DEFINING AN END-TO-END PATH FOR A NETWORK SERVICE

• US 20090168786A1
• Filed: 12/26/2007
• Published: 07/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Data Services Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Mehta, Ashish, Sarkar, Ashis, Thaker, Dhaval V.
• Granted Patent: US 8,208,403 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/396
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5064 Customer relationship management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/30 Routing of multiclass traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/42 Centralised routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target

Abstract

A device receives, from a customer, a request for an end-to-end path through a network, determines parameters of a query based on the request and path criteria, and executes the query on a database of network elements capable of being included in the end-to-end path. The device also selects one or more of the network elements provided in the database based on results of the query, and reserves, in the database, the one or more selected network elements for the end-to-end path.

Claims

1. A computing device-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, from a customer, a request for an end-to-end path through a network;

determining parameters of a query based on the request and path criteria;

executing the query on a database of network elements capable of being included in the end-to-end path;

selecting one or more of the network elements provided in the database based on results of the query; and

marking, in the database, the one or more selected network elements for the end-to-end path.

2. The computing-device implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the one or more marked network elements to an assignment server for activation of the end-to-end path.

3. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, where determining parameters of a query comprises at least one of:

determining parameters of the query based on a capacity of a virtual router of the network;

determining parameters of the query based on a capacity of a router of the network;

determining parameters of the query based on a capacity of a switch of the network;

determining parameters of the query based on an availability of the router;

determining parameters of the query based on an availability of the switch;

determining parameters of the query based on an availability of a link connecting the router and the switch;

determining parameters of the query based on an availability of a link connecting the switch and a line access multiplexer (LAM) of the network;

or

determining parameters of the query based on a capacity of the link connecting the router and the switch.

4. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, where determining parameters of a query comprises at least one of:

determining parameters of the query based on a capacity of a link connecting an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch and a router of the network;

determining parameters of the query based on a capacity of a link connecting the ATM switch and a line access multiplexer (LAM) of the network;

determining parameters of the query based on a capacity of a link connecting the LAM and another LAM of the network;

determining parameters of the query based on an availability of the LAM;

determining parameters of the query based on an availability of the link connecting the LAM and the other LAM;

determining parameters of the query based on a type of the ATM switch;

or

determining parameters of the query based on an availability of the link connecting the LAM and a switch of the network.

5. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, where selecting one or more of the network elements comprises:

selecting a line access multiplexer (LAM) of the network based on a location of the customer; and

determining the end-to-end path from the LAM to a service provider.

6. A computing device-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, from an assignment interface server, information identifying one or more network elements defining an end-to-end path through a network;

assigning a virtual path identifier or a virtual channel identifier for at least one device of the network based on the information identifying one or more network elements; and

activating the end-to-end path based on the assigned virtual path identifier or virtual channel identifier.

7. The computing device-implemented method of claim 6, where assigning a virtual path identifier or a virtual channel identifier for at least one device comprises at least one of:

assigning a virtual path identifier or a virtual channel identifier for a line access multiplexer of the network based on the information identifying one or more network elements;

assigning a virtual path identifier or a virtual channel identifier for a switch of the network based on the information identifying one or more network elements;

or

assigning a virtual path identifier or a virtual channel identifier for a router of the network based on the information identifying one or more network elements.

8. The computing device-implemented method of claim 7, where assigning a virtual path identifier or a virtual channel identifier for a line access multiplexer comprises at least one of:

assigning the virtual path identifier or the virtual channel identifier for the line access multiplexer based on a customer type;

assigning the virtual path identifier or the virtual channel identifier for the line access multiplexer based on a plurality of virtual path identifiers or virtual channel identifiers;

or

assigning the virtual path identifier or the virtual channel identifier for the line access multiplexer based on a physical port associated with a customer.

9. The computing device-implemented method of claim 6, where assigning a virtual path identifier or a virtual channel identifier for at least one device comprises:

assigning a virtual path identifier or a virtual channel identifier for a high capacity link of the network, via a switch cloud, based on the information identifying one or more network elements; and

determining an availability of one or more ingress switches or egress switches in the switch cloud.

10. A computer-readable memory device that stores computer-executable instructions, comprising:

one or more instructions for receiving, from a customer, a request for an end-to-end path through a network;

one or more instructions for determining parameters of a query based on the request;

one or more instructions for executing the query on a database of network elements capable of being included in the end-to-end path;

one or more instructions for selecting one or more of the network elements provided in the database based on results of the query;

one or more instructions for marking, in the database, the one or more selected network elements for the end-to-end path; and

one or more instructions for providing the one or more marked network elements to an assignment server for activation of the end-to-end path.

11. The computer-readable memory device of claim 10, where the customer comprises one of a residential customer or a business customer.

12. The computer-readable memory device of claim 10, where the end-to-end path comprises a path through the network that connects the customer to a network service.

