Abstract:
There are provided a fault processing system and method for quickly and accurately diagnosing a fault and autonomously processing the fault, based on interdependencies between various devices, networks, systems, and services in home network environments, the method including: establishing fault detection rules for detecting faults belonging to respective fault types defined for each situation by classifying faults occurring in the home network environments, fault diagnosis rules for diagnosing a fault type of a fault, and fault processing rules defining a method of solving a fault for each fault type; collecting state information of devices, networks, services, and the system in the home network environments and detecting a fault based on the fault detection rules; diagnosing the fault type of the detected fault by applying the fault diagnosis rules; and processing the detected fault based on the fault processing rules according to the diagnosed fault type.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2007-0100264 filed on Oct. 5, 2007, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to an autonomous fault processing system for home network environments and a method of operating the system, the system detecting a fault occurring in the home network environments for each fault type and autonomously processing the fault according to a fault processing rule established for each fault type. 
         [0004]    The present invention was partly supported by the IT R&amp;D program of MIC/IITA [2006-S-066-2, Development of High Reliable Adaptive Middleware for u-Home]. 
         [0005]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0006]    Home network indicates a network integrating all kinds of electronic devices at home by applying various wired and wireless technologies, which is connected to external networks via a residential gateway (RG) in such a way a user not only receives and controls various services but also is notified an emergency situation and accurately manage the emergency situation, regardless of a location of the user. 
         [0007]    A home network system is formed of various kinds of devices, networks, and services. 
         [0008]    For example, devices including various kinds of home appliances and communication devices are connected via a local area network (LAN) such as universal plug and play (UPnP), Z256, LonWorks, Zigbee, LnCP, and S3. 
         [0009]    In addition, to solve interoperability problems among different types of home network middlewares, a universal middleware bridge (UMB) connecting and relaying different middleware networks in the home network system has been developed. 
         [0010]    By the UMB system, devices connected to different middleware networks in the home network system may interoperate. 
         [0011]    In such home network environments, since fault interdependently occurs among various devices, networks, and services, it is very difficult to detect and accurately recover a root cause of a fault. 
         [0012]    Nowadays, there is no standard fault processing model in home network environments. Though many technologies have been researched, many of them have been tried without considering particularities of home network environments in which various kinds of devices, networks, and services interoperate. 
         [0013]    However, fault management in home network environments requires an autonomous model based on participating objects and interdependency thereof. 
         [0014]    Also, since most of users of homes where home network systems are installed are not experts, there is required fault processing mechanism capable of detecting a fault of home network and autonomously executing fault recovery. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0015]    An aspect of the present invention provides fault processing mechanism capable of quickly accurately diagnosing a fault based on interdependency among various devices, networks, systems, and services in home network environments and autonomously processing the fault based on the diagnosis to recover the fault. 
         [0016]    According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an autonomous fault processing method for home network environments, the method including: establishing fault detection rules for detecting faults belonging to respective fault types defined for each situation by classifying faults occurring in the home network environments, fault diagnosis rules for diagnosing a fault type of a fault, and fault processing rules defining a method of solving a fault for each fault type; collecting state information of devices, networks, services, and the system in the home network environments and detecting a fault based on the fault detection rules; diagnosing the fault type of the detected fault by applying the fault diagnosis rules; and processing the detected fault based on the fault processing rules according to the diagnosed fault type. 
         [0017]    According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an autonomous fault processing system for home network environments, the system including: a storage storing fault detection rules for detecting faults occurring in the home network environments, fault diagnosis rules for diagnosing a fault type defined by classifying the faults for each situation, and fault processing rules defining a method of processing a fault for each fault type, and state information collected from the home network environments; a fault detection module collecting the state information on devices, networks, services, and the system in the home network environments and detecting and reporting a fault based on the fault detection rules; a fault diagnosis module diagnosing the type of a fault detected by the fault detection module by applying the fault diagnosis rules; and a fault processing module processing the detected fault by applying the fault processing rules according to the fault type diagnosed by the fault diagnosis module. 
         [0018]    As described above, according to the present invention, in home network environments in which various kinds of devices, networks, systems, and services are included and the services are executed controlling the respective devices via a network, when a device fault, a network fault, and a service fault occurs therein, the faults are detected and a type for each of the faults is interpreted, fault detection rules, fault diagnosis rules are searched to process the fault based on the type of the fault, and a most accurate fault processing method is applied, thereby autonomously processing the fault. 
         [0019]    In addition, whenever a new fault type is detected in the home network environments, a fault detection rule, a fault diagnosis rule, and a fault processing rule for the fault type are added in such a way that the new fault is easily processed, thereby easily maintaining and recovering a home network. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0020]    The above and other aspects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0021]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of entire home network environments employing a fault processing system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0022]      FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating fault processing mechanism according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0023]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of an autonomous fault processing system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0024]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating operations of the autonomous fault processing system of  FIG. 3 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0025]    Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
         [0026]    Only, in describing operations of the exemplary embodiments in detail, when it is considered that a detailed description on related well-known functions or constitutions unnecessarily may make essential points of the present invention be unclear, the detailed description will be omitted. 
         [0027]    Also, in the drawings, the same reference numerals are used throughout to designate the same or similar components. 
         [0028]    In addition, throughout the specification, when it is describe that a part is “connected to” another part, this includes not only a case of “being directly connected to” but also a case of “being indirectly connected to”, interposing another device therebetween. 
         [0029]    Also, when it is described that an apparatus “includes” an element and there is no opposite description thereof, this is not designate that the apparatus excludes other elements but designates that the apparatus may further include other elements. 
         [0030]    Also the term of “module” indicates a unit for processing a certain function or operation, which can be embodied by software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. 
         [0031]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an entire home network system employing a fault processing system  106  according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0032]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , the home network system includes one or more of devices  101  installed or located at home and performing a predetermined function, such as audiovisual (A/V) devices, a control device, and detectors, one or more of networks  102  for transmitting data and a control signal with the devices  101 , and an application  103  executing a security service, a safety service, and a health service by controlling the devices  101  via the networks  102 . 
         [0033]    The home network  102  is connected to external servers via a residential gateway. 
         [0034]    The home network system further includes a home network management  104  managing various kinds of the devices  101  and networks  102 , a resource processing system  105  managing resources in home network environments, and the fault processing system  106  processing faults occurring in the home network environments. 
         [0035]    The present invention relates to the fault processing system  106 . The fault processing system  106  detects a fault from device state information, home network state information, and service state information in the home network environments, determines a fault type of the fault, and applies a fault processing rule according to the determined fault type, thereby autonomously processing the fault. 
         [0036]      FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating fault processing mechanism of the fault processing system  106 , according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0037]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , fundamental concepts of the fault processing mechanism of the fault processing system  106  will be described. 
         [0038]    As operations of the fault processing system  106 , there are a fault detection phase  201 , a fault diagnosis phase  202 , and a fault recovery phase  203 . 
         [0039]    In the fault detection phase  201 , the fault processing system  106  detects fault occurrence in a home network by various methods. In detail, device state information, system state information, and service state information are collected from devices, service/configuration elements, a state administrator, and a user and a fault message is generated when a fault is detected. In this case, to detect to the fault, preset fault detection rules may be applied. The fault detection rules define rules for detecting fault occurrence from the device state information, system state information, and service state information, which is previously established. 
         [0040]    Examples of general faults capable of being detected in the fault detection phase  201  are shown in Table 1. 
         [0000]    
       
