Proactive repair process in the xDSL network (with a VDSL focus)

• US 6,901,530 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2001
• Issued: 05/31/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cerami, Richard, Storaasli, Roxanna, Figueroa, Timothy
• Primary Examiner(s): Iqbal, Nadeem
• Application Number:
  US09/921,283
• Publication Number:
  US 20020073355A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,399 Days
• Field of Search: 714/4, 714/27, 714/43, 714/44, 714/47, 714/56, 714/25, 714/37, 714/39, 714/42, 709/223, 709/224, 370/252, 370/253, 370/241, 370/242
• US Class Current: 714/4.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• 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 41/0654 using network fault recovery ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/32 Specific management aspects for broadband networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5025 by proactively reacting to service quality change, e.g. by reconfiguration after service quality degradation or upgrade
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5032 Generating service level reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5061 characterised by the interaction between service providers and their network customers, e.g. customer relationship management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5067 Customer-centric QoS measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/507 Filtering out customers affected by service problems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5074 Handling of user complaints or trouble tickets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/509 wherein the managed service relates to media content delivery, e.g. audio, video or TV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 : by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0823 : Errors, e.g. transmission errors
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 : Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/091 : Measuring contribution of individual network components to actual service level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 : Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 : Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 : the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 : Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 : for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/062 : using different frequency bands for speech and other data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 : involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6473 : Monitoring network processes errors for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64738 : Monitoring network characteristics, e.g. bandwidth, congestion level data switched network analysis H04L41/14; monitoring functioning in data switched networks H04L43/0817; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 : Database or file accessing

Abstract

A method for proactively managing a fault in a video and data network is provided. The method includes collecting network correlation data for the fault. Additionally, a physical connectivity test of the video and data network is automatically performed. Physical connectivity data from the physical connectivity test is collected. Also, a virtual connectivity test of the video and data network is automatically performed. Virtual connectivity data from the virtual connectivity test is collected. The network correlation data, physical connectivity data, and virtual connectivity data is then correlated based on the fault. Once the correlation is performed, a defined resolution procedure for resolving the fault using the correlated network correlation data, physical connectivity data, and virtual connectivity data is provided.

Claims

1. A method for proactively managing a fault in a video and data network comprising:

collecting network correlation data for the fault;

automatically performing a physical connectivity test of the video and data network;

collecting physical connectivity data from the physical connectivity test;

automatically performing a virtual connectivity test of the video and data network;

collecting virtual connectivity data from the virtual connectivity test;

automatically correlating the network correlation data, physical connectivity data, and virtual connectivity data based on the fault; and

providing a defined resolution procedure for resolving the fault using the correlated network correlation data, physical connectivity data, and virtual connectivity data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the video and data network comprises a Digital Subscriber Line (xDSL) network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the video and data network comprises a Very high bit rate DSL (VDSL) network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting network correlation data comprises collecting data for upstream and downstream physical network elements from the fault.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting network correlation data comprises collecting data from a root cause analysis.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical connectivity test comprises a Physical Loop Test.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the Physical Loop Test is de-coupled from a Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) tool.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual connectivity test comprises an Operations And Maintenance (OAM) test.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating the OAM test with a service area identifier.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the service area identifier comprises a telephone number.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a repair ticket for the fault.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising dispatching a technician to fix the fault.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising fixing the fault using the pre-defined resolution procedure.

14. An apparatus for proactively managing a fault in a video and data network comprising:

logic to collect network correlation data for the fault;

logic to automatically perform a physical connectivity test of the video and data network;

logic to collect physical connectivity data from the physical connectivity test;

logic to automatically perform a virtual connectivity test of the video and data network;

logic to collect virtual connectivity data from the virtual connectivity test;

logic to automatically correlate the network correlation data, physical connectivity data, and virtual connectivity data based on the fault; and

logic to provide a defined resolution procedure for resolving the fault using the correlated network correlation data, physical connectivity data, and virtual connectivity data.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the video and data network comprises a Digital Subscriber Line (xDSL) network.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the video and data network comprises a Very high bit rate DSL (VDSL) network.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the logic to collect network correlation data comprises collecting data for upstream and downstream physical network elements from the fault.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the logic to collect network correlation data comprises collecting data from a root cause analysis.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the physical connectivity test comprises a Physical Loop Test.

20. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the Physical Loop Test is de-coupled from a Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) tool.

21. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the virtual connectivity test comprises an Operations And Maintenance (OAM) test.

22. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising logic to initiate the OAM test with a service area identifier.

23. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the service area identifier comprises a telephone number.

24. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising logic to create a repair ticket for the fault.

25. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising logic to dispatch a technician to fix the fault.

26. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising logic to fix the fault using the pre-defined resolution procedure.

27. A method for proactively managing a fault in a video and data network comprising:

receiving an indication of a fault;

collecting network correlation data for the fault, wherein the network correlation data indicates a network device that is causing the fault;

automatically performing a physical connectivity test of the video and data network based on the network device in response to receiving the indication of the fault;

collecting physical connectivity data from the physical connectivity test;

automatically performing a virtual connectivity test of the video and data network based on the network device in response to receiving the indication of the fault;

collecting virtual connectivity data from the virtual connectivity test;

automatically correlating the network correlation data, physical connectivity data, and virtual connectivity data based on the fault in response to receiving the indication of the fault; and

providing a defined resolution procedure for resolving the fault, wherein the defined resolution procedure is determined based on the correlated network correlation data, physical connectivity data, and virtual connectivity data.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of faults; and

isolating the fault in the plurality of faults, the fault being a root cause of faults in the plurality of faults.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the network device can be physical or logical.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the defined resolution procedure comprises re-routing customers affected by the fault to a route not including the network device.