Broadcast design for provisioning reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer circuits

• US 8,452,861 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2008
• Issued: 05/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ciena Corporation
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: KHAROD, Manish, SUBRAMANIAN, Sengodan, KAPADIA, Lakshmi Prasanna, LOPEZ, David, Dingari, Hrushikesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Moise, Emmanuel L
• Assistant Examiner(s): MURPHY, CHARLES C
• Application Number:
  US12/145,634
• Publication Number:
  US 20090327901A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,798 Days
• Field of Search: 709/229, 709/225, 709/224, 709/223, 709/221, 709/220, 370/469, 370/412, 370/406, 370/401, 370/392, 370/352, 398/32, 398/3, 715/700, 715/733, 715/738, 715/748
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0212 using optical switches or wavelength selective switches [WSS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0217 Multi-degree architectures, e.g. having a connection degree greater than two
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0227 Operation, administration, maintenance or provisioning [OAMP] of WDM networks, e.g. media access, routing or wavelength allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0232 for downstream transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0284 WDM mesh architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• 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 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0062 Network aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0073 Provisions for forwarding or routing, e.g. lookup tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0079 Operation or maintenance aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0086 Network resource allocation, dimensioning or optimisation

Abstract

A method includes receiving an order for services to be provided by an optical network, the order identifying bandwidth requirements for the optical network and multiple broadcast locations; creating an optical network identifier, the optical network identifier including an aggregation of dense wavelength data multiplexers that may define one or more paths; prompting a user to select a path for a broadcast circuit through the dense wavelength data multiplexers using a graphical user interface; querying an operations support service for available bandwidth to support bandwidth requirements over the selected path; and assigning the circuit path based on the available bandwidth.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, an order for services to be provided by an optical network, the order identifying bandwidth requirements for the optical network and multiple broadcast locations within a particular geographic region;

retrieving, by the computing device and based on the order for services, information regarding optical transport system components for the particular geographic region;

creating, by the computing device and based on the information regarding the optical transport system components for the particular geographic region, an optical network identifier, the optical network identifier identifying an aggregation of dense wavelength data multiplexers that defines one or more paths;

prompting, by the computing device, a user to select a wavelength for a broadcast circuit through the dense wavelength data multiplexers using a graphical user interface, where the prompting includes providing the user with a list of available wavelength intervals from which to select a particular wavelength;

prompting, by the computing device, the user to select one or more first paths for the broadcast circuit through the dense wavelength data multiplexers using the graphical user interface;

prompting, by the computing device, the user to select one or more second paths for the broadcast circuit through the dense wavelength data multiplexers using the graphical user interface, where the one or more second paths are different than the one or more first paths;

querying, by the computing device, an operations support service for available bandwidth to support bandwidth requirements over the selected wavelength, the selected one or more first paths, and the selected one or more second paths; and

assigning, by the computing device, the selected wavelength, the selected one or more first paths, and the selected one or more second paths for the broadcast circuit based on the available bandwidth.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting the operations support service to reserve bandwidth for the assigned circuit; and

designing a circuit layout record based on the assigned circuit path and the reserved bandwidth.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically sending the circuit layout record to a support office for implementation.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a request to a network management server device to activate the broadcast circuit.

5. The method of claim 1, where the one or more first paths are one or more west paths from source nodes to destination nodes and the one or more second paths are one or more east paths from source nodes to destination nodes, the method further comprising:

prompting the user to provide a deadline for completion of the broadcast circuit;

automatically selecting servicing nodes in the one or more west paths and one or more east paths; and

prompting the user to select degrees of propagation for each node in the one or more west paths and one or more east paths.

6. The method of claim 5, where the servicing nodes are video servicing offices (VSO), where the source nodes are video hub office (VHO) nodes, and where prompting the user to select the degrees of propagation for each node comprises:

prompting the user to select, for each VHO, one or more of a plurality of reconfigurability class marketing modules (RCMM) to which the signal has to be added at each VHO;

prompting the user to select, for each interconnecting node, at least one of the plurality of RCMMs to continue the degrees of propagation and associated ports; and

prompting the user to select, for each VSO, either one of the degrees to drop or one of the plurality of RCMMs to pass through.

7. A system comprising:

a workflow management server device to request and receive scheduling information regarding at least one or more of equipment or human resources required to activate network services;

an inventory management server device to request and receive information regarding network component inventory and information regarding a physical topology of a network region;

a network management server device to initiate activation of the network services; and

a hardware processor to;

create an optical network identifier based on the information regarding the physical topology of a network region,

prompt a user, via a graphical user interface and based on information from the inventory management server device, to select a particular wavelength interval for a circuit,

prompt the user, via the graphical user interface and based on information from the inventory management server device, to select one or more first circuit paths for the circuit,

prompt the user, via the graphical user interface and based on the information from the inventory management server device, to select one or more second circuit paths for the circuit, where the one or more second circuit paths are different than the one or more first circuit paths,

design a circuit layout record based on the information from the workflow management server device, the inventory management server device, and the selected particular wavelength interval, the one or more first circuit paths, and the one or more second circuit paths, and

send a request to the network management server device to activate a broadcast circuit based on the circuit layout record.