         
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 Requirement 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 diagnosis 
               
               
                 Appearance 
                 Information 
                 method 
                 Functionality 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 Self-detect 
                 Self-detection 
                 Self-diagnosis 
                 Embedded 
               
               
                   
                 information 
                 process 
                 self-diagnosis 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 mechanism 
               
               
                 No response 
                 AcK, time-out 
                 Transaction or 
                 Request/response 
               
               
                   
                   
                 heartbeat 
                 transaction 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 periodic 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 heartbeat 
               
               
                 Error report 
                 Fault code 
                 Standard fault 
                 Standard fault 
               
               
                   
                   
                 code 
                 code 
               
               
                 Ambiguous 
                 Context value 
                 Home context 
                 Home context 
               
               
                 operation 
                 abnormal 
                 management 
                 management 
               
               
                   
                 situation 
                 context-based 
                 context model 
               
               
                   
                 control 
                 service model 
                 context pattern 
               
               
                   
                 conflict 
                   
                 management 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 context 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 conflict check 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 brokering 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 virtual world and 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 real world 
               
               
                 Device/service 
                 Context value 
                 Home context 
                 Home context 
               
               
                 malfunction 
                 abnormal 
                 management 
                 management 
               
               
                   
                 control result 
                   
                 brokering 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 virtual world and 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 real world 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 device/service 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 function 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 description 
               
               
                 Resource 
                 Permenant of 
                 Management of 
                 Resource 
               
               
                 leakage 
                 temporal 
                 resource 
                 management 
               
               
                   
                 service quality 
                 capacity/ 
                 resource 
               
               
                   
                 degrade 
                 usage/ 
                 clarification 
               
               
                   
                   
                 reservation 
                 model 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 definition 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 home topology 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 map 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 resource 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 monitoring 
               
