Control system for a telecommunications system

• US 6,021,331 A
• Filed: 02/21/1997
• Issued: 02/01/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Monument Bank of Intellectual Property, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel USA Sourcing L.P. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Cooper, Guy A., Nethercott, Jonathan F., Thompson, Jonathan A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Urban, Edward F.
• Application Number:
  US08/803,601
• Time in Patent Office: 1,075 Days
• Field of Search: 455/507, 455/508, 455/514, 455/517, 455/422, 395/200.3, 395/200.33, 707/103, 711/130
• US Class Current: 455/507
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/707 using direct sequence modulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/70735 Code identification H04B1/7083 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/7077 Multi-step acquisition, e.g. multi-dwell, coarse-fine or validation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/70775 Multi-dwell schemes, i.e. multiple accumulation times
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0226 Mapping or translating multiple network management protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0233 Object-oriented techniques, for representation of network management data, e.g. common object request broker architecture [CORBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/14 WLL [Wireless Local Loop]; RLL [Radio Local Loop]

Abstract

The present invention provides a client station and method for controlling a telecommunications system, the telecommunications system including a central station and a server station. The server station is arranged to maintain an object model thereon representing the central station, and is connectable to the central station to send control signals to the central station in accordance with the object model. The client station comprises a communications manager for establishing a connection with the server station to enable communication between the client station and the server station, thereby enabling the client station to manage the object model maintained on the server. The client station has a memory for storing a portion of the object model, and a retrieval means for retrieving from the server station, as required by the client station, additional objects of the object model for expanding the portion of the object model stored in the memory.

Claims

1. A client station for controlling a telecommunications system, the telecommunications system including a central station and a server station, the server station being arranged to maintain an object model thereon representing the central station, and being connectable to the central station to send control signals to the central station in accordance with the object model, the client station comprising:

a communications manager for establishing a connection with the server station to enable communication between the client station and the server station, thereby to manage the object model maintained on the server;

a memory for storing a portion of the object model;

a retrieval means for retrieving from the server station, as required by the client station, additional objects of the object model for expanding the portion of the object model stored in the memory;

a processor for processing commands received from the server station or from a user of the client station, the retrieval means being responsive to a command requiring an operation to be performed on an object not currently in the portion of the object model stored in the memory, to retrieve from the server station that object for inclusion in the portion of the object model stored in the memory;

wherein each object in the portion of the object model has status information associated therewith, and the processor, on processing a command, is arranged to determine whether any of said status information needs updating, and to update that status information.

2. A client station as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a display controller for displaying on a display device connectable to the client station a view of the objects stored in said memory, a visual representation of said status information being displayable with each object view;

the processor, on updating said status information, being arranged to cause any displayed visual representation of status information to be updated.

3. A client station for controlling a telecommunications system, the telecommunications system including a central station and a server station, the server station being arranged to maintain an object model thereon representing the central station, and being connectable to the central station to send control signals to the central station in accordance with the object model, the client station comprising:

a communications manager for establishing a connection with the server station to enable communication between the client station and the server station, thereby to manage the object model maintained on the server;

a memory for storing a portion of the object model;

a retrieval means for retrieving from the server station, as required by the client station, additional objects of the object model for expanding the portion of the object model stored in the memory;

a processor for processing commands received from the server station or from a user of the client station, the retrieval means being responsive to a command requiring an operation to be performed on an object not currently in the portion of the object model stored in the memory, to retrieve from the server station that object for inclusion in the portion of the object model stored in the memory;

wherein the server station has a queue in to which commands destined for the client station are placed, and the communications manager is arranged to establish a first interface to the server station for receiving commands from the queue, the processor being arranged to process commands received by the client station from said queue;

wherein the communications manager is arranged to establish a second interface, and if an object needs to be retrieved from the server station for inclusion in the portion of the object model stored in the memory before a command can be processed by the processor, the retrieval means is arranged to retrieve said object via said second interface, during which time no further commands from the queue are processed;

wherein the first and second interfaces are established via a dynamic interface comprising means for generating a remote procedure call interface object to reconfigure the dynamic interface to enable operations on the server station to be invoked from the client station.

