JP2005354342A - How to analyze network failure information - Google Patents

Abstract

[PROBLEMS] When a failure occurs in a network home appliance terminal such as a network-compatible digital TV, the user needs to identify the cause individually such as HUB, wireless LAN, router, broadband line, etc., and has deep knowledge of the network. Failure analysis / recovery work could only be done by the user who made it. In particular, it has been a big problem in network home appliance terminals that target home appliance users who are unfamiliar with the network.
As an improvement measure, paying attention to the characteristics of Internet-compatible digital TV, which has a TV screen that is easy for the user to see, the failure information of the home network collected by the Internet-compatible digital TV and the information acquired from the broadband router via the network The failure information of the broadband line and the like is integrated and analyzed in the Internet-compatible digital TV, and information estimated to be the cause of the network failure is displayed on the TV screen.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a method of analyzing failure information of a network device and displaying it on a digital TV screen.

  With the spread of the Internet to homes, the network connection function of home appliances such as digital home appliances is rapidly expanding. These network-compatible digital home appliances provide users with applications using the Internet, but they also have the disadvantage that these functions cannot be used if a network connection failure occurs.

The cause of network connection failure is not only the failure of a single device, but also a hub, broadband router, ADSL modem, ADSL line, Internet line, server, network cable to connect the hub or broadband router, modular cable connected to the ADSL modem Various settings such as user setting errors, device-to-device connection errors, and wireless LAN connection quality degradation. The work of investigating the cause of a network failure in turn, such as network home appliances, hubs, and broadband routers, is very burdensome for the user. In fact, when the service becomes unavailable, the user often determines that the internet home appliance terminal is out of order. Network devices such as routers, hubs, and wireless LAN devices have a function of notifying users of communication status using LEDs, but it is difficult for users of network home appliances who are not familiar with the network to use the information.
JP 2000-358029 A

  When a failure occurs in the network on the route from the Internet home appliance terminal such as the Internet compatible digital TV to the server on the Internet, the user needs to isolate the cause individually such as HUB, wireless LAN, router, broadband line, etc. Only users with deep knowledge of the network could analyze and recover from the failure. In particular, in home appliance terminals targeting home appliance users who are unfamiliar with the network, there are cases where application errors (communication errors) on internet home appliances due to network failures are considered failures of internet home appliance terminals. The difficulty of cause analysis and recovery work at the time of failure occurred was a major problem.

  As measures to improve this, we focused on the features of Internet-compatible digital TV with a TV screen that is easy for the user to see. (1) In-home network failure information collected by Internet-compatible digital TV The failure information of the broadband line and the like is integrated and analyzed in the Internet-compatible digital TV, and information estimated to be the cause of the network failure is displayed on the TV screen.

  The problem to be solved is that in order to solve a network failure, it is necessary to examine network devices constituting the network in order, which requires very complicated procedures and high network skills. By simply checking the screen of the digital TV, it is possible to obtain comprehensive network failure information, eliminating the need to individually investigate network devices, and facilitating analysis and recovery of the cause of network connection failures.

  The present invention eliminates the trouble of individually investigating network devices in order to analyze the cause when a communication application such as Web access from a network compatible digital TV becomes unavailable due to a network connection failure. The main feature is to simplify the cause analysis and recovery work. With the purpose of simplifying the cause analysis and recovery work of network failure, the failure information obtained by the failure diagnosis function of the network-compatible digital TV and the failure information obtained from the broadband router installed in the home network via the network It was realized by combining and analyzing in the Internet compatible digital TV and displaying it on the TV screen of the Internet compatible digital TV.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a network-compatible digital TV showing a method for analyzing and displaying network failure information according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In addition to the digital TV function for viewing TV programs, the Internet-compatible digital TV includes a network interface and TCP / IP protocol stack, and communicates with a Web server on the Internet via a home broadband router and ADSL line. It is a digital TV equipped with a communication application that can acquire content desired by a user on-demand from a Web server and display it on a TV screen.

  Since there are a plurality of network devices in the communication path from the network compatible digital TV to the web server, if any one of these fails, a communication error occurs in the communication application of the network compatible digital TV. . However, from the network compatible digital TV, it cannot be specified which network device has failed.

