Method and apparatus for discovery and tracking of location of networked devices
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for determining a location of a target element in a distributed network, comprising the steps of:
- associating one or more physical locations of network components in a distributed network to one or more sample topology elements, wherein the topology elements form a network infrastructure of the distributed network to which the network components are connected, wherein the topology elements comprise one of switches, routers, access points, logical subnets and domains or other logical or physical elements that define the network infrastructure;
generating location mappings, the location mappings representing associations between the physical locations of network components associated with the one or more sample topology elements and one or more network attributes, wherein generating location mappings comprises tracking historical associations between physical locations of network components and one or more sample topology elements and using a voting algorithm to incrementally compute location confidence measures for respective sample topology elements that have more than one physical location associations with network components; and
estimating a location of a target network component using the location mappings and the incrementally computed location confidence measures.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques are disclosed for discovery and tracking of locations of devices attached to a computing system network. By way of example, an automated method for determining a location of a target element in a distributed network includes the following steps. One or more locations of one or more sample topology elements in the distributed network are learned. Location mappings are generated, the location mappings representing associations between the learned locations of the one or more sample topology elements and one or more network attributes. A location of a target element is estimated using the location mappings.
14 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for determining a location of a target element in a distributed network, comprising the steps of:
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associating one or more physical locations of network components in a distributed network to one or more sample topology elements, wherein the topology elements form a network infrastructure of the distributed network to which the network components are connected, wherein the topology elements comprise one of switches, routers, access points, logical subnets and domains or other logical or physical elements that define the network infrastructure; generating location mappings, the location mappings representing associations between the physical locations of network components associated with the one or more sample topology elements and one or more network attributes, wherein generating location mappings comprises tracking historical associations between physical locations of network components and one or more sample topology elements and using a voting algorithm to incrementally compute location confidence measures for respective sample topology elements that have more than one physical location associations with network components; and estimating a location of a target network component using the location mappings and the incrementally computed location confidence measures. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. Apparatus for determining a location of a target element in a distributed network, the apparatus comprising:
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a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory and operative to; associate one or more physical locations of network components in a distributed network to one or more sample topology elements, wherein the topology elements form a network infrastructure of the distributed network to which the network components are connected, wherein the topology elements comprise one of switches, routers, access points, logical subnets and domains or other logical or physical elements that define the network infrastructure; generate location mappings, the location mappings representing associations between the physical locations of network components associated with the one or more sample topology elements and one or more network attributes, wherein generating location mappings comprises tracking historical associations between physical locations of network components and one or more sample topology elements and using a voting algorithm to incrementally compute location confidence measures for respective sample topology elements that have more than one physical location associations with network components; and estimate a location of a target network component using the location mappings and the incrementally computed location confidence measures. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An article of manufacture for determining a location of a target element in a distributed network, the article comprising a non-transitory computer readable tangible storage medium including one or more programs which when executed by a computer system perform the steps of:
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associating one or more physical locations of network components in a distributed network to one or more sample topology elements, wherein the topology elements form a network infrastructure of the distributed network to which the network components are connected, wherein the topology elements comprise one of switches, routers, access points, logical subnets and domains or other logical or physical elements that define the network infrastructure; generating location mappings, the location mappings representing associations between the physical locations of network components associated with the one or more sample topology elements and one or more network attributes, wherein generating location mappings comprises tracking historical associations between physical locations of network components and one or more sample topology elements and using a voting algorithm to incrementally compute location confidence measures for respective sample topology elements that have more than one physical location associations with network components; and estimating a location of a target network component using the location mappings and the incrementally computed location confidence measures. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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Specification