Network capacity management system

• US 8,135,814 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2005
• Issued: 03/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Armanino, Frederick, Merritt, Anthony Wayne, Wong, Peter A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pwu, Jeffrey
• Assistant Examiner(s): Taha, Shaq
• Application Number:
  US11/172,206
• Publication Number:
  US 20070005648A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,449 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/024 using relational databases for representation of network management data, e.g. managing via structured query language [SQL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/14 Network analysis or design
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/149 for prediction of maintenance

Abstract

The present invention discusses a computerized method for managing a communication network through processing data used in a Capacity Management System (CMS) associated with the communication network. A configurable grammar, such as an XML grammar with regular expressions, is used to implement various aspects of network management. Data management includes pre-processing data (transferring data, decompressing data, parsing data), loading data into a relational database, and data analysis. Results of data analysis can be used to determine a network condition, and thereby to enable network management.

Claims

1. A computerized method for managing capacity for a communication network, comprising:

receiving, by a capacity management system from a communication network element, traffic data indicative of network traffic, wherein the communication network element is selected from a digital subscriber loop access multiplexer and an asynchronous transfer mode switch providing an interface between an asynchronous transfer mode network and the capacity management system;

pre-processing the traffic data to generate pre-processed data, wherein the pre-processing includes performing a pre-processing action selected from decompressing compressed data and extracting archived data, wherein the pre-processed data shares common compression and archiving characteristics;

parsing the pre-processed data into delimited record files;

loading the delimited record files into a database;

analyzing the delimited record files in the database; and

managing data traffic within the communication network based at least in part on the analyzing;

wherein the parsing includes calling a parser manager by a generic parser module using an XML grammar to parse the pre-processed data using regular expressions.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising load balancing the data traffic.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the parsing further includes at least one of data enhancement, data validation, and data merging.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the analyzing comprises determining a network condition and wherein the managing comprises configuring the communication network in response to the network condition.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the network condition comprises forecasting the network condition.

6. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions that when executed by a computer perform a computerized method for managing capacity for a communication network, the program instructions comprising instructions for:

receiving, from a communication network element, traffic data indicative of network traffic, wherein the communication network element is selected from a digital subscriber loop access multiplexer element and an asynchronous transfer mode switch element connected to an asynchronous transfer mode network;

pre-processing the traffic data to generate pre-processed data, wherein the pre-processed data shares common compression and archiving characteristics;

parsing the pre-processed data into delimited record files;

loading the delimited record files into a database;

analyzing the delimited record files in the database; and

managing data traffic within the communication network based at least in part on a result of the analyzing;

wherein the instructions for parsing include instructions for calling a parser manager by a generic parser module using an XML grammar and instructions for parsing the pre-processed data using regular expressions.

7. The medium of claim 6, wherein the program instructions include instructions for load balancing the data traffic.

8. The medium of claim 6, wherein the instructions for parsing include instructions for performing at least one of data enhancement, data validation, and data merging.

9. The medium of claim 6, wherein the program instructions include instructions for determining a network condition and wherein the instructions for managing include instructions for configuring the communication network based at least in part on the network condition.

10. The medium of claim 6, wherein the instructions for determining the network condition include instructions for forecasting the network condition.

11. A capacity management system for managing capacity of a communication network, the system including a processor having access to a tangible computer readable medium including processor executable program instructions, the program instructions comprising instructions for:

receiving, from a communication element, traffic data indicative of network traffic, wherein the communication element comprises a digital subscriber loop access multiplexer;

pre-processing the traffic data to generate pre-processed data, wherein the pre-processed data shares common compression and archiving characteristics;

parsing the pre-processed data into delimited record files;

loading the delimited record files into a database; and

analyzing the delimited record files in the database to identify a data traffic bottleneck;

wherein the instructions for parsing include instructions for calling a parser manager by a generic parser module using an XML grammar to parse the pre-processed data using regular expressions.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the program instructions include instructions for load balancing data traffic in response to said identifying.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the instructions for parsing include instructions for at least one of data enhancing, data validating, and data merging.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the instructions for analyzing comprise instructions for determining a network condition and wherein the instructions for managing include instructions for configuring the communication network in response to the network condition.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the instructions for determining the network condition include instructions for forecasting the network condition.