Automated message handling system and process

• US 8,364,800 B2
• Filed: 02/04/2008
• Issued: 01/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Business Network Services, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Bice, Richard S., Raffaele, Herbert T., Brusseau, Jon P., Lacourse, Richard L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bruckart, Benjamin R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sciacca, Scott M
• Application Number:
  US12/025,609
• Publication Number:
  US 20080189376A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,821 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-226
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and process for resolving messages from application components to back-end systems. The system comprises a standardized message definition which uses a tagged field format through which application components communicate to a message handler. The message handler applies rules that define actions to be taken and recipients of information based on the contents of the message. The rules may be pre-defined by a customer associated with an application component generating a message, based on common rules applied to components generally, or based upon service rules associated with the service provider, such as level of service subscriptions or other characteristics, or based on a combination of any or all of the above bases. By utilizing published message formats, the present invention provides a platform independent framework for exposing application hosting back-end systems to customer applications.

Claims

1. A computing device-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by the computing device and from a client, a message that includes message header information identifying a plurality of fields included in a body of the received message;

accessing, by the computing device and based on the message header information, field definitions for the plurality of fields;

identifying, by the computing device, rules associated with the field definitions; and

applying, by the computing device and based on contents of the plurality of fields, the identified rules, where applying the identified rules includes;

selecting, based on the identified rules and the contents of the plurality of fields, a first message form of a plurality of message forms, where the first message form is associated with a first recipient device and includes a plurality of first data fields,

identifying, based on the contents of the plurality of fields, additional information available through another computing device that differs from the computing device,

acquiring, via the other computing device, the additional information,

populating, based the contents of the plurality of fields and the additional information, the first data fields in the first message form,

sending the first message form, with the populated first data fields, to the first recipient device,

receiving, from the first recipient device, a reply message that includes reply data,

selecting, based on the identified rules and the reply data, a second message form of the plurality of message forms, where the second message form is associated with a second recipient device and includes a plurality of second data fields,

populating the second data fields in the second message form based the contents of the plurality of fields and the reply data,

formatting, based on the identified rules, the second message form with the populated second data fields, and

sending, to the second recipient device, the formatted second message form,

where the received message relates to a fault associated with the client, and

where applying the identified rules further includes;

initiating corrective actions corresponding to the fault.

2. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, where at least one rule of the identified rules includes information identifying a party, and

where applying the identified rules further includes:

generating a notification, and

transmitting the notification to the party.

3. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, where the received message is associated with a schema that identifies the received message as directed to one or more of:

performance monitoring,

asset management,

case management,

billing, or

operations policy,

where the schema provides the field definitions for the plurality of fields in the body of the received message.

4. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, where the received message is in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.

5. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, where applying the identified rules further includes:

determining, based on the rules and the contents of the plurality of fields, to send a notification related to the received message;

accessing a contacts list to identify a party to which to direct the notification;

generating the notification; and

sending the notification to the identified party.

6. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, where at least one rule of the identified rules includes information identifying a job title of a party to receive a first message, and

where applying the identified rules further includes:

accessing a contacts list to identify contact information for an individual associated with the job title,

generating the first message, and

transmitting the first message to the individual using the identified contact information.

7. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, where applying the identified rules further includes:

generating at least one command to a device to initiate one or more actions related to the received message, and

sending the at least one command to the device, the at least one command causing the device to initiate the one or more actions.

8. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, where the additional information includes at least one client rule, associated with the client that sent the message and available through the other computing device.

9. The computing device-implemented method of claim 8, where the additional information further includes a status of a device associated with a customer and a plurality of contact addresses, and

where applying the identified rules further includes:

selecting, based on the status of the device and the at least one customer rule, one of the plurality of contact addresses as the second recipient device.

17. The computing device of claim 9, where the additional information further includes a status of a device associated with a customer and plurality of contact addresses, and

where the processor, when applying the identified at least one rule, is further to:

select, based on the status of the device and the at least one rule, one of the plurality of contact addresses as the second recipient device.