               
                 User request 
                 User input 
                 User decision 
                 User managing 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
         [0041]    In Table 1, self-detection indicates that a device reports a fault code of its own. No response, which is recognized by a service or a system, indicates a case when a response is not received and time-out occurs. Error report may be recognized from a wrong response message or a return value. Ambiguous operation may be detected after a service or a device performs an operation. Device/service malfunction indicates a case when a service or device operates but do abnormal behavior. Resource leakage may be shown when a service or a device supports quality of service (QoS). Also, when a user may explicitly requests fault processing. In this case, it is recognized by the request of the user. There are described representative faults. Various types of faults may be additionally shown. 
         [0042]    That is, in the fault detection phase  201 , the fault processing system  106  detects a fault occurrence such as the self-detection, the no response, the ambiguous operation, the device/service malfunction, the resource leakage, and the user request from the various state information collected from the device, system, network, and services by applying the fault detection rules previously established and generates the fault message for reporting the fault occurrence. 
         [0043]    In the fault diagnosis phase  202 , the fault processing system  106  determines whether a fault actually occurs and a type of the fault by analyzing the fault message. The fault type is defined by classifying faults occurring in home network environments for each situation. For example, as the fault type, there are an analog fault, a digital fault, device misconfiguration, network misconfiguration, service misconfiguration, a resource conflict, and a context conflict. The fault type is defined based on general faults capable of occurring in present home network environments. When there is detected a new fault that does not correspond to the defined fault types, a new fault type may be defined. In the present invention, fault diagnosis rules previously established are applied in the fault diagnosis phase  202 . The fault diagnosis rules define rules for diagnosing a type of a fault currently occurring. Whenever defining a new fault, a fault diagnosis rule suitable for the new fault is added, thereby diagnosing an occurrence of a new fault type in the fault diagnosis phase  202 . 
         [0044]    In the fault recovery phase  203 , the fault processing system  106  performs recovery operations suitable for the fault type diagnosed in the fault diagnosis phase  202 . For example, as the recovery operations, there are reconfiguration of a context, a resource, a service, and a network, rollback, reset/restart, notification, remote recovery, and a connection to an offline after service (A/S) center. In the fault recovery phase  203 , monitoring is further performed in addition to the recovery operations. That is, a fault code of the detected fault is reported to the user. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the fault recovery includes both of autonomous recovery executed without intervention of an administrator and manual recovery executing a requested recovery according to the intervention of the administrator. For example, as shown in  FIG. 2 , when a fault corresponding to the network misconfiguration, the service misconfiguration, the resource conflict, and the context conflict, a network, a service, a resource, or a context where a fault occurs is reconfigured. In the case of the service misconfiguration, the rollback may be executed in addition to the service reconfiguration. In the case of one of the device misconfiguration and the digital fault, a corresponding device is processed to be reset/restart. In the case of the analog fault, the user is notified to request the remote recovery or the offline A/S. Similarly, when a fault is not yet solved after processing the fault, the notification, the remote recovery, or the offline A/S may be requested. 
         [0045]    To autonomously process a fault, the fault processing system  106  previously establishes fault processing rules defining a processing method for each fault type. In the fault recovery phase  203 , a fault processing rule suitable for the diagnosed fault type is interpreted and a fault recovery is executed according to the interpretation. A new suitable fault processing rule may be added when there is detected a new fault type. 
         [0046]    As described above, to process a fault, it is required to previously define a fault type, which may be defined by a fault cause, a fault state, and a fault recovery method. 
         [0047]    The fault cause and the fault state are shown when a fault occurs. 
         [0048]    Accordingly, for the fault detection phase  201 , there may be provided a fault detection module capable of establishing the fault detection rule for detecting all types of faults based on the fault cause and fault state with respect to all of the presently established fault types and detecting the all types of faults. 
