Network meta-data libraries and related methods

• US 20060047618A1
• Filed: 08/24/2004
• Published: 03/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Bannach, Matthias
• Granted Patent: US 7,720,827 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]

Abstract

Network meta-data libraries act as repositories of evolving management information models (MIM) and management information based (MIB) models. Changes to the models may be originated using the libraries or tracked by the libraries. In addition, the libraries may be used to generate and store transformation models used by mediation units to transform changes made to network elements, such as routers, into normalized meta-data that can be understood by an operations support system.

Claims

1. A network meta-data library operable to:

receive at least changes associated with one or more models;

compare the received changes to one or more stored models; and

identify portions of the compared one or more stored models affected by the received changes.

2. The meta-data library as in claim 1 wherein the changes are associated with at least one network element.

3. The meta-data library as in claim 1 wherein the changes are associated with at least one operations support system.

4. The meta-data library as in claim 1 wherein the one or more stored models comprise previous versions of models selected from at least the group consisting of one or more network element models, one or more operations support models, one or more transformation models and one or more meta-meta data models.

5. The meta-data library as in claim 1 further operable to store the received changes and identified portions.

6. The meta-data library as in claim 5 operable to generate an audit trail for one or more network element models.

7. The meta-data library as in claim 5 operable to generate an audit trail for the one or more stored models.

8. The meta-data library as in claim 1 further operable to generate a version of each stored model affected by the received changes.

9. The meta-data library as in claim 8 further operable to forward a version of one or more models to a mediation unit to enable the generation of one or more normalized models recognizable to one or more operations support systems in response to the receipt of the changes.

10. A network meta-data library operable to:

store at least one or more common data definitions; and

interpret one or more models using at least the one or more stored, common data definitions.

11. The meta-data library as in claim 10 further operable to generate new versions of the one or more models using at least the one or more stored, common data definitions,

wherein each of the generated new versions is substantially consistent with one another.

12. The meta-data library as in claim 10 further operable to identify portions of the one or more models affected by received changes using at least the one or more stored, common data definitions.

13. The meta-data library as in claim 10 further operable to edit the one or more models using at least the one or more stored, common data definitions.

14. The meta-data library as in claim 10 further operable to generate code using at least the one or more stored, common data definitions.

15. A network meta-data library operable to:

receive at least one or more changes associated with one or more models;

link one or more portions of one or more stored models to the received changes; and

generate one or more maps of the linked portions.

16. The meta-data library as in claim 15 further operable to link the portions to the received changes on a meta-data-by-meta-data basis.

17. The meta-data library as in claim 15 further operable to link the portions on a portion-by-portion basis.

18. The meta-data library as in claim 15 wherein the received changes comprise changes from one or more network elements.

19. The meta-data library as in claim 15 wherein the models associated with the changes are selected from at least the group consisting of one or more network element models, one or more network management models, one or more transformation models and one or more meta-meta data models.

20. The meta-data library as in claim 15 further operable to generate one or more transformation models using one or more of the generated maps.

21. The meta-data library as in claim 20 further operable to forward the one or more transformation models to a mediation unit to enable the generation of one or more normalized models recognizable to one or more operations support systems in response to the receipt of the received changes.

22. A network meta-data library operable to:

receive at least one or more changes associated with one or more models;

generate one or more transformation models associated with the received changes; and

compare the one or more generated models to one or more models associated with the received changes to ensure that the one or more generated models are substantially similar with the one or more models associated with the received changes.

23. The meta-data library as in claim 22 further operable to:

identify parts of the generated models that are different from portions of the models associated with the received changes; and

modify the identified parts to make them substantially similar to the portions of the models associated with the received changes.

24. The meta-data library as in claim 23 further operable to generate one or more documentation comments associated with one or more of the modified parts.

25. A network meta-data library operable to:

receive one or more proposed changes associated with one or more network elements, without connecting to the one or more network elements;

generate one or more network element models associated with the one or more network elements based on the proposed changes;

simulate the operation of the one or more network element models to determine whether the one or more proposed changes can be implemented in the one or more network elements, without connection to the one or more network elements.

