Method and apparatus for isolating network failures by correlating paths issuing alarms with failure spans
First Claim
1. In a telecommunication network having a plurality of nodes interconnected by paths, each path having one or more trunks traversing two or more nodes, a method for analyzing the network comprising the steps of:
- analyzing data representing the network to determine paths that terminate between two selected nodes and paths that do not terminate between two selected nodes;
defining maximum restoration spans extending along each of the determined non-terminating paths;
selecting any terminating paths that physically traverse a portion physically traversed by each non-terminating path;
correlating a path identifier of each selected terminating path to each defined maximum restoration span of the determined non-terminating paths, each path identifier corresponding to a physically diverse path in the network; and
creating an organized set of data representing the correlated path identifiers of each selected terminating path with the maximum restoration spans of the determined non-terminating paths.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for analyzing a telecommunications network and isolating failures within the network first analyzes the network to identify all non-terminating paths between two digital cross-connect (DXC) nodes and terminating paths that extend from one DXC node but terminate before reaching another DXC node. All non-terminating paths are assigned "failure spans" or maximum spans that can be restored with a single restoration route. All terminating paths that correspond to end nodes of the non-terminating path are selected, where each terminating path has a path identifier preferably indicating the inter-node connections of the path. The path identifier is compared to each failure span to create a table of correlations. A similar process is performed for all terminating paths that do not correspond to non-terminating paths in the network. When a failure occurs, all paths are identified for each corresponding alarm and compared to the previously constructed table. A failure span is identified as including a failure if one or more paths are on the failure span and are in alarm, and all paths which are off the failure span are not in alarm. Furthermore, the ports on each path in alarm can be collected to determine whether the network suffers from a full or a partial outage.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. In a telecommunication network having a plurality of nodes interconnected by paths, each path having one or more trunks traversing two or more nodes, a method for analyzing the network comprising the steps of:
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analyzing data representing the network to determine paths that terminate between two selected nodes and paths that do not terminate between two selected nodes; defining maximum restoration spans extending along each of the determined non-terminating paths; selecting any terminating paths that physically traverse a portion physically traversed by each non-terminating path; correlating a path identifier of each selected terminating path to each defined maximum restoration span of the determined non-terminating paths, each path identifier corresponding to a physically diverse path in the network; and creating an organized set of data representing the correlated path identifiers of each selected terminating path with the maximum restoration spans of the determined non-terminating paths. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. In a network having a plurality of nodes intercoupled by communication paths, each path having one or more channels traversing two or more nodes, a computer implemented method for analyzing the network comprising the steps of:
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defining maximum spans extending along non-terminating paths in the network, each non-terminating path extending between two selected nodes; selecting any terminating paths that substantially traverse portions of non-terminating paths, each terminating path not extending between two of the selected nodes; correlating a path identifier of each selected terminating path to each defined maximum span of the determined non-terminating paths, each path identifier corresponding to a physically diverse path in the network; and outputting data corresponding to the correlation of each path identifier to each defined maximum span. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. In a network having a plurality of nodes interconnected by communication paths, each path having one or more channels traversing two or more nodes, an apparatus for analyzing the network comprising:
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a storage device having stored therein data corresponding to path identifiers corresponding to physically diverse paths in the network, and maximum spans extending along non-terminating paths in the network, each non-terminating path extending between two selected nodes; and a computer system coupled to the storage device, the computer system (a) selecting any terminating paths that substantially traverse portions of non-terminating paths, each terminating path not extending between two of the selected nodes, and (b) correlating a path identifier of each selected terminating path to each defined maximum span of the non-terminating paths. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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17. In a telecommunication network having a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of communication paths, each path having one or more trunks traversing two or more nodes, a method for isolating failures within the network comprising the steps of:
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receiving a plurality of alarms from selected nodes in the network, each of the alarms indicating a failure impacting one or more paths within the network; identifying one or more paths producing alarms related to the failure; retrieving data corresponding to a correlation of path identifiers of the plurality of paths in the network to maximum restoration spans for hypothetical failures along the plurality of paths, each path identifier corresponding to a physically distinct path in the network; comparing the retrieved data to the identified paths; and identifying at least one failed restoration span based on the step of comparing the retrieved data to the identified paths, the failed restoration span including therealong the one or more paths which are producing the alarms, and wherein no other paths in the network produce alarms related to the failure. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. In a network having a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of communication paths, each path having one or more channels traversing two or more nodes, a computer implemented method for isolating a failure within the network, the failure causing a plurality of alarms to be generated from selected nodes, the method comprising the steps of:
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identifying one or more paths associated with alarms related to the failure; comparing the one or more identified paths to data of path identifiers of the plurality of paths in the network correlated with restoration spans for failures along the plurality of paths, each path identifier corresponding to a physically distinct path in the network; identifying at least one restoration span based on the step of comparing the identified paths to the data, the restoration span including therealong the one or more paths producing alarms, and wherein no other paths in the network produce alarms related to the failure; and outputting data corresponding to the identified at least one restoration span. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. In a network having a plurality of communication paths coupling a plurality of nodes, each path having one or more channels traversing two or more nodes, an apparatus for isolating a failure within the network, the failure causing a plurality of alarms to be issued, the apparatus comprising:
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a storage device having stored therein network data of path identifiers of paths in the network correlated with restoration spans for failures along the plurality of paths, each path identifier corresponding to a physically distinct path in the network; and a computer system coupled to the storage device and coupled to receive the plurality of alarms, the computer system (a) identifies one or more paths associated with alarms related to the failure, (b) compares the one or more identified paths to the stored data, and (c) identifies at least one restoration span, the restoration span including therealong the one or more paths producing alarms, and wherein no other paths in the network produce alarms related to the failure. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32)
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Specification