System and method for facilitating component management in a multiple vendor satellite communications network

• US 6,426,959 B1
• Filed: 02/18/1999
• Issued: 07/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Stratos Wireless, Inc. (Inmarsat PLC)
• Original Assignee: Innovative Communications Technologies, Inc. (Baristas Coffee Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Swanson, Scott, Crichton, James C., Megel, David J., Nau, Ronald, Jacobson, Jeffrey R., Abutaleb, Moe G.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGO, RICKY QUOC
• Application Number:
  US09/252,087
• Time in Patent Office: 1,258 Days
• Field of Search: 370/310, 370/315, 370/316, 370/320, 370/321, 370/322, 370/324, 370/327, 370/328, 370/329, 370/465, 370/466, 370/468, 709/223, 709/226, 709/229, 709/310, 455/7, 455/9
• US Class Current: 370/468
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18584 Arrangements for data networking, i.e. for data packet routing, for congestion control data switching networks H04L12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76

Abstract

A system is provided for controlling a network of communication terminals with a a management component and an implementation component, the implementation component in communication with the management component to receive at least one transmission plan, the transmission plan containing a scheduled implementation time, the implementation component receiving-the transmission plan, decoding an implementation time for the transmission plan and outputting command to network component at the implementation time to implement the transmission plan.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating network management in a multiple vender communications network comprising the steps of:

recieve a generic network command from a management component on the network at an implementation component that controls one or more specific communication devices in the multiple vendor communications network, the generic network command comprising one or more model parameters and hardware identification information;

translating the generic network command to one or more specific commands for a particular device through one or more configuration files stored at the implementation component by using the hardware identification information and one or more model parameters as indexes to the configuration file settings; and

outputting said translated one or more specific commands for a particular device to said particular network device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

modifying the performance of the particular network device according to the one or more translated specific command.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the model parameters comprise parameter-value pairs.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the values specified for a parameter comprise one or more value text strings.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the one or more configuration files stored by the implementation component contain entries for the value text strings that correspond to specific commands for a particular device controlled through the implementation component.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the configuration file is a text-based file and wherein the value text strings comprise entries used to retrieve the text-based specific commands for a particular device.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the text-based specific commands are passed to the particular device to implement a command contained in the generic network command.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the generic network command further comprises an implementation time and further comprising the step of modifying the performance of the device identified in the hardware identification information at the implementation time using the one or more specific commands for that particular device.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the hardware identification information identifies a transmitter and wherein one or more specific commands comprise changes to the manner in which that transmitter transmits information.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the specific commands change the transmission plan on the multiple vendor network and wherein the manner in which the transmitter transmits information is changed according to the transmission plan.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of sending the management component an acknowledgement of the command.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of validating the model parameters to the configuration file for the identified hardware prior to translating the model parameters into specific device commands.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of sending the management component an acknowledgement that the command was acted upon.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the acknowledgement comprises model parameters that were not validated.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of auditing communications devices in the network through the implementation components that mange those devices.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the audit indicates to the management component any modifications to the devices that occurred without the management component being notified.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of creating database tables and data objects from the configuration file at the implementation component to facilitate translation of model parameters to device specific commands.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the generic network command comprises a datagram communicated to the implementation component using user datagram protocol over an internet protocol.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the generic network command comprises an ASCII character message.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the generic network command comprises a plurality of fields.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the fields comprise header fields and information fields.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the header fields comprise a message type field, a sequence number field, and a hardware identification field.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein the information fields comprise the model parameters.

24. An implementation component for controlling one or more communication devices in a multiple vender communication network comprising:

receiving means for receiving a generic network command from a management component on the network, the generic network command comprising one or more model parameters and hardware identification information;

storage means for storing one or more configuration files comprising model parameters, hardware identification information and specific component commands for one or more particular communication devices;

translation means for translating the generic network command to one or more specific commands for a particular vendor device through one or more configuration files by using the hardware identification information and one or more model parameters as indexes to the configuration file settings; and

command output means for outputting said translated one or more specific commands for a particular device to said particular network device.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the model parameters comprise parameter-value pairs of text strings and wherein the one or more configuration files contain entries for the value text strings that correspond to specific commands for a particular device controlled through the implementation component.

