Optimal expansion of a telecommunications network
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method, comprising:
- assigning at least one first cost for expanding at least one link to a circuit-switched network that is part of a hybrid network comprising the circuit switched network and a packet switched network;
representing all paths in the packet switched network as a virtual link in the hybrid network;
assigning a second cost to the virtual link, wherein the virtual link connects at least two circuit-switched network devices and wherein the second cost represents that hops within the packet switched network between the at least two circuit-switched network devices have no associated cost;
solving an integer programming problem in a computer having a processor and a non-transitory memory to determine a number of links to add to the hybrid network, the integer programming problem having as inputs a model of the hybrid network and a demand forecast matrix, wherein solving the integer programming problem includes determining whether a trunk group is permitted to grow, and wherein solving the integer programming problem includes considering the following variables;
a set of trunk groups, a trunk group in the set, a cost of adding a circuit to the trunk group, and a number of circuits added to the trunk group.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
There is assigned at least one first cost for expanding at least one link to a circuit-switched network that is part of a hybrid network comprising the circuit switched network and a packet switched network. All paths in the packet switched network are represented with a virtual link. A cost is assigned to the virtual link. An integer programming problem is solved to determine a number of links to add to the network, the integer programming problem having as inputs a model of the hybrid network and a demand forecast matrix.
38 Citations
27 Claims
-
1. A method, comprising:
-
assigning at least one first cost for expanding at least one link to a circuit-switched network that is part of a hybrid network comprising the circuit switched network and a packet switched network; representing all paths in the packet switched network as a virtual link in the hybrid network; assigning a second cost to the virtual link, wherein the virtual link connects at least two circuit-switched network devices and wherein the second cost represents that hops within the packet switched network between the at least two circuit-switched network devices have no associated cost; solving an integer programming problem in a computer having a processor and a non-transitory memory to determine a number of links to add to the hybrid network, the integer programming problem having as inputs a model of the hybrid network and a demand forecast matrix, wherein solving the integer programming problem includes determining whether a trunk group is permitted to grow, and wherein solving the integer programming problem includes considering the following variables;
a set of trunk groups, a trunk group in the set, a cost of adding a circuit to the trunk group, and a number of circuits added to the trunk group. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 27)
-
-
9. A system, comprising:
-
a model of a hybrid network that comprises a circuit-switched network including a plurality of links and a packet switched network that is represented as a virtual link in the hybrid network, each of the links and the virtual link being associated with a cost; wherein the virtual link connects at least two circuit-switched network devices and wherein the cost associated with the virtual link represents that hops within the packet switched network and between the at least two circuit-switched network devices have no associated cost; a demand matrix for the hybrid network; and an integer programming module stored in a non-transitory computer memory as a set of computer-executable instructions, the module configured to provide a solution to an integer programming problem to determine an amount of capacity to add to the hybrid network, the integer programming problem having as input at least the model of the hybrid network and the demand matrix, wherein the solution to the integer programming problem considers whether a trunk group is permitted to grow and the following variables;
a set of trunk groups, a trunk group in the set, a cost of adding a circuit to the trunk group, and a number of circuits added to the trunk group. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium tangibly embodying computer-executable instructions, the instructions comprising:
-
assigning at least one first cost for expanding at least one link to a circuit-switched network that is part of a hybrid network comprising the circuit switched network and a packet switched network; representing all paths in the packet switched network as a virtual link in the hybrid network; assigning a second cost to the virtual link, wherein the virtual link connects at least two circuit-switched network devices and wherein the second cost represents that hops within the packet switched network between the at least two circuit-switched network devices have no associated cost; solving an integer programming problem in a computer having a processor and a non-transitory memory to determine a number of links to add to the hybrid network, the integer programming problem having as inputs a model of the hybrid network and a demand forecast matrix, wherein solving the integer programming problem includes determining whether a trunk group is permitted to grow, and wherein solving the integer programming problem includes considering the following variables;
a set of trunk groups, a trunk group in the set, a cost of adding a circuit to the trunk group, and a number of circuits added to the trunk group. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
-
-
26. A method, comprising:
-
assigning a cost to adding at least one link to a network, the cost representing that hops within a packet switched network between at least two circuit-switched network devices have no associated cost and that all paths between softswitches that connect a circuit-switched network to the packet switching network have the same associated cost; solving an integer programming problem in a computer having a processor and a non-transitory memory to determine a number of links to add to the network, the integer programming problem having as inputs a model of the network and a demand forecast matrix, wherein solving the integer programming problem includes determining whether a trunk group is permitted to grow, and wherein solving the integer programming problem includes considering the following variables;
a set of trunk groups, a trunk group in the set, a cost of adding a circuit to the trunk group, and a number of circuits added to the trunk group;using a path decomposition heuristic to find a set of paths to which at least one link may be added.
-
Specification