Method and system for pre-patching a communications network

• US 5,958,063 A
• Filed: 06/30/1997
• Issued: 09/28/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MCI Communications Corporation (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Croslin, William D., Sellers, Steven M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel, Jr., Robert W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shaw, Brian H.
• Application Number:
  US08/884,710
• Time in Patent Office: 820 Days
• Field of Search: 370/216, 370/217, 370/218, 370/225, 370/228, 395/182.02, 395/200.71, 395/200.74, 340/827, 379/221, 709/241, 709/244, 714/4
• US Class Current: 714/4.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13141 Hunting for free outlet, circuit or channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13145 Rerouting upon failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13166 Fault prevention
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13167 Redundant apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13342 Arrangement of switches in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0079 involving restoration of networks, e.g. disaster recovery, self-healing networks

Abstract

A method and system for pre-patching spare capacity into a communications network. The pre-patching system analyzes an original network configuration along with restoration plans that define restoral routes to bypass a network failure. The pre-patching system identifies existing spare connections in the original network configuration that can advantageously be destroyed from the original configuration so that their destroying can be avoided when implementing the restoration plans. The pre-patching system also identifies connections that do not exist in the original configuration and that can advantageously be created in the original network configuration to avoid the overhead of their creation when implementing the restoration plans.

Claims

1. A method in a computer system for analyzing spare capacity in a communications network to determine a pre-patching strategy for configuring the communications network prior to communications network failure, the communications network having active segments and spare segments and connections that connect segments together, wherein active segments carry communication signals through the communications network and wherein spare segments do not carry communications signals, but can be made to carry communications signals by connecting them to active segments, an active connection connecting active segments, a spare connection connecting a spare segment to another segment, the method comprising:

identifying existing spare connections within the communications network;

analyzing restoration plans for restoring the communications network after a failure is detected to determine the usage of connections in the restoration plans, a restoration plan having indications of creation of new connections, of use of existing spare connections, and of destruction of existing spare connections to bypass the network failure;

using the determined usage to generate the pre-patching strategy that indicates which existing spare connections should be destroyed and which spare connections should be created prior to communications network failure, and wherein

ratios of number of times an existing spare connection is used in a restoration plan to the total number of restoration plans analyzed, and number of times an existing spare connection is destroyed in a restoration plan to the total number of restoration plans analyzed, are calculated and compared to corresponding threshold values to determine the pre-patching strategy.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the determined usage includes a count of the number of times each identified existing spare connection is used and destroyed in the analyzed restoration plans and the number of times each new connection is created in the restoration plans.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the communications network is configured in accordance with the generated pre-patching strategy.

4. A method in a computer system for determining an initial configuration for a communications network, the method comprising:

retrieving a plurality of restoration plans for the network that specify restoral routes to bypass network failures;

analyzing the retrieved plurality of restoration plans to identify an initial configuration of the network that reduces the cost of implementing some of the retrieved restoration plans, wherein analysis of the restoration plans further includes counting new connections that are created by the retrieved restoration plans and counting the number of times that existing spare connections are used and destroyed by the retrieved restoration plans, calculating percentages for each existing spare connection by dividing the counts of the number of times the existing spare connection is used and destroyed in the retrieved restoration plans by the number of retrieved restoration plans and percentages are calculated for each new connection by dividing the count of the number of times the new connection is created in the retrieved restoration plans by the number of retrieved restoration plans, and comparing said percentages to predetermined thresholds; and

implementing the identified initial configuration so that the cost of implementing a restoration plan is reduced.

5. The method of claim 4 including analyzing the current configuration to identify the initial configuration.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the analyzing of the restoration plan uses a weight factor based on the frequency in which the restoration plan is expected to be used.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the analyzing of the restoration plans uses a weighting factor that is based on the priority of a failed component.

8. A computer system for determining an initial configuration for a communications network, the computer system comprising:

a component to retrieve a plurality of restoration plans for the network that specify restoral routes to bypass network failures;

a component to analyze the retrieved plurality of restoration plans to identify an initial configuration of the network that reduces the cost of implementing some of the retrieved restoration plans, the analyzing including reviewing connections that are created, destroyed, and used "as is", wherein analysis of the restoration plans includes counting new connections that are created by the retrieved restoration plans and counting the number of times that existing spare connections are used and destroyed by the retrieved restoration plans, calculating percentages for each existing spare connection by dividing the counts of the number of times the existing spare connection is used and destroyed in the retrieved plans by the number of retrieved restoration plans, calculating percentages for each new connection by dividing the count of the number of times the new connection is created in the retrieved restoration plans by the number of retrieved restoration plans, and comparing the calculated percentages to predetermined thresholds; and

a component to implement the identified initial configuration so that the cost of implementing a restoration plan is reduced.

9. The computer system of claim 8 including analyzing the current configuration to identify the initial configuration.

10. The computer system of claim 8 wherein the analyzing of the restoration plan uses a weighting factor based on the frequency in which the restoration plan is expected to be used.

11. The computer system of claim 8 wherein the analyzing of the restoration plans uses a weighting factor that is based on the priority of a failed component.