Methods and apparatus for information processing and display for network

• US 20060029085A1
• Filed: 01/16/2005
• Published: 02/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Patel, Jaimin D., Booman, Gordon Andrew, Lindberg, Robert Alan, Mulligan, Patricia Anne, Boutotte, John Oliver, Sylor, Mark W., Mali, Florent
• Granted Patent: US 7,526,542 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/065 involving logical or physical relationship, e.g. grouping and hierarchies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/507 Filtering out customers affected by service problems

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for automatically processing and displaying information for managing equipment or services in a network. The information is automatically inserted into a hierarchical data structure, which can then presented in a ticker display for viewing by a user. The information concerning the network equipment or services may also be used to determine the users affected by particular network failures.

Claims

1. A method for processing information comprising:

(a) receiving a partially-defined hierarchical data structure;

(b) retrieving a set of elements from a source of information, wherein the set of elements is associated with descriptive data; and

(c) adding the set of elements to at least one level of the hierarchical data structure, based at least in part upon the descriptive data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the partially-defined hierarchical data structure describes a network comprising one or more of network equipment or application services, and the set of elements describes one or more of network equipment or application services in the network.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising iterating (b) and (c) until all elements are retrieved from the source of information and added to the partially-defined hierarchical data structure.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the addition of the set of elements modifies the partially-defined hierarchical data structure.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the addition of the set of elements comprises:

forming a new data structure based at least in part on the partially-defined hierarchical data structure; and

adding the set of elements into at least one level of the new data structure, based at least in part upon the descriptive data associated with the set of elements.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the new data structure is augmented by the set of elements based on the descriptive data.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising responding to a request for information from a user.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising responding to a request for information from an automated system.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying at least a portion of the hierarchical data structure having the at least one automatically-added element.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising displaying an alarm state adjacent to the display of the at least one automatically-added element upon the triggering of an alarm condition.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising displaying an alarm state for the at least one automatically-added element at a higher level of the hierarchical data structure.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically adding the set of elements comprises:

identifying, through the descriptive data, at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of the source for a communication associated with the set of elements, the destination for a communication associated with the set of elements, the application type associated with the set of elements, the type of the element of the set of elements, and relationship data for the set of elements; and

adding the set of elements to the hierarchical data structure in a category defined by the identified parameter.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising displaying a number of users affected by an alarm condition affecting an element in the hierarchical data structure.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprising displaying a cost estimate relating to an alarm condition affecting an element in the hierarchical data structure.

15. The method of claim 9 further comprising displaying a temporal display of alarm states.

16. The method of claim 9 wherein displaying at least a portion of the structure comprises displaying at least a portion of the hierarchical data structure in a ticker display.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the ticker display occupies a space that is less than the entire graphical display.

18. The method of claim 9 further comprising applying a filter to control the displayed alarm state.

19. The method of claim 9 further comprising displaying another portion of the hierarchical data structure in response to a command received from a user.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the source of information is organized in a substantially flat arrangement.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the descriptive data is at least one of relationship data, property data or attribute data.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the relationship data is at least one of device containment, device links, service links, or application dependencies.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein the attribute data is at least one of technology type or application type.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein the property data is at least one of a name or alias.

25. The method of claim 1 further comprising grouping the at least one automatically-added element with another element according to similarities between their descriptive data.

26. The method of claim 1 wherein the hierarchical data structure comprises at least three levels.

27. A system for processing information comprising:

a partially-defined hierarchical data structure;

a source of information comprising a set of elements, wherein the set of elements is associated with descriptive data; and

a processing engine for automatically adding the set of elements to at least one level of the hierarchical data structure, based at least in part upon the descriptive data.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the partially-defined hierarchical data structure describes a network comprising one or more of network equipment or application services, and the set of elements describes one or more of network equipment or application services in the network.

29. The system of claim 27 wherein the processing engine automatically adds the set of elements into the partially-defined hierarchical data structure.

30. The system of claim 27 wherein the processing engine automatically adds the set of elements into a new data structure based at least in part on the partially-defined hierarchical data structure.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein the new data structure is augmented by the set of elements based on the descriptive data.