13. The computer-readable memory device of claim 12, where the network service comprises at least one of:

a telephone service;

an Internet service;

a network data service;

a radio service;

a television service;

or

a video service.

14. The computer-readable memory device of claim 10, where the database comprises at least one of:

capacity information associated with the network elements;

capacity information associated with links between the network elements;

availability information associated with the network elements;

availability information associated with links between the network elements;

bandwidth information associated with the network elements;

or

bandwidth information associated with links between the network elements.

15. The computer-readable memory device of claim 10, where each of the network elements comprises at least one of:

a gateway;

a router;

a switch;

an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch;

a firewall;

a network interface card (NIC);

a hub;

a bridge;

a proxy server;

an optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM);

a line access multiplexer (LAM);

or

a permanent or private virtual circuit (PVC).

16. The computer-readable memory device of claim 10, further comprising at least one of:

one or more instructions for determining parameters of the query based on a capacity of a virtual router of the network;

one or more instructions for determining parameters of the query based on a capacity of a router of the network;

one or more instructions for determining parameters of the query based on a capacity of a switch of the network;

one or more instructions for determining parameters of the query based on an availability of the router;

one or more instructions for determining parameters of the query based on an availability of the switch;

one or more instructions for determining parameters of the query based on an availability of a link connecting the router and the switch;

one or more instructions for determining parameters of the query based on an availability of a link connecting the switch and a line access multiplexer (LAM) of the network;

or

one or more instructions for determining parameters of the query based on a capacity of the link connecting the router and the switch.

17. The computer-readable memory device of claim 10, further comprising at least one of:

one or more instructions for determining parameters of the query based on a capacity of a link connecting an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch and a router of the network;

one or more instructions for determining parameters of the query based on a capacity of a link connecting the ATM switch and a line access multiplexer (LAM) of the network;

one or more instructions for determining parameters of the query based on a capacity of a link connecting the LAM and another LAM of the network;

one or more instructions for determining parameters of the query based on an availability of the LAM;

one or more instructions for determining parameters of the query based on an availability of the link connecting the LAM and the other LAM;

one or more instructions for determining parameters of the query based on a type of the ATM switch;

or

one or more instructions for determining parameters of the query based on an availability of the link connecting the LAM and a switch of the network.

18. The computer-readable memory device of claim 10, further comprising:

one or more instructions for selecting a line access multiplexer (LAM) of the network based on a location of the customer; and

one or more instructions for determining the end-to-end path from the LAM to a service provider.

19. A computer-readable memory device that stores computer-executable instructions, comprising:

one or more instructions for receiving information identifying one or more network elements defining an end-to-end path through a network;

one or more instructions for assigning a virtual path identifier or a virtual channel identifier for at least one device of the network based on the information identifying one or more network elements; and

one or more instructions for activating the end-to-end path based on the assigned virtual path identifier or virtual channel identifier.

20. The computer-readable memory device of claim 19, where the at least one device comprises at least one of:

a gateway;

a router;

a switch;

an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch;

a firewall;

a network interface card (NIC);

a hub;

a bridge;

a proxy server;

an optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM);

a line access multiplexer (LAM);

or

a permanent or private virtual circuit (PVC).

21. The computer-readable memory device of claim 19, further comprising at least one of:

one or more instructions for assigning the virtual path identifier or the virtual channel identifier for a line access multiplexer based on a customer type;

one or more instructions for assigning the virtual path identifier or the virtual channel identifier for the line access multiplexer based on a plurality of virtual path identifiers or virtual channel identifiers;

or

one or more instructions for assigning the virtual path identifier or the virtual channel identifier for the line access multiplexer based on a physical port associated with a customer.

22. The computer-readable memory device of claim 19, further comprising:

one or more instructions for assigning a virtual path identifier or a virtual channel identifier for a high capacity link of the network, via a switch cloud, based on the information identifying one or more network elements; and

one or more instructions for determining an availability of one or more ingress switches or egress switches in the switch cloud.

23. The computer-readable memory device of claim 19, where the end-to-end path comprises a path through the network that connects a customer to a network service.

24. The computer-readable memory device of claim 23, where:

the customer comprises one of a residential customer or a business customer; and

the network service comprises at least one of;

a telephone service,

an Internet service,

a network data service.

a radio service,

a television service, or

a video service.

25. A system, comprising:

means for receiving, from a customer, a request for an end-to-end path through a network;

means for determining parameters of a query based on the request and path criteria;

means for executing the query on a database of network elements capable of being included in the end-to-end path;

means for selecting one or more of the network elements provided in the database based on results of the query;

means for marking, in the database, the one or more selected network elements for the end-to-end path;

means for assigning a virtual path identifier or a virtual channel identifier for at least one device of the network based on the one or more marked network elements; and

means for activating the end-to-end path based on the assigned virtual path identifier or virtual channel identifier.