Template-based rule generation

• US 20080196002A1
• Filed: 03/28/2007
• Published: 08/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Koster, Klaus
• Granted Patent: US 8,230,390 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/022 Knowledge engineering; Knowledge acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0263 Rule management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227

Abstract

A rule-based monitoring framework offering a simplified GUI-driven and template-based way to specify and generate monitoring rules. The automatically generated rules can be directly deployed or further modified, in particular by combining plural templates. The modification can take place in two different views on the rule: the code view and the template view. The views can be changed at any time during the modification/generation process. Test data and rule documentation for the generated rule may be automatically generated from the GUI-driven input data.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

selecting at least two pre-defined rule templates;

combining the selected rule templates into one rule; and

generating a rule code of said rule.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a rule template comprises a source code part, a textual presentation of a logic, tests, and test data.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising:

separately adjusting at least one of the selected rule templates by modifying variables or options of the selected rule templates,

wherein the adjusting is carried out in a template view based on the rule templates.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

concurrently adjusting a plurality of rule templates by designating a plurality out of the selected rule templates of one rule; and

modifying variables or options of the designated plurality of rule templates,

wherein the adjusting is carried out in a template view based on the rule templates.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising:

adjusting at least one rule-wide option by selecting at least one rule-wide option and modifying parameters of the designated rule-wide option.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising:

adjusting a rule by editing rule code of said rule,

wherein the adjusting is carried out in a code view based on the rule code.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating the rule code comprises converting the rule of the combined rule templates into a source code.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the rule code in a code view;

displaying the rule templates in a template view; and

switching between the code view and the template view.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein parts of the rule being modified in one of the code view and template view is viewable, but not modifiable in the other view.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

checking compatibility of added or modified rule templates with the other selected rule templates.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating test data for the generated rule code,

wherein the same data as for rule code generation is utilized for the generation of test data.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a rule documentation for the generated rule code,

wherein the same data as for rule code generation is utilized for the generation of the rule documentation.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said generating comprises generating a template-based rule code in a rule-based monitoring system.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting at least two pre-defined rule templates comprises fetching the rule template from a template library, in which the rule templates are organized in a tree structure.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein said generating comprises further modifying a template-based rule code in a rule-based monitoring system.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising at least one of

fetching at least one rule templates from a template library, in which the rule templates are organized in a tree structure, and adding the at least one rule template from the template library to a pre-existing rule;

removing at least one rule template from a pre-existing rule; and

adjusting at least one of the selected rule templates by modifying variables or options of the selected rule templates.

17. A device comprising:

a template selection module configured to select at least two pre-defined rule templates;

a template combining module configured to combine the selected rule templates into one rule; and

a rule code generation module configured to generate a rule code of said rule.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein a rule template comprises a source code part, a textual presentation of a logic, tests, and test data.

19. The device of claim 17, comprising:

a template adjustment module configured to separately adjust at least one of the selected rule templates by modifying variables or options of the selected rule templates,

wherein the adjusting is carried out in a template view based on the rule templates.

20. The device of claim 17, comprising:

a template adjustment module configured to concurrently adjust a plurality of rule templates by designating a plurality out of the selected rule templates of one rule, and to modify variables or options of the designated plurality of rule templates,

wherein the adjusting is carried out in a template view based on the rule templates.

21. The device of claim 17, comprising:

a rule-wide adjustment module configured to adjust at least one rule-wide option by selecting at least one rule-wide option and modifying variables or parameters of the designated rule-wide options.

22. The device of claim 17, comprising:

an editing module configured to adjust a rule by editing rule code of said rule,

wherein the adjusting is carried out in a code view based on the rule code.

23. The device of claim 17, wherein the rule code generation module is further configured to convert the rule of the combined rule templates into a source code.

24. The device of claim 17, further comprising:

a code view module configured to display the rule code in a code view; and

a template view module configured to display rule templates in a template view.

25. The device of claim 24, further comprising:

a view selection module configured to switch between the code view and the template view.

26. The device of claim 24, wherein parts of the rule being modified in one of the code view and template view is viewable, but not modifiable in the other view.

27. The device of claim 17, further comprising:

a compatibility checking module configured to check compatibility of added or modified rule templates with the other selected rule templates.

28. The device of claim 17, further comprising:

a test data generation module configured to generate test data for the generated rule code,

wherein the same data as for rule code generation is utilized for the generation of the test data.

29. The device of claim 17, further comprising:

a documentation generation module configured to generate a rule documentation for the generated rule code,

wherein the same data as for rule code generation is utilized for the generation of the rule documentation.

30. The device of claim 17, wherein the device is configured for a template-based rule code generation in a rule-based monitoring system.

31. The device of claim 17, wherein the device is part of a network operation support system.

32. The device of claim 17, wherein the template selection module is further configured to fetch the rule templates from a template library, wherein the rule templates are organized in a tree structure in the template library.

33. The device of claim 17, wherein the device is configured for a template-based rule code modification in a rule-based monitoring system.

34. The device of claim 33, wherein the device is configured in accordance with at least one of the following:

the template selection module is further configured to fetch at least one rule template from a template library, in which the rule templates are organized in a tree structure, and the template combining module is further configured to add the at least one rule template from the template library to a pre-existing rule;

the template combining module is further configured to remove at least one rule template from a pre-existing rule; and

the template adjustment module is further configured to adjust at least one of the selected rule templates by modifying variables or options of the selected rule templates.

35. A computer program, embodied on a computer-readable medium, said computer program configured to control a processor to:

select at least two pre-defined rule templates;

combine the selected rule templates into one rule; and

generate a rule code of said rule.

36. A device comprising:

selecting means for selecting at least two pre-defined rule templates;

combining means for combining the selected rule templates into one rule; and

generating means for generating a rule code of said rule.