Software fault management system
First Claim
1. A Software Fault Management (SFM) system for managing software faults in a managed mobile telecommunications network, said SFM system comprising:
- an Intelligent Management Information Base (I-MIB) comprising a Management Information Base (MIB) and a Knowledge Base (KB), said KB including a functional model of said managed network; and
an intelligent multi-agent portion having a plurality of agents which process said software faults utilizing information from said I-MTB, said plurality of agents in said multi-agent portion including;
a plurality of middle-level agents, each of said middle-level agents comprising a plurality of lower-level sub-agents for performing reasoning, testing, and knowledge-maintenance activities; and
a top-level coordinator super-agent which controls said middle-level agents.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A Software Fault Management (SFM) system for managing software faults in a managed mobile telecommunications network. The SFM system includes an Intelligent Management Information Base (I-MIB) comprising a Management Information Base (MIB) and a Knowledge Base (KB) having a functional model of the managed network and a trouble report/known faults (TR/KF) case base. The SFM system also includes an intelligent multi-agent portion having a plurality of agents which process the software faults utilizing the functional model from the I-MIB, case-based information, and other management information. The I-MIB and the intelligent multi-agent portion are compliant with Telecomunications Management Network (TMN) principles and framework. Fault management is both proactive and reactive. The SFM system is made independent of technology-specific implementations by representing the underlying switch design knowledge in a modular and changeable form which is then interpreted by the intelligent multi-agent portion. A clear separation is maintained between the generic procedural inference mechanisms and agents, and the specific and explicit models of the different network elements of a mobile telecommunications network.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A Software Fault Management (SFM) system for managing software faults in a managed mobile telecommunications network, said SFM system comprising:
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an Intelligent Management Information Base (I-MIB) comprising a Management Information Base (MIB) and a Knowledge Base (KB), said KB including a functional model of said managed network; and an intelligent multi-agent portion having a plurality of agents which process said software faults utilizing information from said I-MTB, said plurality of agents in said multi-agent portion including; a plurality of middle-level agents, each of said middle-level agents comprising a plurality of lower-level sub-agents for performing reasoning, testing, and knowledge-maintenance activities; and a top-level coordinator super-agent which controls said middle-level agents. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A Software Fault Management (SFM) system for managing software faults in a managed mobile telecommunications network, said SFM system comprising:
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an Intelligent Management Information Base (I-MIB) comprising a Management Information Base (MIB) and a Knowledge Base (KB), said KB including a functional model of said managed network and a trouble report/known faults (TR/KF) case base; and an intelligent multi-agent portion having a plurality of agents which process said software faults utilizing information from said I-MIB. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of managing software faults in a managed mobile telecommunications network, said method comprising the steps of:
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storing a Knowledge Base (KB) in an Intelligent Management Information Base (I-MIB) said KB including a functional model of said managed network; storing a Management Information Base (MIB) in said I-MIB; and processing said software faults with a plurality of agents in an intelligent multi-agent system utilizing information from said I-MIB, said processing step including the steps of; performing reasoning, testing, and knowledge-maintenance activities utilizing a plurality of lower-level sub-agents; performing correlation and diagnosis activities with a plurality of middle-level agents; and controlling said middle-level agents with a top-level coordinator super-agent.
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9. A method of managing software faults in a managed mobile telecommunications network, said method comprising the steps of:
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storing a Knowledge Base (KB) in an Intelligent Management Information Base (I-MID), said KB including a functional model of said managed network; storing a Management Information Base (MIB) in said I-MITB; and processing said software faults with a plurality of agents in an intelligent multi-agent system utilizing information from said I-MIB, said processing step utilizing a trouble shooting assistant agent to perform the steps of; devising a plan of trouble shooting steps; executing the plan; and assisting engineers in debugging and correction tasks.
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10. A method of managing software faults in a managed mobile telecommunications network, said method comprising the steps of:
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storing a Knowledge Base (KB) in an Intelligent Management Information Base (I-MIB), said KB including a functional model of said managed network; storing a Management Information Base (MIB) in said I-MIB; and processing said software faults with a plurality of agents in an intelligent multi-agent system utilizing information from said I-MIB, said processing step utilizing model-based reasoning to process said software faults.
