System and method for verification of remote spares in a communications network when a network outage occurs

• US 6,604,137 B2
• Filed: 07/31/1997
• Issued: 08/05/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MCI Communications Corporation (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Cowan, Daniel Edward, Paul, Barbara A., Commerford, Gerard Lawrence Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Powell, Mark R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vaughn, Jr., William C.
• Application Number:
  US08/903,609
• Publication Number:
  US 20010039574A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,196 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/220, 709/105, 709/221, 709/242, 709/244, 709/239, 379/10, 379/15, 379/16, 370/216, 370/221, 370/241, 370/242, 370/243, 370/244, 370/245, 370/254, 370/217, 370/218, 370/219, 370/220, 370/222, 714/1, 714/2, 714/3, 714/4, 714/25, 707/10, 707/1, 707/204, 707/100
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/327 Alarm or error message display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0631 using root cause analysis; using analysis of correlation between notifications, alarms or events based on decision criteria, e.g. hierarchy, tree or time analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/069 using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for verifying spare capacity in a communications network comprising a database containing the configuration of switching elements within the network and a plurality of instructions resident on a memory device for operating a control computer, wherein the plurality of instructions includes a code segment for generating alarms on the switching elements, a code segment for receiving the alarms from the switching elements, and a code segment for updating the database to reflect the spare capacity based upon the alarms.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring spare capacity in a communications network that includes switching elements, comprising:

a database within the communications network; and

a control computer, configured for;

receiving an alarm from one of the switching elements in response to a generated command to the one switching element, the generated command being at least one of a connect command and a disconnect command;

determining whether the received alarm indicates an outage in the communications network; and

updating the database to include the configuration of switching elements to reflect the spare capacity including switching elements not affected by the outage if the alarm is determined to indicate the outage in the communications network.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the control computer is further configured for generating a command to clear the received alarm.

3. The system as recited in claim 2, wherein in the control computer is further configured for updating the database to reflect said spare capacity based on clearing the received alarm.

4. The system as recited in claim 2, wherein the control computer is further configured for building a database of alarms received from the switching elements.

5. The system as recited in claim 4, wherein the control computer is further configured for determining whether the alarm indicates an outage based on a number of alarms received in a time interval.

6. The system as recited in claim 4, wherein the control computer is further configured for updating the database containing the configuration of switching elements based on information included in the database of alarms.

7. A method of monitoring spare capacity in a communications network, comprising the steps of:

receiving an alarm from one of the switching elements in response to a generated command to the one switching element, the generated command being at least one of a connect command and a disconnect command;

determining whether the received alarm indicates an outage in the communications network; and

updating a database including the configuration of switching elements to reflect the spare capacity including switching elements not affected by the outage if the received alarm is determined to indicate the outage in the communications network.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, further including the step of generating a command to clear the received alarm.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the control computer is further configured for updating the database to reflect said spare capacity based on clearing the received alarm.

10. The method as recited in claim 7, further including the step of building a database of alarms received from the switching elements.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, further including the step of updating the database containing the configuration of switching elements based on information included in the database of alarms.

17. A memory device bearing instructions for monitoring spare capacity in a communications network, said instructions arranged, upon execution, to cause a control computer to perform the steps of the method as recited in claim 7.

12. A system for monitoring spare capacity in a communications network, comprising:

a database within the communication network; and

a control computer, configured for;

receiving an alarm from one of the switching elements in response to a generated command to the one switching element the generated command being at least one of a connect command and a disconnect command;

generating a command to clear the alarm from said one of the switching elements, said alarm indicating an outage in the communications network,

building a database of alarms received from the switching elements, said alarms including the received alarm, and

updating said database including the configuration of the switching elements to reflect spare capacity including switching elements not affect by the outage based upon information in the database of alarms.

13. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein the control computer is further configured for updating said database to reflect the spare capacity based on clearing the alarm.

14. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein the control computer is further configured for generating another on said one of the switching elements and for generating another command to clear the other alarm.

15. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein the control computer is further configured for determining whether the alarm indicates an outage based on a number of alarms received in a time interval.

16. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein the control computer is further configured for updating the database containing the configuration of switching elements based on information included in the database of alarms.

18. A system for monitoring spare capacity in a communications network, comprising:

a database including the configuration of switching elements within the communications network; and

a control computer, configured for;

generating at least one of a connect command and a disconnect commands to cause one of the switching elements to generate an alarm;

receiving the alarm from said one of the switching elements, and updating the database to reflect the spare capacity.

19. A method of monitoring spare capacity in a communications network including a plurality of switching elements, said method comprising:

generating at least one of a connect command and a disconnect commands to cause one of the switching elements to generate an alarm;

receiving the alarm from said one of the switching elements, and updating a database including the configuration of the switching elements to reflect the spare capacity.

20. A memory device bearing instructions for monitoring spare capacity in a communications network, said instructions arranged, upon execution, to cause a control computer to perform the steps of the method as recited in claim 19.

21. A method of maintaining spare capacity information of a communications system including a plurality of switching elements, the method comprising:

generating a command to trigger an alarm from a port of one of the plurality of switching elements interconnected by spare segments; and

analyzing the alarm received from the port of the one switching element to determine topology of the spare segments,

wherein a database containing information on availability of the spare segments is updated based on the analyzed alarm.