and aggregate information such as forward error correction performance statistics, quiet probe statistics, re-synch counter data, downtime statistics, CRC data and/or timeout counter data on control packets, and use at least part of the aggregated information to monitor non-stationary noise of the home network. The quiet probe statistics, for example, can take into account environmental and on-chip generated noise bursts. The quiet probe can enable performing periodic sampling, averaging, and providing short history statistics and noise characterization.
In some implementations, the GW processor 335 can use an alternate channel assessment (ACA) feature of MoCA, which allows assess an alternate frequency channel. The subject technology enables performing periodic ACA (PACA) monitoring of other MoCA frequency channels than the frequency channel at which the MoCA network is operating and obtaining ACA information. In some implementations, PACA can be performed in predetermined periodic intervals (e.g., every few minutes), and is configurable by an operator. The operator, for example, and operator at the service provider can remotely change the operating frequency channel of the MoCA network or change the predetermined periodic intervals that PACA is performed by the GW processor 335. In some aspects, PACA can scan all local nodes and all available in-band frequency channels. The GW processor 335 can store PACA results for each scanned frequency channel as, for example, good, fair, or bad in the network database 336. In some implementations, the GW processor 335 or another module of the GW 300B performs remote monitoring of MoCA nodes and Wi-Fi or Home-Plug nodes (e.g., of
The network database 336 stores various information related to the MoRE system (e.g., 200A of
The information stored in the network database 336 is made accessible to the service provider (e.g., 110 of
The method 500 includes communicating, at a gateway (e.g., 210 of
Those of skill the art would appreciate that the various illustrative blocks, modules, elements, components, and methods described herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative blocks, modules, elements, components, and methods have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans can implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application. Various components and blocks can be arranged differently (e.g., arranged in a different order, or partitioned in a different way) all without departing from the scope of the subject technology.
As used herein, the phrase “at least one of” preceding a series of items, with the term “and” or “or” to separate any of the items, modifies the list as a whole, rather than each member of the list (i.e., each item). The phrase “at least one of” does not require selection of at least one of each item listed; rather, the phrase allows a meaning that includes at least one of any one of the items, and/or at least one of any combination of the items, and/or at least one of each of the items. By way of example, the phrases “at least one of A, B, and C” or “at least one of A, B, or C” each refer to only A, only B, or only C; any combination of A, B, and C; and/or at least one of each of A, B, and C.
A phrase such as “an aspect” does not imply that such aspect is essential to the subject technology or that such aspect applies to all configurations of the subject technology. A disclosure relating to an aspect can apply to all configurations, or one or more configurations. An aspect can provide one or more examples of the disclosure. A phrase such as an “aspect” refers to one or more aspects and vice versa. A phrase such as an “embodiment” does not imply that such embodiment is essential to the subject technology or that such embodiment applies to all configurations of the subject technology. A disclosure relating to an embodiment can apply to all embodiments, or one or more embodiments. An embodiment can provide one or more examples of the disclosure. A phrase such an “embodiment” can refer to one or more embodiments and vice versa A phrase such as a “configuration” does not imply that such configuration is essential to the subject technology or that such configuration applies to all configurations of the subject technology. A disclosure relating to a configuration can apply to all configurations, or one or more configurations. A configuration can provide one or more examples of the disclosure. A phrase such as a “configuration” can refer to one or more configurations and vice versa.
The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” or as an “example” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. Furthermore, to the extent that the term “include,” “have,” or the like is used in the description or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprise” as “comprise” is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.
All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. No claim element is to be construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for” or, in the case of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase “step for.”
The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein can be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but are to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more.” Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. Pronouns in the masculine (e.g., his) include the feminine and neuter gender (e.g., her and its) and vice versa. Headings and subheadings, if any, are used for convenience only and do not limit the subject disclosure.
This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 from U.S. Provisional Patent Application 61/883,926 filed Sep. 27, 2013, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61883926 | Sep 2013 | US |