10. A computing device comprising

a memory to store instructions;

and

a processor to implement the instructions to;

receive a message, from a client, that includes message header information, the message header information identifying a field that is included in a body of the received message,

retrieve, based on the message header information, a field definition for the identified field,

identify at least one rule associated with the retrieved field definition, and

cause an action to be performed by applying the identified at least one rule to contents of the identified field, where the processor, when causing the action to be performed, is further to;

select, based on the identified at least one rule and the contents of the field, a first message form of a plurality of message forms, where the first message form is associated with a first recipient device and includes a plurality of first data fields,

identify, based on the contents of the field, additional information available through another computing device that differs from the computing device,

acquire, via the other computing device, the additional information,

populate, based the contents of the field and the additional information, the plurality of first data fields in the first message form,

send the first message form, with the populated first data fields, to the first recipient device,

receive, from the first recipient device, a reply message that includes reply data,

select, based on the identified at least one rule and the reply data, a second message form of the plurality of message forms, where the second message form is associated with a second recipient device and includes a plurality of second data fields,

populate the second data fields in the second message based the contents of the field and the reply data,

format, based on the identified at least one rule, the second message with the populated second data fields, and

send, to the second recipient device, the formatted second message,

where the received message relates to a fault, and

where, when causing the action to be performed, the processor is further to;

initiate corrective actions corresponding to the fault.

11. The computing device of claim 10, where the at least one rule includes information identifying a party, and

where, when causing the action to be performed, the processor is further to:

generate a notification related to the received message, and

transmit the notification to the party.

12. The computing device of claim 10, where the received message is associated with a schema that identifies the message as directed to at least one of:

performance monitoring,

asset management,

case management,

billing, or

operations policy,

where the schema provides the field definition for the field.

13. The computing device of claim 10, where the received message is in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.

14. The computing device of claim 10, where, when causing the action to be performed, the processor is further to:

access a contacts list to identify a party to receive a notification,

generate the notification, and

send the notification to the identified party.

15. The computing device of claim 10, where, when causing the action to be performed, the processor is further to:

generate at least one command to a device to initiate one or more actions related to the received message, and

send the at least one command to the device, the at least one command causing the device to initiate the one or more actions.

16. The computing device of claim 10, where the additional information includes at least one client rule, associated with the client that sent the message and available through the other computing device.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium to store instructions comprising:

one or more instructions, which when executed by a device, cause the device to receive a message, from a client, that includes message header information, the message header information identifying a field that is included in a body of the received message;

one or more instructions, which when executed by the device, cause the device to retrieve, based on the message header information, a field definition for the identified field;

one or more instructions, which when executed by the device, cause the device to identify at least one rule associated with the retrieved field definition; and

one or more instructions, which when executed by the device, cause the device to cause an action to be performed by applying the identified at least one rule to contents of the identified field,

where the one or more instructions to cause the action to be performed further include;

one or more instructions to select, based on the identified at least one rule and the contents of the identified field, a first message form of a plurality of message forms, where the first message form is associated with a first recipient device and includes a plurality of first data fields,

one or more instructions to identify, based on the contents of the field, additional information available through another computing device that differs from the computing device,

one or more instructions to acquire, via the other computing device, the additional information,

one or more instructions to populate, based the contents of the field and the additional information, the first data fields in the first message form,

one or more instructions to send the first message form, with the populated first data fields, to the first recipient device,

one or more instructions to receive, from the first recipient device, a reply message that includes reply data,

one or more instructions to select, based on the identified at least one rule and the reply data, a second message form of the plurality of message forms, where the second message form is associated with a second recipient device and includes a plurality of second data fields,

one or more instructions to populate the second data fields in the second message based the contents of the field and the reply data,

one or more instructions to format, based on the identified at least one rule, the second message, with the populated second data fields, and

one or more instructions to send, to the second recipient device, the formatted second message,

where the received message relates to a fault, and

where the one or more instructions to cause the action to be performed include;

one or more instructions to initiate corrective actions corresponding to the fault.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, where the one or more instructions to acquire the additional information include:

one or more instructions to acquire at least one client rule, where the at least one client rule is associated with the client that sent the message and is located at the other computing device.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, where the one or more instructions to acquire the additional information include:

one or more instructions to acquire information about a status of a device associated with a customer and a plurality of contact addresses; and

one or more instructions to select, based on the status of the device and the at least one client rule, one of the plurality of contact addresses as the second recipient device.