26. The meta-data library as in claim 25 further operable to receive the one or more proposed changes from one or more operations support systems.

27. The meta-data library as in claim 25 further operable to identify one or more constraint definitions based on the results of one or more simulations.

28. The meta-data library as in claim 27 further operable to generate one or more transformation models based at least on the results of one or more simulations.

29. A network meta-data library operable to:

store one or more versions of one or more models; and

compare one or more of the versions to another of the versions; and

identify one or more differences from the one or more comparisons.

30. The meta-data library as in claim 29 further operable to generate one or more work orders, each work order associated with one or more of the differences,

wherein one or more of the work orders is used to generate logical instructions used to update one or more of the compared versions.

31. The meta-data library as in claim 29 wherein the one or more models are selected from at least the group consisting of one or more network element models, one or more operations support models, one or more transformation models and one or more meta-meta data models.

32. A network meta-data library operable to:

forward one or more models to one or more test network elements;

monitor the operation of the one or more test network elements.

33. The meta-data library as in claim 32 further operable to store parameters associated with the operation of the one or more test network elements.

34. The meta-data library as in claim 32 further operable to use stored parameters associated with the operation of the one or more test network elements to generate a next version of the one or more forwarded models.

35. A network meta-data library operable to determine the throughput associated with one or more of network elements using one or more transformation models.

36. A network meta-data library operable to:

assign a weighted value to one or more transformation models;

compare one or more of the weighted values to one or more performance values, each performance value associated with one or more operations support systems;

generate a performance prediction value based on the comparison.

37. The meta-data library as in claim 36 further operable to assign a weighted value to a transformation model based on the complexity of the model.

38. The meta-data library as in claim 37 further operable to assign a greater weighted value to a transformation model associated with complex changes and a lesser weighted value to a transformation model associated with less complex changes.

39. A network meta-data library operable to:

store one or more models;

generate code associated with changes to the one or more models; and

forward the code to one or more compilers.

40. The meta-data library as in claim 39 wherein the one or more models are selected from the group consisting of one or more transformation models, one or more network element models, one or more operations support system models and one or more meta-meta data models.

41. A network meta-data library operable to:

receive one or more compiled network element models; and

generate one or more transformation models based on the one or more compiled models.

42. A method for using a meta-data library to manage life-cycles of network models comprising:

receiving at least changes associated with one or more models;

comparing the received changes to one or more stored models; and

identifying portions of the compared one or more stored models affected by the received changes.

43. The method as in claim 42 wherein the changes are associated with at least one network element.

44. The method as in claim 42 wherein the changes are associated with at least one network management system.

45. The method as in claim 42 wherein the one or more stored models comprise previous versions of models selected from at least the group consisting of one or more network element models, one or more operations support models, one or more transformation models and one or more meta-meta data models.

46. The method as in claim 42 further comprising storing the received changes and identified portions.

47. The method as in claim 46 further comprising generating an audit trail for one or more network element models.

48. The method as in claim 46 further comprising generating an audit trail for the one or more stored models.

49. The method as in claim 42 further comprising generating a version of each stored model affected by the received changes.

50. The method as in claim 49 further comprising forwarding a version of one or more models to a mediation unit to enable the generation of one or more normalized models recognizable to one or more operations support systems in response to the receipt of the changes.

51. A method for utilizing definitions in a network meta-data library comprising:

storing at least one or more common data definitions; and

interpreting one or more models using at least the one or more stored, common data definitions.

52. The method as in claim 51 further comprising generating new versions of the one or more models using at least the one or more stored, common data definitions,

wherein each of the generated new versions is substantially consistent with one another.

53. The method as in claim 51 further comprising identifying portions of the one or more models affected by received changes using at least the one or more stored, common data definitions.

54. The method as in claim 51 further comprising editing the one or more models using at least the one or more stored, common data definitions.

55. The method as in claim 51 further comprising generating code using at least the one or more stored, common data definitions.

56. A method for mapping changes to network models in a meta-data library comprising:

receiving at least one or more changes associated with one or more models;

linking one or more portions of one or more stored models to the received changes; and

generating one or more maps of the linked portions.

