SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REAL-TIME SERVICE ASSURANCE

• US 20140365645A1
• Filed: 05/19/2014
• Published: 12/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sater, Melanie, Chien, Ginger, Druta, Dan
• Granted Patent: US 9,729,405 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0769 Readable error formats, e.g. cross-platform generic formats, human understandable formats
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5029 Service quality level-based billing, e.g. dependent on measured service level customer is charged more or less
• 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 41/5074 Handling of user complaints or trouble tickets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic

Abstract

A system and methods for providing service assurance using real-time monitoring, management and maintenance capabilities to provide customers and vendors with information related to the state of the service. The service assurance domain implements end-to-end functionality with a level of granularity sufficient to diagnose issues to the device and call/session level.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

facilitating generation of an interface between a device and an application for the device, wherein the interface is configured to create the application;

managing the application via a control plane that enforces a service policy for management of the application; and

based on a business rule, invoking an automated action to resolve a problem determined to be associated with the application, wherein the automated action comprises a notification of service level agreement management billing of other systems and is tiered according to a business impact assessment resulting from an analysis of a revenue impact of the problem.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

storing problem information representing the problem associated with the application; and

storing solution information indicative of a solution to the problem.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

enabling creation of the application by a provider device external to the system.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

monitoring an availability of the application.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the monitoring is performed via passive instrumentation.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the passive instrumentation comprises monitoring the availability of the application employing standardized management information.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the passive instrumentation comprises monitoring the availability of the application employing usage information and data information.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the passive instrumentation comprises monitoring the availability of the application employing log information.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the passive instrumentation comprises monitoring the availability of the application employing a defined key process indicator.

10. The system of claim 4, wherein the monitoring is further performed via active instrumentation, wherein the active instrumentation comprises use of a pre-positioned active probe configured to employ measurement of a defined key process indicator.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

facilitating displaying a graphical display of the application, wherein the facilitating the displaying comprises facilitating displaying diagnostic information about the application.

12. A method, comprising:

determining, by a device comprising a processor, a first load of a first application on first resources of a set of network devices with which the device is associated, wherein the first application is associated with the device;

determining, by the device, a second load of the first application on second resources of the device;

analyzing, by the device, information indicative of use of the first application; and

balancing, by the device, resource usage of the first application between the set of network devices and the device based on the information indicative of the use of the first application, wherein the balancing increases a level of performance of the first application and reduces a third load on the set of network devices.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

storing, by the device, first information associated with the balancing; and

determining, by the device, second information indicative of an enhancement in operation of the set of network devices, wherein the second information is based on the first information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first information comprises information indicative of a determination of a sample period over which to obtain other information indicative of the resource usage.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the first information comprises information indicative of a memory upgrade for the device.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the first information comprises information indicative of a recommendation to delete a second application.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a system including a processor to perform operations, comprising:

determining a first load of an application on first resources of a network device of a network with which the system is associated, wherein the application is associated with the system;

determining a second load of the application on second resources of the system;

analyzing information indicative of use of the application; and

balancing resource usage of the application between the network device and the system based on the information, wherein the balancing is performed to increase a level of performance of the application and reduce a third load on the network device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

storing balancing information associated with the balancing; and

determining enhancement information indicative of an enhancement in operation of the network device, wherein the enhancement information is based on the balancing information.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the balancing information comprises memory information indicative of a memory upgrade for the system.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the balancing information comprises recommendation information indicative of a recommendation to delete a second application.