System and method for displaying a graphical representation of a network to identify nodes and node segments on the network that are not operating normally

• US 8,549,405 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2007
• Issued: 10/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Embarq Holdings Company LLC A Delaware Limited Liability Company
• Original Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bugenhagen, Michael K., Morrill, Robert J., Edwards, Stephen K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tan, Alvin H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hur, Ece
• Application Number:
  US11/809,914
• Publication Number:
  US 20080052628A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,315 Days
• Field of Search: 370/354, 370/236, 370/229, 370/235, 370/353, 370/463, 709/223, 709/224, 715/734, 715/733, 715/736
• US Class Current: 715/734
• 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 41/5003 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 41/5051 Service on demand, e.g. definition and deployment of services in real time

Abstract

A GUI, system, and method for displaying operating performance of a packet network may include displaying first graphical representations illustrative of network communications devices operating on a packet network, where the first graphical representations may be displayed in a first mode if respective network communications devices are operating normally to communicate data packets including real-time content and non-real-time content and in a second mode if respective network communications devices are not operating normally to communicate data packets including real-time content and non-real-time content. Second graphical representations illustrative of node segments connecting respective network communications devices may be displayed, where the second graphical representations may be displayed in a third mode if respective node segments are operating normally to communicate data packets including real-time content and non-real-time content and a fourth mode if respective node segments are not operating normally to communicate data packets including real-time content and non-real-time content.

Claims

1. A non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions for:

providing a graphical user interface (GUI) for displaying operating performance of a packet network, said graphical user interface comprising;

a plurality of first graphical representations illustrative of network communications devices operating on a packet network, said respective network communications devices are displayed in a first mode if operating within a predetermined status value range that indicates normal communications of data packets and in a second mode if respective network communications devices are operating at an above normal range, wherein a user is able to visually determine whether a network communication device is operating normally or at the above normal range based on whether the network communication device is displayed in the first mode or the second mode; and

a plurality of second graphical representations illustrative of node segments connecting respective network communications devices, said respective node segments are displayed in a third mode if operating within the predetermined status value range that indicates normal communications of data packets and in a fourth mode if respective node segments are not operating within the predetermined status value range that indicates normal communications of data packets, wherein at least one of the third mode and fourth mode includes a graphical representation indicating high current usage of real-time bandwidth on said respective node segments, the real-time bandwidth indicating communication of data packets that contain real-time content, wherein the real-time content includes data representative of speech of a telephone call;

and further comprising computer executable instructions for displaying a chart indicating node segment status usage for a particular node segment on the packet network, the chart displaying a graph of total bandwidth usage over a time period, real-time communication bandwidth usage over the time period, and non-real time bandwidth usage over the time period.

2. The GUI according to claim 1, further comprising displaying current node segment information in response to a cursor being positioned over said node segment.

3. The GUI according to claim 1, further comprising displaying historical node segment information in response to a cursor being positioned over said node segment.

4. The GUI according to claim 1, wherein the first mode includes displaying the first graphical representation with a first color and wherein the second mode includes displaying the first graphical representation with a second color.

5. The GUI according to claim 1, wherein the third mode includes displaying said second graphical representations with a first color and wherein the fourth mode includes displaying said second graphical representations with a second color.

6. The GUI according to claim 1, wherein a network communications device is determined to be operating normally if at least one associated network performance information parameter is within a first range and determined not to be operating normally if the at least one associated network performance information parameter is outside the first range.

7. The GUI according to claim 6, wherein the at least one associated network performance information parameter is associated with communications of data packets including real-time content.

8. The GUI according to claim 7, wherein the at least one associated network performance information parameter is further associated with communications of data packets including non-real-time content.

9. The GUI according to claim 1, wherein in-a node segment is determined to be operating normally if at least one associated network performance information parameter is within a first range and determined not to be operating normally if the at least one associated network performance information parameter is outside the first range.

10. The GUI according to claim 9, wherein the at least one associated network performance information parameter is associated with communications of data packets including real-time content.

11. The GUI according to claim 10, wherein at least one associated network performance information parameter is further associated with communications of data packets including non-real-time content.

12. The GUI according to claim 1, further comprising at least one message displayed in response to determining network communications devices or node segments are not operating normally.

13. A system for displaying operating performance of a packet network, said system comprising:

a data storage unit containing a database configured to store network performance information collected from a packet network, the network performance information distinguishing network performance information associated with communications of data packets including real-time content and data packets including non-real-time content, wherein the real-time content includes data representative of speech of a telephone call;

a processor in communication with said data storage unit and configured to access the stored network performance information in the database, said processor further configured to generate a graphical user interface including;

a plurality of first graphical representations illustrative of network communications devices operating on a packet network, said respective network communications devices displayed in a first mode if are operating within a predetermined status value range that indicates normal communications of the data packets and a second mode if respective network communications are operating at an above normal range, wherein a user is able to visually determine whether a network communication device is operating normally or at the above normal range based on whether the network communication device is displayed in the first mode or the second mode; and

a plurality of second graphical representations illustrative of node segments connecting respective network communications devices, said respective node segments are displayed in a third mode if operating within the predetermined status value range that indicates normal communications of the data packets and a fourth mode if respective node segments are not operating within the predetermined status value range that indicates normal communications of the data packets, wherein at least one of the third mode and fourth mode includes a graphical representation indicating high usage of real-time bandwidth on said respective node segments;

said processor further configured to generate a chart indicating node segment status usage for a particular node segment on the packet network, the chart displaying a graph of total bandwidth usage over a time period, real-time communication bandwidth usage over the time period, and non-real time bandwidth usage over the time period.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein said processor is further configured to display the first graphical representations with a first line thickness in the first mode and display the first graphical representations with a second line thickness in the second mode.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein said processor is further configured to display the second graphical representations with a first line thickness in the third mode and display the second graphical representations with a second line thickness in the fourth mode.