4. A client station for controlling a telecommunications system, the telecommunications system including a central station and a server station, the server station being arranged to maintain an object model thereon representing the central station, and being connectable to the central station to send control signals to the central station in accordance with the object model, the client station comprising:

a communications manager for establishing a connection with the server station to enable communication between the client station and the server station, thereby to manage the object model maintained on the server;

a memory for storing a portion of the object model;

a retrieval means for retrieving from the server station, as required by the client station, additional objects of the object model for expanding the portion of the object model stored in the memory;

wherein if an object in the portion of the object model has a child object associated therewith, but the child object is not stored in the portion of the object model, a marker is associated with the object to indicate the existence of said child object.

5. A client station for controlling a telecommunications system, the telecommunications system including a central station and a server station, the server station being arranged to maintain an object model thereon representing the central station, and being connectable to the central station to send control signals to the central station in accordance with the object model, the client station comprising:

a communications manager for establishing a connection with the server station to enable communication between the client station and the server station, thereby to manage the object model maintained on the server;

a memory for storing a portion of the object model;

a retrieval means for retrieving from the server station, as required by the client station, additional objects of the object model for expanding the portion of the object model stored in the memory;

a processor for processing commands received from the server station or from a user of the client station, the retrieval means being responsive to a command requiring an operation to be performed on an object not currently in the portion of the object model stored in the memory, to retrieve from the server station that object for inclusion in the portion of the object model stored in the memory;

a recording means for maintaining a record, for each object in the portion of the object model stored in the memory, identifying a time at which the most recent command was applied to that object by the client station; and

a memory reclaim means for periodically referencing the record and for deleting an object from the memory of the client station after a predetermined time has passed since the most recent command was applied to that object, any object deleted from the memory being replaced by a marker.

6. A client station for controlling a telecommunications system, the telecommunications system including a central station and a server station, the server station being arranged to maintain an object model thereon representing the central station, and being connectable to the central station to send control signals to the central station in accordance with the object model, the client station comprising:

a communications manager for establishing a connection with the server station to enable communication between the client station and the server station, thereby to manage the object model maintained on the server;

a memory for storing a portion of the object model;

a retrieval means for retrieving from the server station, as required by the client station, additional objects of the object model for expanding the portion of the object model stored in the memory;

wherein the telecommunications system comprises a plurality of server stations and central stations, each server station being connectable to at least one central station and maintaining an object model representing said at least one central station, the client station being connectable to a number of said plurality of server stations;

wherein the telecommunications system is a wireless telecommunications system, in which the central station is arranged to relay messages from server stations to a public telephone network, the connection between the server stations and the central station being wireless connections.

7. A memory manager for a client station arranged to control a telecommunications system, the telecommunications system including a central station and a server station, the server station being arranged to maintain an object model thereon representing the central station, and being connectable to the central station to send control signals to the central station in accordance with the object model, the client station being arranged to establish a connection with the server station to enable communication between the client station and the server station, thereby to manage the object model maintained on the server, the memory manager comprising:

a storage means for storing in a memory of the client station a portion of the object model;

a retrieval means for retrieving from the server station, as required by the client station, additional objects of the object model;

the storage means being arranged to expand the portion of the object model stored in the memory by including retrieved additional objects in the portion of the object model;

a recording means for maintaining a record, for each object in the portion of the object model stored in the memory, identifying a time at which the most recent command was applied to that object by the client station; and

a memory reclaim means for periodically referencing the record and for deleting an object from the memory of the client station after a predetermined time has passed since the most recent command was applied to that object, any object deleted from the memory being replaced by a marker.

