HIERARCHICAL SCHEMA TO PROVIDE AN AGGREGATED VIEW OF DEVICE CAPABILITIES IN A NETWORK

• US 20130227114A1
• Filed: 02/28/2012
• Published: 08/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Vasseur, Jean-Philippe, Tolle, Gilman, Rangwala, Sumit, Buonadonna, Philip
• Granted Patent: US 9,253,021 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/044 comprising hierarchical management structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data

Abstract

In one embodiment, an aggregation device within a computer network domain receives one or more capability messages from one or more devices in the computer network domain. The aggregation device may then aggregate device capabilities from the capability messages, and provides the aggregated device capabilities to a management device located outside of the computer network domain.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving one or more capability messages from one or more devices in a computer network domain at an aggregation device within the computer network domain;

aggregating device capabilities from the capability messages at the aggregation device; and

providing aggregated device capabilities from the aggregation device to a management device located outside of the computer network domain.

2. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving network statistics from one or more of the devices in the computer network domain at the aggregation device;

aggregating the network statistics at the aggregation device; and

providing aggregated network statistics from the aggregation device to the management device.

3. The method as in claim 2, further comprising:

providing a particular aggregated network statistic in response to the particular aggregated network statistic crossing a configured threshold.

4. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

updating the aggregated device capabilities by the aggregation device according to low-pass filtering and hysteresis.

5. The method as in claim 1, wherein aggregating comprises:

indicating that at least one device within the computer network domain has a particular capability.

6. The method as in claim 1, wherein aggregating comprises:

indicating a number of devices within the computer network domain have a particular capability.

7. The method as in claim 1, wherein aggregating comprises:

indicating mapped coordinates of coverage for a particular capability within the computer network domain.

8. The method as in claim 1, wherein aggregating comprises:

indicating a coverage area for a particular capability and a coverage percentage within that coverage area.

9. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

distributing an address of one or more aggregation devices within the computer network domain.

10. The method as in claim 9, further comprising:

including the address of the one or more aggregation devices within a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) response.

11. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

determining that network traffic within the computer network domain is below a configured threshold; and

triggering a capability rediscovery within the computer network domain in response to the network traffic being below the configured threshold.

12. The method as in claim 1, wherein the device capabilities comprise one or more information values selected from a group consisting of:

model;

serial number;

geographic location;

hardware description;

network interface description;

sensing interface description; and

sensing data coverage area.

13. The method as in claim 1, wherein the aggregation device is an edge device for the computer network domain.

14. The method as in claim 1, wherein the one or more capability messages are destined for the management device, and wherein receiving the one or more capability devices comprises intercepting the one or more capability messages by the aggregation device on their way toward the management device.

15. The method as in claim 1, wherein the one or more capability messages are based on a constrained application protocol (CoAP).

16. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more network interfaces to communicate within a computer network domain and with a management device outside of the computer network domain;

a processor coupled to the network interfaces and adapted to execute one or more processes; and

a memory configured to store a process executable by the processor, the process when executed operable to;

receive one or more capability messages from one or more devices in the computer network domain;

aggregate device capabilities from the capability messages; and

provide aggregated device capabilities to the management device located outside of the computer network domain.

17. The apparatus as in claim 16, wherein the process when executed is further operable to:

receive network statistics from one or more of the devices in the computer network domain;

aggregate the network statistics; and

provide aggregated network statistics to the management device.

18. The apparatus as in claim 16, wherein the process when executed is further operable to:

update the aggregated device capabilities according to low-pass filtering and hysteresis.

19. The apparatus as in claim 16, wherein the process when executed to aggregate is further operable to:

indicate that at least one device within the computer network domain has a particular capability.

20. The apparatus as in claim 16, wherein the process when executed to aggregate is further operable to:

indicate mapped coordinates of coverage for a particular capability within the computer network domain.

21. The apparatus as in claim 16, wherein the apparatus is an edge device for the computer network domain.

22. The apparatus as in claim 16, wherein the one or more capability messages are destined for the management device, and wherein the process when executed to receive the one or more capability devices is further operable to:

intercept the one or more capability messages on their way toward the management device.

23. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media having software encoded thereon, the software, when executed by a processor on an aggregation device in a computer network domain, operable to:

receive one or more capability messages from one or more devices in the computer network domain;

aggregate device capabilities from the capability messages; and

provide aggregated device capabilities to a management device located outside of the computer network domain.