Telephonic communications – Diagnostic testing – malfunction indication – or electrical... – Of centralized switching system
Reexamination Certificate
1997-11-17
2002-09-03
Kuntz, Curtis (Department: 2643)
Telephonic communications
Diagnostic testing, malfunction indication, or electrical...
Of centralized switching system
C379S032010, C379S014010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06445774
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to the detection, reporting, and resolution of anomalies in a telecommunications network, and more particularly to the automation of the anomaly handling and resolution procedures that are associated with such a telecommunications network.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A modem telecommunications network is an extremely complex system composed of a plethora of network components. To ensure that the telecommunications network remains in proper working condition, the performance of these various network components is continuously monitored by network monitoring personnel, referred to hereinafter as “network monitors.” The network monitors, often remotely located from the telecommunications network, monitor the network by reviewing reports of anomalies generated within the telecommunications network. The collection of systems used to monitor these anomalies is referred to as a network monitoring environment.
In the telecommunications network, alarms are assigned to various network components and sound when anomalies are detected in their respective components. In addition, the sites where the network components are physically located may be equipped with alarms and also may be monitored. Other equipment peripheral to the network may also be equipped with alarms. Each alarm is reported to the network monitors through an electronic message (an alarm report), which provides an indication of a network anomaly. The network monitors use the alarm reports to investigate and resolve the anomaly that generated the alarm.
Monitoring a telecommunications network is a complicated undertaking, especially considering the many components which comprise a typical network. Moreover, in light of the multitude of alarms attached to the network, the network monitors may be inundated periodically with alarm reports due to one or more major anomalies in the network, or even a series of small anomalies arising within a brief timespan. This tremendous volume of alarm reports can overwhelm the network monitors and hamper the process of returning the telecommunications network to proper working condition.
In conventional network monitoring environments, network monitors receive alarm reports from the telecommunications network and then manually process these alarm reports. Processing an alarm report provides an orderly procedure for resolving the anomaly that generated an alarm. The processing of alarm reports to resolve network anomalies typically entails retrieving from paper manuals network parameter information, such as equipment operating characteristics; consulting telephone directories to find telephone numbers for remote network sites; and optionally, completing hard copy telecommunications trouble forms, referred to as trouble tickets or service reports. A network monitor prepares a trouble ticket, also known as a service report, when action by a field engineer appears necessary in order to resolve the anomaly causing an alarm. Field engineers are typically telecommunications personnel who service the telecommunications network (e.g., replacing a faulty transformer at a specific location).
In conventional network monitoring environments, a network monitor prepares a trouble ticket using some type of service management system, for example, a trouble management system (“TMS”). Conventional TMSs are separate computer systems from the telecommunications network where the alarm reports are generated. As a result, a network monitor must manually copy the alarm report information to create a trouble ticket in the TMS. In addition, once the trouble ticket is submitted to the TMS, the network monitor receives status update information from the TMS. However, a network monitor may not typically select the type of status update information received from the TMS.
FIG. 1
is a block diagram depicting the logical architecture of a conventional network monitoring environment. The network monitoring environment comprises a telecommunications network
107
, a network management system
100
, network monitors
104
, a TMS
105
, and field engineers
106
. The telecommunications network
107
consists of various components from electronic equipment, wires, and transformers to sites in which this equipment is housed. The network management system
100
typically includes an alarm handling function module (“FM”)
101
, an alarm handling presentation module (“PM”)
102
, and an iconic map PM
103
. The network management system
100
receives alarm reports generated by components of the telecommunications network
107
due to an anomaly detected within a component. Network monitors
104
receive the alarm reports from the alarm handling PM
102
and initiate the process of correcting the anomalies that generated the alarm reports. The network monitors
104
may use the information from the alarm reports to create trouble tickets using the TMS
105
. The TMS
105
provides a system for dispatching field engineers
106
to the physical location of a reported anomaly based upon the created trouble tickets. The field engineers
106
investigate and correct the reported anomaly.
In a typical operation, a network monitor, such as network monitor
104
, is assigned to monitor the telecommunications network at a particular location in the network or to monitor a particular type of network component. The network monitor typically uses a computer workstation to perform the monitoring procedures. In presently available network monitoring environments, when a network management system, such as a network management system
100
, receives an alarm report, it is generally assigned manually to the proper network monitor (by routing it to the appropriate workstation). Having received the alarm report, the network monitor may first attempt to verify the anomaly represented by the alarm report, or the network monitor may attempt to resolve the anomaly by telephoning personnel located at the site from which the alarm originated. For example, a network monitor may receive an alarm report indicating that a door has been opened at a remote network station by someone who did not enter a proper authorization code prior to entering. In response to such an alarm, the network monitor typically consults a paper telephone book of network site personnel to locate the telephone number of the corresponding site manager or a subordinate. The network monitor then telephones the site and verbally informs appropriate personnel that the open door alarm has occurred.
On the other hand, the alarm report received by a network monitor may indicate a condition, such as a break in a communications line, which the network monitor cannot resolve and which will ultimately require the attention of a field engineer, such as field engineer
106
. In order to bring this alarm to the attention of the field engineering staff, conventional network monitoring environments require the network monitor to manually create a trouble ticket on a TMS, such as TMS
105
, and to copy the relevant information manually from the alarm report into the trouble ticket for processing by a TMS. To complete the trouble ticket properly, the network monitor typically adds additional information, some of which the network monitor generally finds by referencing paper manuals that contain, for example, site, topology, or equipment information.
A network monitor may often determine that multiple alarm reports received from the telecommunications network can be grouped together to facilitate processing. For example, the network monitor may believe that the alarm reports have a common source or are otherwise related. The selection of either a single alarm report or the grouping of multiple alarm reports together to facilitate processing is known as creating an “event” to those skilled in art. An alarm typically represents the mere appearance of an anomaly within a particular network component. An event, on the other hand, represents the logical grouping of multiple network anomalies, or apparent aiomalies. For example, if a tree falls over during a thunde
Bishop Reid J.
Haring James M.
Kidder Karen L.
Pham Lan D.
Trent James D.
Barnie Rexford N
Kuntz Curtis
MCI Communications Corporation
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