8. A method of controlling a telecommunications system from a client station, the telecommunications system including a central station and a server station, the server station being arranged to maintain an object model thereon representing the central station, and being connectable to the central station to send control signals to the central station in accordance with the object model, the method comprising the steps of:

employing a communications manager in the client station to establish a connection with the server station to enable communication between the client station and the server station, thereby to manage the object model maintained on the server;

storing in a memory of the client station a portion of the object model;

retrieving from the server station, as required by the client station, additional objects of the object model for expanding the portion of the object model stored in the memory;

processing commands received from the server station or from a user of the client station, the retrieval step being performed, in response to a command requiring an operation to be performed on an object not currently in the portion of the object model stored in the memory, to retrieve from the server station that object for inclusion in the portion of the object model stored in the memory, wherein each object in the portion of the object model has status information associated therewith;

determining whether any of said status information needs updating;

updating that status information.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8, further comprising the step of:

displaying on a display device connectable to the client station a view of the objects stored in said memory, each object view including a visual representation of said status information.

10. A method of controlling a telecommunications system from a client station, the telecommunications system including a central station and a server station, the server station being arranged to maintain an object model thereon representing the central station, and being connectable to the central station to send control signals to the central station in accordance with the object model, the method comprising the steps of:

employing a communications manager in the client station to establish a connection with the server station to enable communication between the client station and the server station, thereby to manage the object model maintained on the server;

storing in a memory of the client station a portion of the object model;

retrieving from the server station, as required by the client station, additional objects of the object model for expanding the portion of the object model stored in the memory;

processing commands received from the server station or from a user of the client station, the retrieval step being performed, in response to a command requiring an operation to be performed on an object not currently in the portion of the object model stored in the memory, to retrieve from the server station that object for inclusion in the portion of the object model stored in the memory;

wherein the server station has a queue in to which commands destined for the client station are placed, and the step of employing a communication manager to establish a connection includes establishing a first interface to the server station for receiving commands from the queue, the processing step including processing commands received by the client station from said queue.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of employing a communications manager to establish a connection further includes the step of establishing a second interface, and if an object needs to be retrieved from the server station for inclusion in the portion of the object model stored in the memory before a command can be processed, the retrieval step is arranged to retrieve said object via said second interface, during which time no further commands from the queue are processed.

12. A method of controlling a telecommunications system from a client station, the telecommunications system including a central station and a server station, the server station being arranged to maintain an object model thereon representing the central station, and being connectable to the central station to send control signals to the central station in accordance with the object model, the method comprising the steps of:

employing a communications manager in the client station to establish a connection with the server station to enable communication between the client station and the server station, thereby to manage the object model maintained on the server;

storing in a memory of the client station a portion of the object model;

retrieving from the server station, as required by the client station, additional objects of the object model for expanding the portion of the object model stored in the memory;

wherein if an object in the portion of the object model has a child object associated therewith, but the child object is not stored in the portion of the object model, the method further comprises the step of associating a marker with the object to indicate the existence of said child object.

13. A method of controlling a telecommunications system from a client station, the telecommunications system including a central station and a server station, the server station being arranged to maintain an object model thereon representing the central station, and being connectable to the central station to send control signals to the central station in accordance with the object model, the method comprising the steps of:

employing a communications manager in the client station to establish a connection with the server station to enable communication between the client station and the server station, thereby to manage the object model maintained on the server;

storing in a memory of the client station a portion of the object model;

retrieving from the server station, as required by the client station, additional objects of the object model for expanding the portion of the object model stored in the memory;

processing commands received from the server station or from a user of the client station, the retrieval step being performed, in response to a command requiring an operation to be performed on an object not currently in the portion of the object model stored in the memory, to retrieve from the server station that object for inclusion in the portion of the object model stored in the memory;

maintaining a record, for each object in the portion of the object model stored in the memory, identifying a time at which the most recent command was applied to that object by the client station; and

periodically referencing the record and deleting an object from the memory of the client station after a predetermined time has passed since the most recent command was applied to that object, any object deleted from the memory being replaced by a marker.