Linking order entry process to realtime network inventories and capacities

• US 7,464,164 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2001
• Issued: 12/09/2008
• 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: Storaasli, Roxanna, Figueroa, Timothy, Cerami, Richard S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Etienne; Ario
• Assistant Examiner(s): Todd; Gregory G.
• Application Number:
  US09/921,274
• Publication Number:
  US 20020111883A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,687 Days
• Field of Search: 209222-226, 705 7- 8, 705/22, 370/230, 370/468
• US Class Current: 709/226
• 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 determining spare capacity for a video and data network from a network element database is provided. The method includes receiving a request for spare capacity in the video and data network. The request may include a service area identifier, which may be a telephone number of a customer. Using the service area identifier, equipment is then identified and checked for spare capacity. The network element database is checked to determine if the identified equipment has spare data and video capacity and if the equipment has spare data and video capacity, spare video and data capacity is calculated for the identified equipment.

Claims

1. A method for processing customer requests for spare capacity in a video and data network from a network element database comprising:

receiving, at a capacity checking engine, an electronic signal for a request of a customer inquiry for spare capacity in the video and data network from a customer requesting a service for the video and data network, wherein the request comprises a service area identifier corresponding to the customer;

identifying equipment to check for spare capacity from the service area identifier, wherein the equipment identified is used to provide the service to the customer on the video and data network;

determining if the identified equipment has spare data and video capacity using real-time information for the identified equipment in the network element inventory to determine physical or logical network elements that are available to provide service;

if the equipment has spare data and video capacity, calculating spare video and data capacity for the equipment based on the physical or logical network elements that are available to provide service, wherein the spare video and data capacity is used to provide the service to the customer, if desired; and

providing an answer, using the capacity checking engine, for the request for spare capacity while being connected to the customer during the customer inquiry, the answer based on the spare video and data capacity calculation.

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 data rate DSL (VDSL) network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating spare video/data capacity for the equipment comprises calculating a number of video and data ports available minus a number of video and data ports in use.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining possible capacity for the equipment.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein possible capacity comprises possible video/data ports.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein calculating spare video/data capacity for the equipment comprises adding the possible video/data ports to the spare video/data capacity calculation.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining a number of defective video/data ports.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein calculating spare video and data capacity for the equipment comprises subtracting the number of defective video/data ports from the spare video/data capacity calculation.

10. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining a number of held and pending video service orders for the service area identifier.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein calculating spare video and data capacity for the equipment comprises subtracting the number of held and pending video service orders from the spare video/data capacity calculation.

12. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining a number of data only ports.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein calculating spare video and data capacity for the equipment comprises returning the number of data only ports in the spare capacity calculation.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein checking the network element database to determine if the identified equipment has spare data and video capacity comprises checking if the identified equipment has spare physical video/data capacity.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein checking the network element database to determine if the identified equipment has spare data and video capacity comprises checking if the identified equipment has spare physical video/data capacity.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising checking the network element database to determine if the identified equipment telephony usage is at a maximum.

17. A method for processing customer requests for services on a video and data network, the method comprising:

receiving, at a capacity checking engine, an electronic signal for a request of a customer inquiry from a customer for a service on the video and data network;

determining a service area identifier for the customer;

identifying equipment to check for spare capacity from the service area identifier, wherein the equipment identified is used to provide the service to the customer on the video and data network;

determining if the identified equipment has spare data and video capacity using real-time information for the identified equipment in the network element inventory to determine physical or logical network elements that are available to provide service; and

if the equipment has spare data and video capacity, calculating spare video and data capacity for the equipment based on the physical or logical network elements that are available to provide service;

providing an answer, using the capacity checking engine, for the request for service while being connected to the customer during the customer inquiry based on the calculated spare video and data capacity for the equipment.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the answer comprises denying the request for service when no spare video and data capacity exists.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the answer comprises denying the request for service when spare video and data capacity exists but the capacity is not sufficient to offer the service to the customer.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the answer comprises approving the request for service when spare video and data capacity exists.

21. An apparatus for processing customer requests for spare capacity in a video and data network from a network element database, the apparatus comprising logic configured to perform a set of steps comprising:

receiving, at a capacity checking engine, an electronic signal for a request of a customer inquiry for spare capacity in the video and data network from a customer requesting a service for the video and data network, wherein the request comprises a service area identifier corresponding to the customer;

identifying equipment to check for spare capacity from the service area identifier, wherein the equipment identified is used to provide the service to the customer on the video and data network;

determining if the identified equipment has spare data and video capacity using real-time information for the identified equipment in the network element inventory to determine physical or logical network elements that are available to provide service;

if the equipment has spare data and video capacity, calculating spare video and data capacity for the equipment based on the physical or logical network elements that are available to provide service, wherein the spare video and data capacity is used to provide the service to the customer, if desired; and

providing an answer, using the capacity checking engine, for the request for spare capacity while being connected to the customer during the customer inquiry, the answer based on the spare video and data capacity calculation.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the video and data network comprises a Digital Subscriber Line (xDSL) network.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the video and data network comprises a Very high bit rate DSL (VDSL) network.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein calculating spare video/data capacity for the equipment comprises calculating a number of video and data ports available minus a number of video and data ports in use.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising determining possible capacity for the equipment.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein possible capacity comprises possible video/data ports.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein calculating spare video/data capacity for the equipment comprises adding the possible video/data ports to the spare video/data capacity calculation.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising determining a number of defective video/data ports.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein calculating spare video and data capacity for the equipment comprises subtracting the number of defective video/data ports from the spare video/data capacity calculation.

30. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising determining a number of held and pending video service orders for the service area identifier.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein calculating spare video and data capacity for the equipment comprises subtracting the number of held and pending video service orders from the spare video/data capacity calculation.

32. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising determining a number of data only slots.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein calculating spare video and data capacity for the equipment comprises returning the number of data only slots in the spare capacity calculation.

34. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein checking the network element database to determine if the identified equipment has spare data and video capacity comprises checking if the identified equipment has spare virtual video/data capacity.

35. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein checking the network element database to determine if the identified equipment has spare data and video capacity comprises checking if the identified equipment has spare physical video/data capacity.

36. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising checking the network element database to determine if the identified equipment telephony usage is at a maximum.