         [0049]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating an autonomous fault processing system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0050]    Referring to  FIG. 3 , the autonomous fault processing system includes a fault detection module  310  collecting information on various states occurring in home network environments and reporting the information by using a fault message, a fault diagnosis module  320  diagnosing what type of a fault occurs via the fault message outputted from the fault detection module  310 , a fault processing module  330  processing the fault by applying a fault processing rule established according to the fault type diagnosed by the fault diagnosis module  320 , and a storage  340  storing rules  342  to  344  for operations of the fault detection module  310 , the fault diagnosis module  320 , and the fault processing module  330  and state information  341 . 
         [0051]    The fault detection module  310  includes one or more of fault detectors  311  collecting device state information, system state information, and network state information and a fault message output unit  312  forming and outputting a fault message by using the state information collected by the fault detectors  311 . 
         [0052]    The fault detectors  311  detects various faults as shown in  FIG. 2 , such as a self-detected fault, no response from a service or system, an error report, ambiguous operation, device/service malfunction, resource leakage, and fault occurrence inputted by a user. 
         [0053]    The fault diagnosis module  320  includes a condition combiner  321  analyzing the fault message outputted from the fault detection module  310  according to the fault diagnosis rules  343  of the storage  340  and a fault type determiner  322  determining a fault type according to a result of the analysis of the condition combiner  321 . The condition combiner  321  continuously receives the state information including a functional state of a device, resource usage of a network, and operation information of a service and combines the state information and transmits the combined state information for fault diagnosis to the fault type determiner  322 . The fault type determiner  322  diagnoses whether a fault occurs and a type of the fault, by using various types of the state information transmitted from the condition combiner  321  and the fault diagnosis rules  343  describing features of the fault. The fault diagnosis rules are formed of a fault type, evidences such as a functional state of a device, and a description. 
         [0054]    The fault processing module  330  includes a fault processing rule interpreter  331  reading and interpreting a fault processing rule according to the fault type determined by the fault diagnosis module  320  and a fault processing rule executor executing the fault processing rule interpreted by the fault processing rule interpreter  331 . 
         [0055]    In addition, the fault processing module  330  displays a cause and a recovery method of the fault to a user, according to the diagnosis result of the fault diagnosis module  320 . In this case, the display is provided by graphic user interface (GUI). The GUI is formed of a display board and a fault processing board. The display board displays the state information of a home network, collected by the fault detection module  310 , and the fault processing board displays fault information such as a fault type code, a fault cause, and a recovery method of the fault, after processing the fault. 
         [0056]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating operations of the fault processing system of  FIG. 3 . Hereinafter, the operations of the fault processing system will be sequentially described with reference to  FIG. 4 . 
         [0057]    Referring to  FIG. 4 , the fault processing system is initiated (S 41 ) and establishes fault detection rules, fault diagnosis rules, and fault processing rules (S 42 ). 
         [0058]    When the establishing all of the rules for processing faults is finished, the fault detection module  310  is operated by the fault processing system (S 43 ). A plurality of the fault detectors  311  included in the fault detection module  310  collect various types of state information on home network environments. 
         [0059]    When there is detected state information suspicious as a fault (S 44 ), the fault detection module  310  notifies the fault diagnosis module  320  that the fault occurs, by using a fault message (S 45 ). 
         [0060]    When the fault message is received, the fault diagnosis module  320  analyzes present state information of a home network (S 46 ) and interprets the fault message (S 47 ). 
         [0061]    As a result of the interpreting the fault message, when there is no fault, the fault message is disregarded and fault detection is continuously performed. On the other hand, when a fault actually occurs, the fault detection module  320  determines a type of the fault by applying the fault diagnosis rules (S 48  and S 49 ). 
         [0062]    The fault processing rule established for the determined fault type is executed (S 50 ). 
         [0063]    After executing the fault processing rule, when the fault is solved (S 51 ), fault detection is continuously performed. When the fault is not solved, S 46  is repeated to apply and execute another fault processing rule by reanalyzing state information. 
         [0064]    The operations from S 46  to S 50  are repeatedly performed until the fault detected in the home network environments is solved. 
         [0065]    While the present invention has been shown and described in connection with the exemplary embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.