32. The system of claim 27 further comprising an input for receiving a request for information from a user.

33. The system of claim 27 further comprising an input for receiving a request for information from an automated system.

34. The system of claim 27 further comprising a graphical display for displaying at least a portion of the hierarchical data structure having the at least one automatically-added element.

35. The system of claim 34 wherein the graphical display displays an alarm state adjacent to the display of the at least one automatically-added element upon the triggering of an alarm condition.

36. The system of claim 34 wherein the graphical display displays an alarm state for the at least one automatically-added element at a higher level of the hierarchical data structure.

37. The system of claim 27 wherein the processing engine comprises:

an identifier for identifying, through the descriptive data, at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of the source for a communication associated with the set of elements, the destination for a communication associated with the set of elements, the application type associated with the set of elements, the type of the element of the set of elements, and relationship data for the set of elements; and

a categorizer for adding the set of elements to the hierarchical data structure in a category defined by the identified parameter.

38. The system of claim 27 further comprising a graphical display for displaying a number of users affected by an alarm condition affecting an element in the hierarchical data structure.

39. The system of claim 27 further comprising a graphical display for displaying a cost estimate relating to an alarm condition affecting an element in the hierarchical data structure.

40. The system of claim 27 further comprising a graphical display of a temporal display of alarm states.

41. The system of claim 27 further comprising a graphical display of a portion of the hierarchical data structure in a ticker display.

42. The system of claim 41 wherein the ticker display occupies a space that is less than the entire graphical display.

43. The system of claim 27 further comprising a filter to control the displayed alarm state.

44. The system of claim 41 wherein the graphical display displays another portion of the hierarchical data structure in response to a command received from a user.

45. The system of claim 27 wherein the source of information is organized in a substantially flat arrangement.

46. The system of claim 27 wherein the descriptive data is at least one of relationship data, property data or attribute data.

47. The system of claim 46 wherein the relationship data is at least one of device containment, device links, service links, or application dependencies.

48. The system of claim 46 wherein the attribute data is at least one of technology type or application type.

49. The system of claim 46 wherein the property data is at least one of a name or alias.

50. The system of claim 27 wherein the hierarchical data structure comprises at least three levels.

51. A method for determining the number of network users affected by a network problem, the method comprising:

receiving a definition of a response set of at least one response element;

identifying at least one response element associated with at least one response element in the response set; and

identifying at least one response element in the response set affected by an alarm state;

and identifying the response elements associated with the at least one response element affected by the alarm state.

52. The method of claim 51 wherein a response element is one or more of a response path, a response source, a response destination, or a set of client sources.

53. The method of claim 51 wherein the response elements of the response set share the same application type.

54. The method of claim 51 wherein the at least one response element of the response set is a response source, and the at least one associated response element is the response source.

55. The method of claim 51 wherein the at least one response element of the response set is a response path, and the at least one associated response element is a response source.

56. The method of claim 51 wherein the at least one response element of the response set is a response destination, and the at least one associated response element is a response source associated with a response path associated with the response destination of the response set.

57. The method of claim 51 wherein the at least one response element of the response set is a client set, and the at least one associated response element is the members of the client set.

58. The method of claim 51 wherein the response elements associated with the at least one response element affected by the alarm state are unique.

59. The method of claim 51 further comprising determining the total number of unique response sources in the set of response elements associated with the response elements of the response set.

60. A method for displaying a hierarchical data structure comprising:

selecting at least one level of elements from the hierarchical data structure; and

displaying the selected level of elements in a ticker display.

61. The method of claim 60 further comprising:

selecting, by a user, a displayed element; and

displaying detailed information about the selected element.

62. The method of claim 60 wherein a user input prompts the selecting of at least one level of elements from the hierarchical data structure.

63. The method of claim 60 wherein the hierarchical data structure comprises a set of elements added to the structure from a source of information, the addition based at least in part upon descriptive data associated with the set of elements.

64. The method of claim 60 wherein the ticker display occupies a space that is less than the entire graphical display.