57. The method as in claim 56 further comprising linking the portions to the received changes on a meta-data-by-meta-data basis.

58. The method as in claim 56 further operable to link the portions on a portion-by-portion basis.

59. The method as in claim 56 wherein the received changes comprise changes from one or more network elements.

60. The method as in claim 56 wherein the models associated with the changes are selected from at least the group consisting of one or more network element models, one or more operations support models, one or more transformation models and one or more meta-meta data models.

61. The method as in claim 56 further comprising generating one or more transformation models using one or more of the generated maps.

62. The method as in claim 61 further comprising forwarding the one or more transformation models to a mediation unit to enable the generation of one or more normalized models recognizable to one or more operations support systems in response to the receipt of the received changes.

63. A method of comparing network models in a meta-data library comprising:

receiving at least one or more changes associated with one or more models;

generating one or more transformation models associated with the received changes; and

comparing the one or more generated models to one or more models associated with the received changes to ensure that the one or more generated models are substantially similar with the one or more models associated with the received changes.

64. The method as in claim 63 further comprising:

identifying parts of the generated models that are different from portions of the models associated with the received changes; and

modifying the identified parts to make them substantially similar to the portions of the models associated with the received changes.

65. The method as in claim 63 further comprising generating one or more documentation comments associated with one or more of the modified parts.

66. A method for simulating the operation of a network element using a meta-data library comprising:

receiving one or more proposed changes associated with one or more network elements, without connecting to the one or more network elements;

generating one or more network element models associated with the one or more network elements based on the proposed changes;

simulating the operation of the one or more network element models to determine whether the one or more proposed changes can be implemented in the one or more network elements, without connection to the one or more network elements.

67. The method as in claim 66 further comprising receiving the one or more proposed changes from one or more operations support systems.

68. The method as in claim 66 further comprising identifying one or more constraint definitions based on the results of one or more simulations.

69. The method as in claim 68 further comprising generating one or more transformation models based at least on the results of one or more simulations.

70. A method for comparing network models within a meta-data library comprising:

storing one or more versions of one or more models; and

comparing one or more of the versions to another of the versions; and

identifying one or more differences from the one or more comparisons.

71. The method as in claim 70 further comprising generating one or more work orders, each work order associated with one or more of the differences,

wherein one or more of the work orders is used to generate logical instructions used to update one or more of the compared versions.

72. The method as in claim 70 wherein the one or more models are selected from at least the group consisting of one or more network element models, one or more operations support models, one or more transformation models and one or more meta-meta data models.

73. A method for testing network elements using a meta-data library comprising:

forwarding one or more models to one or more test network elements;

monitoring the operation of the one or more test network elements.

74. The method as in claim 73 further comprising storing parameters associated with the operation of the one or more test network elements.

75. The method as in claim 73 further comprising using stored parameters associated with the operation of the one or more test network elements to generate a next version of the one or more forwarded models.

76. A method for determining the throughput associated with one or more of network elements, the method comprising using one or more transformation models within a meta-data library.

77. A method for using a meta-data library to determine the performance of an operations support system comprising:

assigning a weighted value to one or more transformation models;

comparing one or more of the weighted values to one or more performance values, each performance value associated with one or more operations support systems;

generating a performance prediction value based on the comparison.

78. The method as in claim 77 further comprising assigning a weighted value to a transformation model based on the complexity of the model.

79. The method as in claim 77 further comprising assigning a greater weighted value to a transformation model associated with complex changes and a lesser weighted value to a transformation model associated with less complex changes.

80. A method for generating code using a network meta-data library comprising:

storing one or more models;

generating code associated with changes to the one or more models; and

forwarding the code to one or more compilers.

81. The method as in claim 80 wherein the one or more models are selected from the group consisting of one or more transformation models, one or more network element models, one or more operations support system models and one or more meta-meta data models.

82. A method for receiving network element models comprising:

receiving one or more compiled network element models at a meta-data library; and

generating one or more transformation models within the library based on the one or more compiled models.