Method and apparatus for resolving faults in communications networks
First Claim
1. A case-based method of resolving faults in a communications network, comprising the steps of:
- (A) acquiring information about a current outstanding communications network fault;
(B) defining at least one determinator to identify at least one data field within the acquired information about the current outstanding communications network fault, the at least one identified data field to be Used to correlate the current outstanding communications network fault with a prior communications network fault;
(C) retrieving a previously stored set of data regarding a prior communications network fault and a resolution of the prior communications network fault from a database as a function of the at least one identified data field; and
(D) using at least a portion of the retrieved set of data to provide a resolution of the current outstanding communications network fault by adapting the resolution of the prior communications network fault to resolve the current outstanding communications network fault.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An improved method and apparatus of resolving faults in a communications network. The preferred system uses a trouble ticket data structure to describe communications network faults. Completed trouble tickets are stored in a library and when an outstanding trouble ticket is received, the system uses at least one determinator to correlate the outstanding communications network fault to data fields in the set of data fields of the trouble ticket data structure to determine which completed trouble tickets in the library are relevant to the outstanding communications network fault. The system retrieves a set of completed trouble tickets from the library that are similar to the outstanding trouble ticket and uses at least a portion of the resolution from at least one completed trouble ticket to provide a resolution of the outstanding trouble ticket. The determinators may be macros, rules, a decision tree derived from an information theoretic induction algorithm and/or a neural network memory derived from a neural network learning algorithm. The system may adapt the resolution from a retrieved trouble ticket to provide the resolution using null adaptation, parameterized adaptation, abstraction/respecialization adaptation, or critic-based adaptation techniques.
318 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A case-based method of resolving faults in a communications network, comprising the steps of:
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(A) acquiring information about a current outstanding communications network fault; (B) defining at least one determinator to identify at least one data field within the acquired information about the current outstanding communications network fault, the at least one identified data field to be Used to correlate the current outstanding communications network fault with a prior communications network fault; (C) retrieving a previously stored set of data regarding a prior communications network fault and a resolution of the prior communications network fault from a database as a function of the at least one identified data field; and (D) using at least a portion of the retrieved set of data to provide a resolution of the current outstanding communications network fault by adapting the resolution of the prior communications network fault to resolve the current outstanding communications network fault. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An apparatus for resolving faults in a communications network, comprising:
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an input system to acquire information about a current outstanding communications network fault in a form of a current outstanding trouble ticket having at least one data field; a fault management system to store prior trouble tickets containing data regarding prior communications network faults and resolutions of those prior communications network faults in a trouble ticket library; a fault resolution system to identify at least one data field of the current outstanding trouble ticket, the at least one identified data field to be used to correlate the current outstanding trouble ticket to prior trouble tickets, the fault resolution system to retrieve a set of prior trouble tickets that are similar to the current outstanding trouble ticket using the at least one identified data field, and to provide a resolution of the current outstanding trouble ticket based on resolutions contained in the retrieved set of prior trouble tickets; and a system to transmit the resolution of the current outstanding trouble ticket to the communications network. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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24. A case-based method of resolving faults in a communications network, comprising the steps of:
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providing a trouble ticket data structure for describing information concerning a communications network fault; using the trouble ticket data structure to create a trouble ticket that describes a specific network fault, the trouble ticket having at least one data field for storing information regarding the specific network fault and a data field for storing a resolution of the specific network fault; providing a prior trouble ticket library for storing at least one prior trouble ticket; receiving a current outstanding trouble ticket that describes a current outstanding communications network fault; defining at least one determinator to identify at least one data field of the current outstanding trouble ticket to correlate the current outstanding trouble ticket of the current outstanding communications network fault with at least one data field in a prior trouble ticket in the prior trouble ticket library; retrieving a set of prior trouble tickets from the prior trouble ticket library that are similar to the current outstanding trouble ticket as a function of the at least one identified data field; and using at least a portion of the resolution from at least one retrieved prior trouble ticket to provide a resolution of the current outstanding trouble ticket.
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Specification