System and method for automatic provisioning of onsite networking services

• US 8,762,584 B2
• Filed: 02/06/2012
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus Software, Inc. (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Jones, Richard D., Buck, Michael L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Park, Ilwoo
• Application Number:
  US13/366,918
• Publication Number:
  US 20120134300A1
• Time in Patent Office: 869 Days
• US Class Current: 710/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2213/0038 System on Chip
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play

Abstract

The system and method described herein may activate an automatic provisioning system within customer premise equipment via a digital subscriber line, cable modem, or other residential hub or gateway interface and access a remote directory service to locate appropriate addressing and other information to initialize the customer premise equipment. The gateway interface may automatically update a configuration, heal bugs, and perform other maintenance and tasks to manage the customer premise equipment. Multiple gateway interfaces or products or services associated therewith may be configured at one premise and version control may be maintained to ensure compatibility.

Claims

1. A system for automatically provisioning onsite networking services, comprising:

a directory service that includes a customer premise equipment object to represent a customer premise equipment instance and a tailored service object to provision the customer premise equipment instance represented with the customer premise equipment object;

a server associated with the directory service, wherein the server includes one or more processors configured to;

create the customer premise equipment object to represent the customer premise equipment instance and the tailored service object to provision the customer premise equipment instance in the directory service;

download the customer premise equipment object and the tailored service object from the directory service to a data store at the customer premise equipment instance, wherein the data store is configured to store the customer premise equipment object and the tailored service object at the customer premise equipment instance;

monitor the customer premise equipment object or the tailored service object associated with the customer premise equipment instance in the directory service response to a request from the customer premise equipment instance;

enable diagnostic testing on the customer premise equipment and configure the customer premise equipment to log any errors detected and to raise an alarm when errors are detected and combining the diagnostic testing with a self-healing process for automatically repairing errors detected and the diagnostic testing operates only on demand under automatic computer control; and

download a new tailored service object from the directory service to the data store at the customer premise equipment instance in response to the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicating that a new network service has been added to the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance, wherein the customer premise equipment instance is configured to execute the new tailored service object to deliver the new network service to the end-user appliance, the new network service delivered concurrent with the diagnostic testing and delivered simultaneously with the monitoring.

2. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more processors associated with the server are further configured to delete the tailored service object from the directory service and the data store at the customer premise equipment instance in response to the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicating that the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance have been removed.

3. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more processors associated with the server are further configured to download an updated tailored service object from the directory service to the data store at the customer premise equipment instance in response to the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicating that the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance have been updated, wherein the customer premise equipment instance is configured to execute the updated tailored service object to update the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance.

4. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more processors associated with the server are further configured to download a new customer premise equipment object from the directory service to the data store at the customer premise equipment instance in response to the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicating that a new end-user appliance has been added, wherein the customer premise equipment instance is configured to execute the new customer premise equipment object to deliver the one or more network services to the new end-user appliance.

5. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more processors associated with the server are further configured to delete the customer premise equipment object from the directory service and the data store at the customer premise equipment instance in response to the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicating that the end-user appliance has been removed.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the customer premise equipment object to represent the customer premise equipment instance includes executable code, a configuration policy, or information related to one or more end-users.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the tailored service object to provision the customer premise equipment instance includes executable code, a configuration policy, or information related to one or more end-users.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the customer premise equipment instance includes a gateway, a router, or a hub and the end-user appliance connected thereto includes a personal computer, an entertainment device, a surveillance device, a household appliance, or a utility monitoring device.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance and the new network service to add to the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance include broadband services or on-demand video services.

10. A method for automatically provisioning onsite networking services, comprising:

connecting a directory service to a customer premise equipment instance, wherein the directory service includes a customer premise equipment object to represent the customer premise equipment instance and a tailored service object to provision the customer premise equipment instance represented with the customer premise equipment object; and

creating the customer premise equipment object to represent the customer premise equipment instance and the tailored service object to provision the customer premise equipment instance in the directory service;

downloading the customer premise equipment object and the tailored service object from the directory service to a data store at the customer premise equipment instance, wherein the data store is configured to store the customer premise equipment object and the tailored service object at the customer premise equipment instance;

monitoring the customer premise equipment object or the tailored service object associated with the customer premise equipment instance in the directory service response to a request from the customer premise equipment instance;

enable diagnostic testing on the customer premise equipment and configure the customer premise equipment to log any errors detected and to raise an alarm when errors are detected and combining the diagnostic testing with a self-healing process for automatically repairing errors detected and the diagnostic testing operates only on demand under automatic computer control; and

downloading a new tailored service object from the directory service to the data store at the customer premise equipment instance in response to the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicating that a new network service has been added to the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance, wherein the customer premise equipment instance is configured to execute the new tailored service object to deliver the new network service to the end-user appliance, the new network service delivered concurrent with the diagnostic testing and delivered simultaneously with the monitoring.

11. The method recited in claim 10, further comprising deleting the tailored service object from the directory service and the data store at the customer premise equipment instance in response to the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicating that the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance have been removed.

12. The method recited in claim 10, further comprising downloading an updated tailored service object from the directory service to the data store at the customer premise equipment instance in response to the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicating that the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance have been updated, wherein the customer premise equipment instance is configured to execute the updated tailored service object to update the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance.

