Copy-and-paste functionality for network reconfiguration

• US 20050198581A1
• Filed: 03/05/2004
• Published: 09/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Patrizlo, Jonathan Paul, Hepner, Daniel W., Soderberg, Eric Martin
• Granted Patent: US 8,650,500 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/770
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

A network system includes a reconfigurable network and a network management system. The network management system can represent the network in the form of a network image. Network image objects, corresponding to network objects, can be selected as copy sources and paste targets. A copy-and-paste operation modifies the network image to indicate a potential modification of the actual network in which the configuration of the network object corresponding to the selected copy source object is applied to the network object corresponding to the selected image object. In addition, the copy-and-paste operation can automatically represent a common connection of a source object input and a target object input to a common data source. Furthermore, the copy-and-paste operation can automatically connect outputsof source and target objects to a comparison function so that the implementation of the copy-and-paste operation on the actual network can be validated.

Claims

1. A network system comprising;

a network having network objects including a source object and a target object;

display means for, in response to a user initiated copy-and-paste operation, representing a potential modification of said network involving, at least in part, applying a configuration of said source object of said network to said target object; and

implementation means for implementing said modification on said network.

2. A network system as recited in claim 1 wherein:

said source object has a source input and said target object has a target input;

said display means, in response to said copy-and-paste operation, represents said source input and said target input potentially having a common data source.

3. A network system as recited in claim 1 further comprising a comparison function, said source object having a source output, said target object having a target output, said display means, in response to said copy-and-paste operation, representing potential connections between said comparison function and said source output and between said comparison function and said target output.

4. A network system as recited in claim 1 wherein, in response to said copy-and-paste operation, said display means stops representing a pre-existing configuration of said target object.

5. A network system as recited in claim 1 wherein, in response to said copy-and-paste operation, said display means indicates that a pre-existing configuration of said target object has been combined with said source configuration.

6. A method of reconfiguring a network having objects, said method comprising:

displaying a network image of said network in an actual configurations;

in response to a user copy-and-paste operation, displaying a network image corresponding of a potential modification of said network involving, at least in part, applying a source configuration of a selected source object of said network to a selected target object of said network; and

in response to a user command, implementing said modification on said network.

7. A method as recited in claim 6 wherein said implementing involves applying said source configuration to said selected target object.

8. A method as recited in claim 6 wherein said displaying involves displaying a first potential modification of said network in which said source configuration is applied to said target object and then displaying a second potential modification in which said a configuration of said target object is further modified from said first potential modification, said implementing involving implementing said second potential modification and not said first potential modification on said network.

9. A method as recited in claim 6 wherein said potential modification includes connecting inputs to said source and target objects to receive common data.

10. A method as recited in claim 6 wherein said potential modification includes connecting outputs of said source and data objects to a comparison function.

11. A method as recited in claim 10 further comprising comparing data output from said target object with data output from said source object.