16. The system according to claim 13, wherein said processor is further configured to display the first graphical representation with a first color in the first mode and wherein display the first graphical representation with a second color in the second mode.

17. The system according to claim 13, wherein said processor is further configured to display said second graphical representations with a first color in the third mode and display the second graphical representations with a second color in the fourth mode.

18. The system according to claim 13, wherein said processor is further configured to determine that a network communications device is operating normally if indicia stored in said database is indicative of at least one associated network performance information parameter being within a first range and determine that the network communications device is not operating normally if the indicia indicative of at least one associated network performance information parameter being outside the first range.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein the at least one associated network performance information parameter is associated with communications of data packets including real-time content.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the at least one associated network performance information parameter is further associated with communications of data packets including non-real-time content.

21. The system according to claim 13, wherein said processor is further configured to determine that a node segment is operating normally, indicia stored in said database being indicative of at least one associated network performance information parameter being within a first range and not operating normally if the indicia is indicative of the at least one associated network performance information parameter being outside the first range.

22. The system according to claim 21, wherein the at least one associated network performance information parameter is associated with communications of the data packets including real-time content.

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein the at least one associated network performance information parameter is further associated with communications of the data packets including non-real-time content.

24. The system according to claim 13, wherein said processor is further configured to display at least one message in response to determining that network communications devices or node segments are not operating normally.

25. A method for displaying operating performance of a packet network in a user interface, said method comprising:

displaying a plurality of first graphical representations illustrative of network communications devices operating on a packet network, the packet network comprising of a first carrier network and a second carrier network, the respective network communications devices being displayed in a first mode if operating normally to communicate data packets including real-time content and non-real-time content and in a second mode if respective network communications devices are operating at an above normal range;

displaying a plurality of second graphical representations illustrative of node segments connecting respective network communications devices, the respective node segments are displayed in a third mode if operating normally to communicate the data packets and a fourth mode if respective node segments are not operating normally to communicate the data packets, wherein the fourth mode includes at least two graphical representations distinguishing between a node segment used to communicate data packet that includes real-time content and a node segment used to communicate data packet that do not include real-time content, wherein the real-time content includes data representative of speech of a telephone call, and wherein at least one of the third mode and fourth mode includes a graphical representation indicating high usage of real-time bandwidth on said respective node segments, the real-time bandwidth consisting of data packets that include real-time content, and wherein the user interface includes network communication devices on both the first carrier network and the second carrier network, and wherein the plurality of first graphical representations illustrative of network communications devices and plurality of second graphical representations illustrative of node segments are applied to the network communication devices and node segments on both the first carrier network and the second carrier network; and

displaying a chart indicating node segment status usage for a particular node segment on the packet network, the chart displaying a graph of total bandwidth usage over a time period, real-time communication bandwidth usage over the time period, and non-real time bandwidth usage over the time period.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein displaying the first graphical representations in the first mode includes displaying the first graphical representations with a first line thickness and displaying the first graphical representations in the second mode includes displaying the first graphical representations with a second line thickness.

27. The method according to claim 25, wherein displaying the second graphical representations in the third mode includes displaying the second graphical representations with a first line thickness and wherein displaying the second graphical representations in the fourth mode includes displaying the second graphical representations with a second line thickness.

28. The method according to claim 25, wherein displaying the first graphical representations in the first mode includes displaying the first graphical representations with a first color and wherein displaying the first graphical representations in the second mode includes displaying the first graphical representations with a second color.

29. The method according to claim 25, wherein displaying the second graphical representations in the third mode includes displaying the second graphical representations with a first color and wherein displaying the second graphical representations in the fourth mode includes displaying the second graphical representations with a second color.

30. The method according to claim 25, wherein a network communications device is determined to be operating normally if at least one associated network performance information parameter is within a first range and determined not to be operating normally if the at least one associated network performance information parameter is outside the first range.

31. The method according to claim 30, wherein the at least one network performance information parameter is associated with communications of data packets including real-time content.

32. The method according to claim 31, wherein the at least one associated network performance information parameter is further associated with communications of data packets including non-real-time content.

33. The method according to claim 25, wherein a node segment is determined to be operating normally if at least one associated network performance information parameter is within a first range and determined not to be operating normally if they at least one associated network performance information parameter is outside the first range.

34. The method according to claim 33, wherein the at least one associated network performance information parameter is associated with communications of data packets including real-time content.

35. The method according to claim 34, wherein the at least one associated network performance information parameter is associated with communications of data packets including non-real-time content.

36. The method according to claim 25, further comprising displaying at least one message in response to determining that network communications devices or node segments are not operating normally.