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11. A method of managing software faults in a managed mobile telecommunications network, said method comprising the steps of:
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storing a Knowledge Base (KB) in an Intelligent Management Information Base (I-MIB), said KB including a functional model of said managed network and a trouble report/known faults (TR/KF) case base; storing a Management Information Base (MIB) in said I-MIB; and processing said software faults with a plurality of agents in an intelligent multi-agent system utilizing information from said I-MIB said processing step utilizing case-based reasoning to process said software faults.
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12. A Software Fault Management (SFM) system for managing software faults in a managed mobile telecommunications network, said SFM system comprising:
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an Intelligent Management Information Base (I-MIB) comprising a Management Information Base (MIB) and a Knowledge Base (KB), said KB including a functional model of said managed network; an intelligent multi-agent portion having a plurality of agents which process said software faults utilizing model-based reasoning and information from said I-MIB, said plurality of agents comprising; a plurality of middle-level agents for performing fault correlation and fault diagnosis, each of said middle-level agents comprising a plurality of lower-level sub-agents for performing reasoning, testing, and knowledge-maintenance activities; and a top-level coordinator super-agent which controls said middle-level agents; a trouble shooting assistant agent which devises a plan of trouble shooting steps, executes the plan, and assists engineers in debugging and correction tasks; and a human-computer interface which provides human operators the ability to interface with the SFM system for network operation, administration, maintenance, and provisioning (OAM&
P). - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of proactively managing software faults in a mobile telecommunications network, said method comprising the steps of:
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storing knowledge in a knowledge base, said knowledge including a functional model of said network, fault models, and fault scenarios; monitoring said network for observed events and symptoms; determining a suspected fault to explain said observed events and symptoms, said determining step comprising; comparing said observed events and symptoms with stored performance data and statistics; and analyzing said comparison with said stored knowledge; determining whether the suspected fault is a known fault; implementing a preventive solution upon determining that the suspected fault is a known fault; performing a fault trend analysis upon determining that the suspected fault is not a known fault; performing diagnostic tests; determining whether a successful diagnosis was obtained; performing a fault localization process upon determining that a successful diagnosis was obtained, said fault localization process including analyzing relationships between components involved in the diagnosis of said fault; and providing diagnosis and localization information to trouble shooters.
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19. A Software Fault Management (SFM) system for managing software faults in a telecommunications network having a plurality of network resources, said SFM system comprising:
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a Knowledge Base (KB), said KB including; a database of behavioral information regarding how the network resources respond in given fault scenarios; and a functional model of the telecommunications network; and a plurality of intelligent agents which process the software faults utilizing information from the KB, said agents comprising; a plurality of middle-level agents, each of said middle-level agents comprising a plurality of lower-level sub-agents for performing reasoning, testing, and knowledge-maintenance activities; and a top-level coordinator super-agent which controls said middle-level agents. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 26)
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23. A method of managing software faults in a telecommunications network having a plurality of network resources, said method comprising the steps of:
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storing a database of behavioral information regarding how the network resources respond in given fault scenarios in a Knowledge Base (KB); storing a functional model of the telecommunications network in the KB; and processing the software faults with a plurality of intelligent agents utilizing information from the KB, said processing step including the steps of; performing reasoning, testing, and knowledge-maintenance activities utilizing a plurality of lower-level sub-agents; performing correlation and diagnosis activities with a plurality of middle-level agents; and controlling the middle-level agents with a top-level coordinator super-agent. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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25. A method of managing software faults in a telecommunications network having a plurality of network resources, said method comprising the steps of:
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storing a database of behavioral information regarding how the network resources respond in given fault scenarios in a Knowledge Base (KB); storing a functional model of the telecommunications network in the KB; storing a trouble report/known faults (TR/KF) case base in the KB; and processing the software faults with at least one intelligent agent utilizing information from the KB and case-based reasoning.
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Specification