8. The system of claim 7, where the hardware processor is further to:

send the circuit layout record to a support office for implementation.

9. The system of claim 7, where the one or more first circuit paths are one or more west circuit paths from source nodes to destination nodes and the one or more second circuit paths are one or more east circuit paths from source nodes to destination nodes and the hardware processor is further to:

prompt the user to provide a deadline for completion of the broadcast circuit;

automatically select servicing nodes in the one or more west circuit paths and one or more east circuit paths; and

prompt the user to select the degrees of propagation for each node in the one or more west circuit paths and one or more east circuit paths.

10. The system of claim 9, where the servicing nodes are video servicing offices (VSO) and the source nodes are video hub office (VHO) nodes, and where, when prompting the user to select the degrees of propagation for each node, the hardware processor is further to:

prompt the user to select, for each VHO, one or more reconfigurability class marketing modules (RCMMs) to which the signal is added at each VHO;

prompt the user to select, for each interconnecting node, at least one of the RCMMs to continue, the broadcast degrees of propagation, and associated ports; and

prompt the user to select, for each VSO, either one of the degrees of propagation to drop or one of the RCMMs to pass through.

11. A device comprising:

a hardware processor to;

receive information regarding optical transport system components for a particular geographic region;

create, based on the information regarding the optical transport system components for the particular geographic region, an optical network identifier, the optical network identifier identifying an aggregation of dense wavelength data multiplexers that define one or more paths;

generate a graphical user interface including;

a first screen area to provide a graphical layout of one or more portions of the optical network identifier, the graphical layout presenting node indicators and connecting paths associated with the optical network identifier, and

a second screen area to provide a graphical toolbar with node functions, where the second screen area is to allow a user to assign a node function, of the node functions, to at least one of the node indicators, where the graphical user interface enables the user to select the at least one of the node indicators from the graphical layout and the node function from the graphical toolbar;

prompt a user to select a wavelength for a broadcast circuit using the graphical user interface, where, when prompting the user, the hardware processor is to provide the user with a list of available wavelength intervals from which to select a particular wavelength interval;

prompt the user to select one or more first paths for the broadcast circuit through the dense wavelength data multiplexers using the graphical user interface;

prompt the user to select one or more second paths for the broadcast circuit through the dense wavelength data multiplexers using the graphical user interface, where the one or more second paths are different than the one or more first paths; and

assign the selected wavelength, the selected one or more first paths, and the selected one or more second paths for the broadcast circuit based on an available bandwidth.

12. The device of claim 11, where the graphical layout is pre-populated for the user based on physical topology information.

13. The device of claim 11, where each of the node indicators includes information about a corresponding one of the nodes within the graphical layout.

14. The device of claim 13, where the information includes at least one of a telecommunications identification number, a node number, a service cluster identification, or a fiber network identification.

15. The device of claim 11, where the graphical user interface further comprises a third screen area to provide the information about a particular node selected from the graphical layout.

16. The device of claim 11, where the node indicators are color-coded according to an assigned node function.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions which, when executed by at least one hardware processor, cause the at least one hardware processor to retrieve a network topology for at least a portion of an optical network within a particular geographic region;

one or more instructions which, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the at least one hardware processor to create on optical network identifier for a broadcast circuit based on the network topology for the particular geographic region;

one or more instructions which, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the at least one hardware processor to present a graphical user interface of the optical network identifier, the graphical user interface identifying individual nodes and connections between the nodes;

one or more instructions which, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the at least one hardware processor to prompt a user to select a wavelength for the broadcast circuit, using the graphical user interface, where the prompting includes providing the user with a list of available wavelength intervals from which to select a particular wavelength;

one or more instructions which, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the at least one hardware processor to prompt the user to select one or more first paths for the broadcast circuit through the dense wavelength data multiplexers using the graphical user interface;

one or more instructions which, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the at least one hardware processor to prompt the user to select one or more second paths for the broadcast circuit through the dense wavelength data multiplexers using the graphical user interface, where the one or more second paths are different than the one or more first paths;

one or more instructions which, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the at least one hardware processor to accept user input, via the graphical user interface, to define functions for one or more nodes over the selected one or more first paths and the selected one or more second paths; and

one or more instructions which, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the at least one hardware processor to create a circuit layout record based on the optical network identifier, the selected wavelength, the selected one or more first paths, the selected one or more second paths, and the user input to define functions.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising:

one or more instructions which, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the at least one hardware processor to query an operations support service for available bandwidth to support bandwidth requirements over the selected one or more first paths and the selected one or more second paths.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, where the one or more first paths are one or more west paths and the one or more second paths are one or more east paths.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, further comprising:

one or more instructions which, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the at least one hardware processor to prompt the user to provide a deadline for completion of the broadcast circuit;

one or more instructions which, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the at least one hardware processor to automatically select servicing nodes in the one or more west paths and one or more east paths; and

one or more instructions which, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the at least one hardware processor to prompt the user to select degrees of propagation for each node in the one or more west paths and one or more east paths.