Method for setting up a generic protocol relationship between network elements in a telecom network

• US 20050015478A1
• Filed: 11/25/2003
• Published: 01/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Alcatel SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Mussini, Marco, Canali, Massimo, Volonte, Stefano
• Application Number:
  US10/720,182
• Publication Number:
  US 20050015478A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion

Abstract

The present invention provides for a method for having the same interface family used to connect all possible kinds of network elements in a telecom network, by creating a CSG (CORBA Strategy Gateway) interface between Common Element Manager and Network Manager layers, to be protocol independent because, irrespective of the protocol used, the services provided are always the same. This generic layer will be used as a syntactical adaptation between NM and NE without taking into account the semantic of the exchanged messages.

Claims

1. Method for setting up a generic protocol relationship between network elements, namely a Network Manager and a Network Element agent, in a telecom network, wherein

an interface is created between Common Element Manager and Network Manager layers, to be protocol and model independent, as a generic layer for syntactical adaptation between Network Manager and Network Element, without taking into account the semantic of the exchanged messages;

said interface being composed by a number of generic methods hiding different protocol operations.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein said generic methods:

describe common operations, such as GET, SET, CREATE, DELETE, of the protocol used for communication between Network Manager and Network Element,

also comprise a method for managing Network Element common services, such as alarm and NE management.

3. Method according to claim 1, wherein said Corba Strategy Gateway interface:

is created starting from checking which are the operations permitted by each single protocol and which are the specific characteristics for each language;

is defined as offering the minimal functionality provided by the more complex protocols, CMIP and SNMP, mainly containing generic GET and SET methods.

4. Method according to claim 2, wherein said Corba Strategy Gateway interface:

is created starting from checking which are the operations permitted by each single protocol and which are the specific characteristics for each language;

is defined as offering the minimal functionality provided by the more complex protocols, CMIP and SNMP, mainly containing generic GET and SET methods.

5. Method according to claim 3, wherein said methods are defined using CORBA IDL language (Interface Data Language), and have, as parameters, common meta-language commands, written in XML language.

6. Method according to claim 4, wherein said methods are defined using CORBA IDL language (Interface Data Language), and have, as parameters, common meta-language commands, written in XML language.

7. Telecom network, comprising network elements, namely a Network Manager and Network Elements, wherein said telecom network comprises means for the implementation of the methof of claim 1.

8. Computer program comprising computer program code means adapted to perform all the steps of claim 1 when said program is run on a computer.

9. A computer readable medium having a program recorded thereon, said computer readable medium comprising computer program code means adapted to perform all the steps of claim 1 when said program is run on a computer.