Traffic manager, gateway signaling and provisioning service for all packetized networks with total system-wide standards for broad-band applications including all legacy services

• US 6,522,629 B1
• Filed: 10/10/2000
• Issued: 02/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Tellicent Inc. (Sapience360)
• Inventors: Anderson, Ronald D. Sr.
• Primary Examiner(s): HSU, ALPUS
• Application Number:
  US09/686,321
• Time in Patent Office: 861 Days
• Field of Search: 370/229, 370/230, 370/231, 370/235, 370/236, 370/338, 370/349, 370/350, 370/351, 370/352, 370/389, 370/395.1, 370/400, 370/401, 370/409, 370/410, 370/503, 370/516, 370/522, 375/356, 375/357, 379/88.17, 379/93.01, 379/93.06, 379/93.07, 379/114, 455/445, 455/502
• US Class Current: 370/236
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0638 Clock or time synchronisation among nodes; Internode synchronisation synchronization for ring networks H04L12/422; data switching networks with synchronous transmission H04L12/43
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/022 Multivendor or multi-standard integration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/34 Signalling channels for network management communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5077 wherein the managed service relates to simple transport services, i.e. providing only network infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0025 Provisions for signalling
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0045 involving hybrid, i.e. a mixture of public and private, or multi-vendor systems

Abstract

Broadband integrated services are performed via digital, channelized or optically coded networks by a system which organizes, interfaces, provisions, loads and controls, in real time, the transport of grouped or organized information (such as packetized cell data) through interface access devices and packet switches that are compliant with domestic and international communication standards. A packet core network includes multiple packet switches and interface access devices coupled to an existing narrowband or broadband network. A signaling manager, a provisioning manager and a traffic manager perform all broadband and narrowband routing, port provisioning and connecting functions for all network devices. A set of software interface modules for each equipment vendor allows the provisioning manager, the signaling manager and the traffic manager to impose control demands and make network management decisions on a real time basis via an application protocol interface. Bit error rate caused by the disparity between low speed (such as TDM) networks and high speed (such as OCR) networks is substantially reduced by synchronizing the overall network and all switching components to a primary reference clock that has an accuracy of 1×10⁻¹¹ second per month or better.

Claims

1. In a telecommunications network of the type including a transport medium linking a plurality of nodes formed by one or more items of network equipment interconnected via virtual connections for transporting packetized data to and from network nodes in response to a signaling request, the improvement comprising:

a provisioning manager coupled to the network for configuring the virtual connections and for monitoring the performance and operational status of the virtual connections and items of network equipment;

a signaling manager coupled to the nodes via the transport medium for setting up, modifying and tearing down virtual connections between network nodes in response to the signaling request;

a traffic manager coupled to the signaling manager and to the provisioning manager for controlling the traffic loading of the network according to virtual connection attributes specified by the provisioning manager; and

a set of software interface modules coupled to the provisioning manager, each software interface module providing an application programming hook for implementing a network function thereby enabling the provisioning manager to exercise supervisory configuration and monitoring of each network node.

2. A telecommunications network as set forth in claim 1, including:

each software module providing access to the network system manager or to the applications protocol interface of each item of network equipment via a physical or logical port associated with the network or network equipment.

3. A telecommunications network as set forth in claim 1, including:

a plurality of external reference clocks coupled to the network, each external reference clock providing a reference clock signal as a timing input to one or more items of the network equipment for synchronizing the transfer of packetized data through each node; and

,

a primary reference clock providing a primary reference clock signal, the primary reference clock signal being coupled as a common timing input to each of the external reference clocks for synchronizing the reference clock signals with the primary reference clock signal.

4. A telecommunications network as set forth in claim 3, wherein the external reference clocks each comprise a Stratum 1 clock having a free-run accuracy of 1×

10<sup>−

11</sup> second per month or better.

5. A telecommunications network as set forth in claim 3, wherein the primary reference clock comprises a Stratum 1 clock having a free-run accuracy of 1×

10<sup>−

11</sup> second per month or better.

6. A telecommunications network as set forth in claim 3, wherein the primary reference clock comprises the U.S. Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) broadcast frequency national time standard which is supplied to each external reference clock by wireless transmission.

7. A telecommunications network as set forth in claim 3, including a network source clock signal which is coupled to each item of network equipment for use as a timing input only in a default mode when the external reference clock signal is lost or otherwise not available.

8. A telecommunications network as set forth in claim 1, wherein the signaling manager considers one or more factors to determine how large to make the corresponding bandwidth of each virtual connection, the one or more factors being selected from the group consisting of terms and conditions of a customer agreement covering the virtual connection, type of information that the virtual connection will transfer, the quality of service expected of the virtual connection, available bandwidth for the type of service requested, amount of requested bandwidth reserved per customer request for the quality of services offered, existing traffic load of the network, utilization of the network, and date and time of day that each virtual connection will occur.

9. A telecommunications network as set forth in claim 1, wherein the transport medium is selected from the group consisting of optical fiber, wire, coaxial cable and wireless.

10. A telecommunications network as set forth in claim 1, wherein the specific type of data includes data selected from the group consisting of voice, video, internet protocol, signaling data, network management data and customer payload data.

11. A telecommunications network as set forth in claim 1, wherein the provisioning manager includes:

a billing/Call Detail Record (CDR) data base module for storing connection data, quantity of traffic, ingress/egress port utilization, time of day, quality of service and data type.

12. A telecommunications network as set forth in claim 1, wherein the provisioning manager includes a network model data base comprising a network physical and logical description, equipment specifications, physical connection specifications, node configuration specifications and virtual connection specifications.

13. A method for reducing overall delay, distortion and noise during the transfer of packetized data over a telecommunications network of the type including a transport medium and a plurality of items of network equipment interconnected via virtual connections for transporting packetized data to and from network nodes, comprising the steps:

deploying in the network items of network equipment that have been certified for compliance with a common set of national and international standards and for operation under common network-to-network interface protocol relationships; and

maintaining a set of software interface modules for each equipment vendor, each software interface module providing an application programming interface hook for each network function that can be implemented or reacted on the network via an open architecture application protocol interface associated with each item of network equipment.