26. The system of claim 24 wherein the generic network command further comprises an implementation time and wherein the specific command indicates the implementation time at which the particular device is to modify its performance based on the specific command.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the hardware identification information identifies a transmitter and wherein the one or more specific commands comprise changes to the manner in which that transmitter transmits information.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the one or more specific commands change the transmission plan on the multiple vendor network and wherein the manner in which the transmitter transmits information is changed according to the transmission plan.

29. The system of claim 24 further comprising acknowledgement transmission means for sending the management component an acknowledgement of the command.

30. The system of claim 24 further comprising model parameters validation means for validating the model parameters with the configuration file for the identified hardware prior to translating the model parameters into specific device commands and wherein the acknowledgement means includes model parameters that were not validated in the acknowledgement sent to the management component.

31. A management component that communicates with an implementation component for controlling one or more communication devices in a multiple vender communication network, the management component comprising:

generic network command formulation means for formulating a generic network command comprising one or more model parameters and hardware identification information, wherein the model parameters comprise text-based codes relating to performance attributes for a communication device controlled by an implementation component, the text-based codes being usable by the implementation component with a configuration file to convert those codes into device-specific commands to alter the performance of the device; and

generic message transmission means for transmitting the generic network command to one or more implementation components in the network.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein the generic network command further comprises an implementation time and wherein the specific command indicates the implementation time at which the particular device is to modify its performance based on the specific command.

33. A multiple vendor system comprising:

a management component comprising;

generic network command formulation means for formulating a generic network command comprising one or more model parameters and hardware identification information, wherein the model parameters comprise text-based codes relating to performance attributes for a communication device controlled by an implementation component, the text-based codes being usable by the implementation component with a configuration file to convert those codes into device-specific commands to alter the performance of the device; and

generic message transmission means for transmitting the generic network command to one or more implementation components in the network; and

one or more implementation components comprising;

receiving means for receiving a generic network command from a management component on the network, the generic network command comprising one or more model parameters and hardware identification information;

storage means for storing one or more configuration files comprising model parameters, hardware identification information and specific component commands for one or more particular communication devices;

translation means for translating the generic network command to one or more specific commands for a particular vendor device through one or more configuration files by using the hardware identification information and one or more model parameters as indexes to the configuration file settings; and

command output means for outputting said translated one or more specific commands for a particular device to said particular network device.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein the model parameters comprise parameter-value pairs of text strings and wherein the one or more configuration files stored by the implementation component contain entries for the value text strings that correspond to specific commands for a particular device controlled through the implementation component.

35. The system of claim 33 wherein the generic network command further comprises an implementation time and wherein the specific command indicates the implementation time at which the particular device is to modify its performance based on the specific command.

36. The system of claim 33 wherein the hardware identification information identifies a transmitter and wherein one or more specific commands comprise changes to the manner in which that transmitter transmits information.

37. The system of claim 33 wherein the specific commands change the transmission plan on the multiple vendor network and wherein the manner in which the transmitter transmits information is changed according to the transmission plan.

38. The system of claim 33 further comprising acknowledgement transmission means for sending the management component an acknowledgement of the command.

39. The system of claim 33 further comprising model parameter validation means for validating the model parameters with the configuration file for the identified hardware prior to translating the model parameters into specific device commands and wherein the acknowledgement means includes model parameters that were not validated in its acknowledgement to the management component.

40. A method for controlling one or more communication devices in a multiple vender communication network comprising:

formulating a generic network command comprising one or more model parameters and hardware identification information, wherein the model parameters comprise text-based codes relating to performance attributes for a communication device controlled by an implementation component, the text-based codes being usable by the implementation component with a configuration file to convert those codes into device-specific commands to alter the performance of the device; and

transmitting the generic network command to one or more implementation components in the network that converts the generic network command into a device specific command to modify the performance of a communication device in the network.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein the generic network command further comprises an implementation time and wherein the specific command indicates the implementation time at which the particular device is to modify its performance based on the specific command.