Method of maintaining a communication network

• US 7,924,853 B1
• Filed: 10/04/2007
• Issued: 04/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Buller, Victor Anthony
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilson; Robert W
• Assistant Examiner(s): KAMARA, MOHAMED A
• Application Number:
  US11/867,398
• Time in Patent Office: 1,286 Days
• Field of Search: 370/409, 370/352, 370/389, 370/395, 370/395.1, 179/18.02, 379/121.01, 379/220.01, 379/333
• US Class Current: 370/401
• 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

A method is provided for maintaining a communication network including a plurality of call processors, a plurality of packet gateways, and a plurality of trunk groups connected to each packet gateway. Queries are transferred to at least one call processor of the plurality of call processors, and responses are received from the one call processor. The responses are processed to associate the one call processor with a packet gateway and to associate the packet gateway with trunk groups connected to the packet gateway. The association of the packet gateway with the trunk groups is displayed, and a user selects one of the trunk groups. Then an instruction is transferred to the one call processor to seize and release the user-selected one of the trunk groups.

Claims

1. A method of maintaining a communication network including a plurality of call processors, a plurality of packet gateways and a plurality of trunk groups connected to each of the plurality of packet gateways, said method comprising:

transferring queries to at least one call processor of said plurality of call processors requesting trunk group information;

receiving responses from said one call processor including said trunk group information indicating which of the plurality of trunk groups connect to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP);

processing said responses to associate said one call processor with a packet gateway and to associate said packet gateway with trunk groups connected to said packet gateway;

displaying at least said association of said packet gateway with said trunk groups and which of said trunk groups connect to the PSAP;

receiving a user selection of one of said trunk groups that connects to the PSAP; and

transferring an instruction to said one call processor to seize and release at least the user selected one of said trunk groups.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein indicating which of the plurality of trunk groups connect to a the PSAP is based on trunk types, and wherein displaying which of said trunk groups connect to the PSAP is based on said trunk types.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the steps of said method are performed by a computer programmed by instructions for performing said steps.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the user selected one of said trunk groups comprises a time division multiplexing (TDM) trunk.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the TDM trunk comprises a multi-frequency (MF) type trunk.

4. An apparatus for maintaining a communication network including a plurality of call processors, a plurality of packet gateways and a plurality of trunk groups connected to each of the plurality of packet gateways, said apparatus comprising:

a first transferring component configured to transfer queries to at least one call processor of said plurality of call processors requesting trunk group information;

a first receiving component configured to receive responses from said one call processor including said trunk group information indicating which of the plurality of trunk groups connect to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP);

a processing component configured to process said responses to associate said one call processor with a packet gateway and to associate said packet gateway with trunk groups connected to said packet gateway;

a displaying component configured to display at least said association of said packet gateway with said trunk groups and which of said trunk groups connect to the PSAP;

a second receiving component configured to receive a user selection of one of said trunk groups that connects to the PSAP; and

a second transferring component configured to transfer an instruction to said one call processor to seize and release at least the user selected one of said trunk groups.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said first receiving component is configured to receive responses indicating which of the plurality of trunk groups connect to the PSAP based on trunk types, and said displaying component is configured to display which of said trunk groups connect to the PSAP based on said trunk types.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 comprising a computer programmed by instructions.

13. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the user selected one of said trunk groups comprises a time division multiplexing (TDM) trunk.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the TDM trunk comprises a multi-frequency (MF) type trunk.

7. A method of carrying out maintenance work on a gateway, said method comprising:

selecting a call processor associated with said gateway;

retrieving trunk group information from trunk group provisioning records held in a database of said call processor, wherein said trunk group information indicates which of a plurality of trunk groups connect to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) based on trunk types;

parsing out said plurality of trunk groups by their trunk types;

retrieving gateway controller to gateway information from gateway controller provisioning records held in said database of said call processor;

retrieving gateway information for each of said plurality of trunk groups from said database of said call processor;

mapping gateway controllers to packet gateways and packet gateways to said plurality of trunk groups on said gateways by said trunk types and displaying results of said mapping;

after gateway maintenance is performed selecting said gateway and trunk groups that connect to the PSAP of that gateway to be winked or reset;

starting an automated winking process to seize and release all members of one of the selected trunk groups that connect to the PSAP on said selected gateway; and

receiving a confirmation message that said automated winking process is complete.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the selected trunk groups that connect to the PSAP comprise time division multiplexing (TDM) trunks.

15. The method of claim 8 wherein the TDM trunk groups comprise multi-frequency (MF) type trunks.

9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions for maintaining a communication network including a plurality of call processors, a plurality of packet gateways and a plurality of trunk groups connected to each of the plurality of packet gateways, wherein when executed by one or more computer system processors on a computer system, the instructions direct the one or more computer system processors to control the computer system to:

transfer queries to at least one call processor of said plurality of call processors requesting trunk group information;

receive responses from said one call processor including said trunk group information indicating which of the plurality of trunk groups connect to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP);

process said responses to associate said one call processor with a packet gateway and to associate said packet gateway with trunk groups connected to said packet gateway;

display at least said association of said packet gateway with said trunk groups and which of said trunk groups connect to the PSAP;

receive a user selection of one of said trunk groups that connects to a the PSAP; and

transfer an instruction to said one call processor to seize and release at least the user selected one of said trunk groups.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein said instructions include instructions for receiving said responses to indicate which of the plurality of trunk groups connect to the PSAP based on trunk types, and for displaying which of said trunk groups connect to a the PSAP based on said trunk types.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein the user selected one of said trunk groups comprises a time division multiplexing (TDM) trunk.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16 wherein the TDM trunk comprises a multi-frequency (MF) type trunk.