Failure response procedure and system

• US 6,757,357 B1
• Filed: 02/29/2000
• Issued: 06/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Moering, Carl E., Keaton, Lawrence T., Stogner, William, Hargrove, James Michael, Shull, Everett Glen, Gaines, Michael D., Horton, Ronald L., Pickens, Donald L., Finch, Arthur E.
• Primary Examiner(s): BARNIE, REXFORD N
• Application Number:
  US09/515,816
• Time in Patent Office: 1,582 Days
• Field of Search: 379/1.01, 379/1.03, 379/9, 379/9.01, 379/9.02, 379/9.03, 379/9.04, 379/14.01, 379/10.01, 379/15.02, 379/15.03, 379/15.05, 379/29.01, 379/29.02, 379/29.08, 379/29.09, 379/29.1, 379/32.01, 379/26.01, 379/27.04, 379/202.01, 455/423
• US Class Current: 379/9.03
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/08 Indicating faults in circuits or apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2254 in networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0079 involving restoration of networks, e.g. disaster recovery, self-healing networks

Abstract

A failure response method is provided. The method includes preparing a bridge having an address of a telecommunication system for common access by a predetermined group of resources, sending an alpha communication communicating the telecommunication system address to the predetermined group of resources, coordinating the resources through the bridge to correct the failure, and sending a final message to the predetermined group of resources by the telecommunication system when the failure has been corrected. A failure response system is also provided. The failure response system includes a storage device containing contact data for a predetermined group of resources to be utilized when responding to a failure and an address of a telecommunication system for common access by the predetermined group of resources. The system also includes a processor containing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to retrieve the contact data for the predetermined group of resources from the storage device, retrieve the address of the telecommunication system from the storage device and send an alpha communication communicating the telecommunication system address to the predetermined group of resources. A computer readable medium is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method of responding to a failure, comprising:

preparing a bridge having an address of a telecommunication system for common access by a predetermined group of resources;

sending an alpha communication communicating the telecommunication system address to the predetermined group of resources;

coordinating resources through the bridge to correct the failure; and

sending a final message to the predetermined group of resources by the telecommunication system when the failure has been corrected;

wherein preparing a bridge comprises a simultaneous interactive process between a plurality of resources communicating over a common communication channel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined group of resources includes at least one person selected from the group consisting of technicians, repair personnel and managers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the alpha flash includes information concerning failure type and failure location.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said sending includes paging the resources in the predetermined group.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said sending includes sending an alpha-numeric message to the resources in the predetermined group.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said coordinating comprises disseminating information relating to the failure between resources in the predetermined group through the bridge.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending messages periodically to a second predetermined group of people to inform the people of the second predetermined group of a status of a failure correction effort.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said preparing a bridge, said sending an alpha flash and said sending a final message are performed utilizing a common telecommunication system.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the failure is a major failure.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising sharing sensed data from the failed system between the resources in the predetermined group.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying resources required to resolve the failure.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said coordinating includes informing one or more persons in the predetermined group that they are not needed to resolve the failure.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said coordinating includes:

selecting a bridge manager; and

obtaining data related to the failure from the people of the predetermined group through the bridge.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting symptoms of a failure at a first location; and

detecting symptoms of the failure at a second location.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the telecommunication system is a wireless telecommunication network.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the telecommunication system is a public switched telecommunication network.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the telecommunication system is a voice network.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the telecommunication system is a data network.

19. A failure response system, comprising:

a storage device containing contact data for a predetermined group of resources to be utilized when responding to a failure and a telecommunication system address for common access by the predetermined group of resources; and

a processor containing instructions which, when executed by said processor, cause said processor to;

prepare a bridge having the telecommunications system address;

retrieve the contact data for the predetermined group of resources from the storage device;

retrieve the telecommunication system address from the storage device;

send an alpha communication communicating the telecommunication system address to the predetermined group of resources, and

send a final message to the predetermined group of resources by the telecommunication system when the failure has been corrected;

wherein preparing a bridge comprises a simultaneous interactive process between a plurality of resources communicating over a common communication channel.

20. A computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

prepare a bridge having the telecommunications system address;

retrieve contact data for the predetermined group of resources from a storage device;

retrieve a telecommunication system address from said storage device;

send an alpha communication communicating the telecommunication system address to the predetermined group of resources; and

send a final message to the predetermined group of resources by the telecommunication system when the failure has been corrected;

wherein preparing a bridge comprises a simultaneous interactive process between a plurality of resources communicating over a common communication channel.