  As a failure information collection means that can be mounted on a network-compatible digital TV, there is a Ping command used for network failure analysis by a personal computer. The Ping command can check communication to a specific IP address using the ICMP protocol, which is a part of the TCP / IP protocol, and a failure occurs in a network device existing on the route to the IP address. It is possible to determine whether or not. However, with the Ping command, it is necessary to specify a specific IP address, and because it is often blocked by a firewall on the Internet for security reasons, only fault information up to the broadband router in the house is collected. I can't.

  In addition, there is a method of using error information of TCP protocol used for communication between a communication application and a Web server as a failure information collecting unit that can be mounted on a digital TV. However, since TCP is a communication protocol for performing end-to-end communication between a network-compatible digital TV and a Web server, failure information obtained from TCP error information is a communication host such as a Web server being down. I do not know where the fault occurred on the network path.

  As described above, in the network compatible digital TV, (1) failure information collection to the home broadband router and (2) failure information about the communication host located at the communication end such as a Web server can be collected. Failure information up to the Web server cannot be collected.

  In the network-compatible digital TV of the present invention, the failure information that cannot be collected by the network-compatible digital TV is complemented by acquiring the failure information held by the broadband router. The network failure information of the broadband router is sent to the network compatible digital TV via the network via the communication middleware for failure information exchange, the TCP / IP protocol stack, and the Ethernet interface. For example, a UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) protocol stack that is widely used in personal computers and broadband routers may be used as the communication middleware for fault information exchange.

  The network failure information collected by the network trouble information collecting means of the network-compatible digital TV and the network trouble information acquired from the broadband router via the network by the communication middleware for trouble information exchange are comprehensively analyzed by the network trouble analyzing means. Then, it is sent to the digital TV display means and presented to the user.

  In addition, ADSL lines, FTTH (Fiber To The Home) lines, CATV lines, etc. are common as broadband lines, but each line uses network equipment such as an ADSL modem, media converter, and CATV modem. Is different. By registering the broadband line type in the network environment information storage means in advance using the input means by the TV remote controller, more accurate network failure information can be presented to the user.

  With the above method, it is possible to obtain comprehensive network failure information simply by checking the digital TV screen, eliminating the need to investigate each network device individually, and facilitating analysis and recovery of the cause of network connection failures. become.

  According to the network failure information analysis and display method of the present invention, it is possible to obtain comprehensive network failure information just by checking the screen of the digital TV when a network failure of unknown cause occurs, There is no need to investigate each network device individually, and the cause analysis / recovery work of the network connection failure becomes easy. This is useful when the number of users who have no knowledge of the network increases as the number of users of the network expands not only to current personal computer users but also to consumer electronics users.

Functional block diagram of a network compatible digital TV showing how to analyze and display network fault information

Explanation of symbols

100 Digital TV for Internet
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Network interface 102 TCP / IP protocol stack 103 Communication middleware for fault information exchange 104 Communication protocol for application 105 Communication application 106 Network fault information collection means 107 Network fault analysis means 108 Network environment information storage means 109 Remote control reception means 110 Digital TV display means 111 TV remote control 112 Network fault information 113 Network 114 Router with built-in ADSL modem 115 Network interface 116 TCP / IP protocol stack 117 Communication middleware for fault information exchange 118 Router communication protocol 119 Telephone line 120 ADSL line 121 Internet 122 Web server

Claims (3)

In a network terminal device provided with a communication means based on a communication protocol, a network fault diagnosis function A and a display means, and a router device provided with a communication protocol exchange function and a network fault diagnosis function B, the network terminal device is connected to the router device. On the other hand, a network obtained by combining and analyzing the network fault information collected by the router device using the network diagnostic function B and the network fault information acquired through the network and collected using the network fault diagnostic function A A method for analyzing network fault information, characterized by presenting fault information on a display means. 2. The network failure information analysis method according to claim 1, wherein the network terminal device is a digital TV device having a TV screen as display means. In a network terminal device provided with communication means by communication protocol, network fault diagnosis function A, display means and input means, and router device provided with a communication protocol exchange function and network fault diagnosis function B, the network terminal device includes For the router device, the network fault information collected by the router device using the network diagnostic function B, the network fault information acquired via the network and collected using the network fault diagnostic function A, and the input means A network failure information analysis method, characterized in that network failure information obtained by combining and analyzing network environment information input by a user is presented on a display means.

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