Patent ID: 6389129
Filing Date: 2002-05-14
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
In a telecommunications network having a plurality of network devices and a processor, wherein the processor runs at least one of a plurality of programs for communicating with the plurality of network devices and each of said plurality of network devices has a device-specific communication format, a method of interfacing programs with network devices, comprising the computer-implemented steps of:providing an interface for interfacing a selected one of the plurality of programs with the network devices, wherein said interface comprises real-time network device data from a database, operatively coupled to said interface, that reflects current a configuration and topology of said network devices; receiving a first communication destined to a selected one of the plurality of network devices from the selected one of the plurality of programs of the interface in a first format; with the interface, converting the first communication from the first format to a second format that is the device-specific communication format of the selected one of the plurality of network devices; and forwarding the converted first communication in the second format from the interface to the selected one of the plurality of network devices.