System and method to troubleshoot a set top box device

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, at a monitoring center of a media distribution network from a media device associated with a customer account, first error data indicating occurrence of a first error at the media device at a first time, wherein the media device is at least partially functional after occurrence of the first error;

receiving, at the monitoring center, second error data indicating occurrence of a second error at the media device at a second time, wherein the media device is at least partially functional after occurrence of the second error;

determining, with a processor of the monitoring center, an elapsed time between the first time and the second time;

comparing the elapsed time between the first time and the second time to a first time threshold;

when the elapsed time is less than the first time threshold, sending an automatically generated trouble ticket indicating a failure associated with the media device from the processor to a network operations center;

when the elapsed time is greater than the first time threshold, determining an average elapsed time between errors at the media device for a particular time period, wherein the particular time period is greater than the first time threshold; and

when the average elapsed time between errors at the media device is less than a second time threshold, sending the automatically generated trouble ticket to the network operations center.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising, responsive to determining that the elapsed time is less than the first time threshold, automatically sending a notification message to a communication address associated with the customer account, the notification message indicating that the media device is to be repaired.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the second threshold is greater than the first threshold.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising automatically troubleshooting the media device at the monitoring center to identify a cause of the first error, the second error, or both.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein automatically troubleshooting the media device comprises:

when the first error, the second error, or both, indicate a problem at a home network, analyzing the home network to identify a root cause of the problem; and

when the root cause of the problem is associated with the media device, executing an automatic recovery procedure.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein executing the automatic recovery procedure comprises:

retrieving a parameter from the media device, wherein the parameter indicates a user adjustable setting of the media device;

selecting a recovery reason from a set of recovery reasons based on the parameter; and

sending a signal from the monitoring center to the media device, wherein the signal instructs the media device to set a recovery result indicator of the media device.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the user adjustable setting is a volume setting.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the user adjustable setting is a channel number setting.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , further comprising:

retrieving an additional parameter from the media device, wherein the additional parameter is a count related to latency; and

selecting the recovery reason from the set of recovery reasons based further on the count having a value greater than a third threshold.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein executing the automatic recovery procedure comprises:

when the root cause of the problem is a missing decryption key, validating an identifier associated with the media device; and

sending a decryption key to the media device when the identifier associated with the media device is valid.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein automatically troubleshooting the media device comprises:

retrieving first data associated with the customer account from a customer account database;

retrieving second data associated with the media devices associated with a second customer from a service delivery platform; and

sending a signal from the monitoring center to the media device, wherein the signal instructs the media device to set a recovery result indicator of the media device based on a comparison of the first data and the second data.

12. A system, comprising:

a processor circuit; and

a memory comprising operational instructions that, when executed by the processor circuit, cause the processor circuit to perform operations including:

receiving, from a media device associated with a customer account, first error data indicating occurrence of a first error at the media device at a first time, wherein the media device is at least partially functional after occurrence of the first error;

receiving second error data indicating occurrence of a second error at the media device at a second time, wherein the media device is at least partially functional after occurrence of the second error;

determining an elapsed time between the first time and the second time;

comparing the elapsed time between the first time and the second time to a first time threshold;

when the elapsed time is less than the first time threshold, automatically generating a trouble ticket to indicate a failure associated with the media device;

when the elapsed time is greater than the first time threshold, determining an average elapsed time between errors at the media device for a particular time period, wherein the particular time period is greater than the first time threshold; and

when the average elapsed time between errors at the media device is less than a second time threshold, generating the trouble ticket.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the first error data and the second error data identify a packet latency associated with media content packets that are received at the media device, and wherein the operations further include automatically generating the trouble ticket when the packet latency satisfies a third threshold.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the first error data, the second error data, or both, identify a remaining memory capacity of a digital video recorder associated with the media device, and wherein the operations further include, when the remaining memory capacity satisfies a third threshold, automatically sending a notification to a communication address of a subscriber that is associated with the media device.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the operations further include automatically sending a notification from a monitoring center to a communication address of a subscriber that is associated with the media device in response to generating the trouble ticket, wherein the notification includes one of an email message, an automated interactive voice response call, a pop-up message for display at a display device associated with the media device, or a text message.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the notification includes a prompt to enable a corrective action to be taken.

17. A computer-readable storage device comprising operational instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a media device associated with a customer account, first error data indicating occurrence of a first error at the media device at a first time, wherein the media device is at least partially functional after occurrence of the first error;

receiving second error data indicating occurrence of a second error at the media device at a second time, wherein the media device is at least partially functional after occurrence of the second error;

comparing an elapsed time between the first time and the second time to a first time threshold;

when the elapsed time is less than the first time threshold, automatically generating a trouble ticket to indicate a failure associated with the media device;

when the elapsed time is greater than the first time threshold, determining an average elapsed time between errors at the media device for a particular time period, wherein the particular time period is greater than the first time threshold; and

when the average elapsed time between errors at the media device is less than a second time threshold, generating the trouble ticket.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17 , wherein the media device is a set top box.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18 , wherein automatically troubleshooting the first error, the second error, or both, comprises automatically power cycling the media device, a digital video recorder associated with the media device, a residential gateway associated with the media device, or a combination thereof.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise automatically troubleshooting an issue associated with the first error data, the second error data, or both, by:

after receiving the second error data, determining how many devices are associated with the customer account based on customer account data;

sending a polling message to a device associated with the customer account;

determining whether a response to the polling message is received; and

determining a root cause of the issue based on receipt of the response to the polling message or lack of receipt of the response to the polling message.