13. The method recited in claim 10, further comprising downloading a new customer premise equipment object from the directory service to the data store at the customer premise equipment instance in response to the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicating that a new end-user appliance has been added, wherein the customer premise equipment instance is configured to execute the new customer premise equipment object to deliver the one or more network services to the new end-user appliance.

14. The method recited in claim 10, further comprising deleting the customer premise equipment object from the directory service and the data store at the customer premise equipment instance in response to the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicating that the end-user appliance has been removed.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the customer premise equipment object to represent the customer premise equipment instance includes executable code, a configuration policy, or information related to one or more end-users.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the tailored service object to provision the customer premise equipment instance includes executable code, a configuration policy, or information related to one or more end-users.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the customer premise equipment instance includes a gateway, a router, or a hub and the end-user appliance connected thereto includes a personal computer, an entertainment device, a surveillance device, a household appliance, or a utility monitoring device.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more network services to deliver to the end- user appliance and the new network service to add to the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance include broadband services or on-demand video services.

19. A system for automatically provisioning onsite networking services, wherein the system comprises a customer premise equipment instance having one or more processors configured to:

connect to a directory service that includes a customer premise equipment object to represent the customer premise equipment instance and a tailored service object to provision the customer premise equipment instance represented with the customer premise equipment object;

download the customer premise equipment object and the tailored service object from the directory service to a local data store at the customer premise equipment instance;

send the directory service a request to monitor the customer premise equipment object or the tailored service object associated with the customer premise equipment instance;

download a new tailored service object from the directory service to the local data store in response to the directory service determining that the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicates that a new network service has been added to the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance;

enable diagnostic testing on the customer premise equipment and configure the customer premise equipment to log any errors detected and to raise an alarm when errors are detected and combining the diagnostic testing with a self-healing process for automatically repairing errors detected and the diagnostic testing operates only on demand under automatic computer control; and

execute the new tailored service object to deliver the new network service to the end-user appliance connected to the customer premise equipment, the new network service delivered concurrent with the diagnostic testing and delivered simultaneously with the monitoring.

20. The system recited in claim 19, wherein the one or more processors associated with the customer premise equipment instance are further configured to delete the tailored service object from the local data store in response to the directory service determining that the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicates that the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance have been removed.

21. The system recited in claim 19, wherein the one or more processors associated with the customer premise equipment instance are further configured to:

download an updated tailored service object from the directory service to the local data store in response to the directory service determining that the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicates that the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance have been updated; and

execute the updated tailored service object to update the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance connected to the customer premise equipment.

22. The system recited in claim 19, wherein the one or more processors associated with the customer premise equipment instance are further configured to:

download a new customer premise equipment object from the directory service to the local data store in response to the directory service determining that the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicates that a new end-user appliance has been added; and

execute the new customer premise equipment object to deliver the one or more network services to the new end-user appliance connected to the customer premise equipment.

23. The system recited in claim 19, wherein the one or more processors associated with the customer premise equipment instance are further configured to delete the customer premise equipment object from the local data store in response to the directory service determining that the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicates that the end-user appliance has been removed.

24. A method for automatically provisioning onsite networking services, comprising:

connecting a customer premise equipment instance to a directory service that includes a customer premise equipment object to represent the customer premise equipment instance and a tailored service object to provision the customer premise equipment instance represented with the customer premise equipment object;

downloading the customer premise equipment object and the tailored service object from the directory service to a local data store at the customer premise equipment instance;

sending a request to monitor the customer premise equipment object or the tailored service object associated with the customer premise equipment instance from the customer premise equipment to the directory service;

downloading a new tailored service object from the directory service to the local data store in response to the directory service determining that the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicates that a new network service has been added to the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance;

enable diagnostic testing on the customer premise equipment and configure the customer premise equipment to log any errors detected and to raise an alarm when errors are detected and combining the diagnostic testing with a self-healing process for automatically repairing errors detected and the diagnostic testing operates only on demand under automatic computer control; and

executing the new tailored service object at the customer premise equipment instance or the end-user appliance to deliver the new network service to the end-user appliance, the new network service delivered concurrent with the diagnostic testing and delivered simultaneously with the monitoring.

25. The method recited in claim 24, further comprising deleting the tailored service object from the local data store in response to the directory service determining that the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicates that the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance have been removed.

26. The method recited in claim 24, further comprising:

downloading an updated tailored service object from the directory service to the local data store in response to the directory service determining that the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicates that the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance have been updated; and

executing the updated tailored service object at the customer premise equipment instance or the end-user appliance to update the one or more network services to deliver to the end-user appliance.

27. The method recited in claim 24, further comprising:

downloading a new customer premise equipment object from the directory service to the local data store in response to the directory service determining that the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicates that a new end-user appliance has been added; and

executing the new customer premise equipment object at the customer premise equipment instance or the new end-user appliance to deliver the one or more network services to the new end-user appliance.

28. The method recited in claim 24, further comprising deleting the customer premise equipment object from the local data store in response to the directory service determining that the monitored customer premise equipment object or the monitored tailored service object indicates that the end-user appliance has been removed.