Abstract:
Methods and systems for telecommunications terminals management that include at least one telecommunications terminal and an attached computer. The telecommunications terminal generates messages describing the telecommunications terminal (e.g. card insertion or removal and terminal alarms) either autonomously or in response to automatically generated requests. The computer processes these messages to build a model of connected telecommunications terminals. The model can be a hierarchy of software objects where objects are inserted and modified based on the message produced by the telecommunications terminal. The computer can display the model information to an administrator. The administrator can interact with the model to alter properties of the telecommunications terminals represented.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     This invention relates to telecommunications terminals. 
     Telecommunications terminals connect subscriber lines, such as POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) and ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) lines, to telecommunications exchanges and other telecommunications equipment. A terminal includes channel unit card slots that accept channel unit cards. Channel unit cards convert analog and digital signals from subscriber lines into formatted digital data signals. Different types of channel unit cards service different types of subscriber lines (e.g. POTS or ISDN). The terminal constructs a single time division multiplexed (TDM) signal from several channel unit cards&#39; formatted digital data signals for transmission to remote telecommunications equipment. The terminal also demultiplexes TDM signals received from remote telecommunications equipment to deliver formatted digital data back to the channel unit cards which then convert the formatted digital data into a form suitable for transmission over subscriber lines. 
     Two telecommunications terminals can be connected “back to back” to form a digital loop carrier (DLC) network. A DLC network typically includes a remote terminal (RT) placed near a business or residence and a central terminal (CT) placed in a central exchange connected to a telecommunications switch. The RT and CT communicate over a single line carrying TDM signals. This configuration connects subscribers to the telecommunications switch. 
     A telecommunications terminal management system provides administrators and others with information about terminals aggregated at a site. Terminal information includes descriptions of the channel unit cards currently installed in the terminal. 
     A simple telecommunications terminal management system has a computer connected to a telecommunications terminal. The computer collects and displays information about the terminal. The computer can collect information by sending Transaction Language 1 (TL1) commands to the terminal. TL1 is a Bellcore language that defines different ASCII commands that telecommunications terminals can understand and process. For example, if the computer sends the terminal the TL1 command RTRV-EQUIP-ALL, the terminal would respond by sending back a TL1 ASCII message containing information describing installed equipment—namely, all of the channel unit cards presently installed in the terminal. 
     Administrators using DSC™ Communications Corporation&#39;s Liteview™ terminal management system manually initiated polling (e.g. sending TL1 retrieve messages) of a telecommunications terminal whenever the administrators wanted to update the system&#39;s knowledge of which cards a terminal held. 
     SUMMARY 
     In general, in one aspect, a system for managing telecommunications terminals includes at least one telecommunications terminal capable of receiving a set of telecommunications cards, the telecommunications terminal being programmed to autonomously generate messages that describe changes to the set of telecommunications cards, and a computer connected to the telecommunications terminal that builds a model of the telecommunications terminal based on messages received from the telecommunications terminal. 
     Embodiments of the system may include one or more of the following features. The system may include two or more telecommunications terminals connected to the computer. The system may receive autonomous messages from each of the connected telecommunications terminals. The telecommunications cards may be channel unit cards. Changes to the set of telecommunications cards that the terminal senses may include telecommunications card insertion and/or removal. The model may be a hierarchy of software objects. The system may insert new software objects into the model when no model software object corresponds to an inserted card. The system may display the model to an operator and allow the computer operator to interact with the model. The system may request a message or messages describing the set of telecommunications cards upon connection of the telecommunications terminal to the computer. 
     In general, in one aspect, a system for managing telecommunications terminals includes at least one telecommunications terminal capable of receiving a set of telecommunications cards, the telecommunications terminal being programmed to produce messages that describe the set of telecommunications cards in response to a request, and a computer connected to the telecommunications terminal, the computer being programmed to automatically request messages from the telecommunications terminal at a specified interval and to build a model of the telecommunications terminal based on the messages. 
     In general, in one aspect, a method for managing a telecommunications terminal system that includes at least one telecommunications terminal capable of receiving a set of telecommunications cards includes automatically sensing a change in the set of telecommunications cards present in the telecommunications terminal, and automatically updating a model of the telecommunications terminal based on the change. 
     Advantages may include one or more of the following. 
     The systems provides ease of use by accurately displaying the cards a terminal holds without administrator prompted polling. 
     The systems also provide interactive feedback to the administrator. For example, when a card is inserted or removed from the terminal, the administrator can be notified immediately. 
     The systems also enable a monitoring system, e.g. a server, to dynamically build and maintain an object model representative of terminal information. Because the autonomous messages are generated and transmitted automatically upon sense terminal card changes, the object model will provide a consistent and accurate representation of the terminal. 
     Other features and advantages will become apparent from the following description including the drawings and the claims. 
    
    
     DRAWING DESCRIPTIONS 
     FIG. 1 is a diagram of a telecommunications terminal management system configuration. 
     FIG. 2 is an sample terminal management system display. 
     FIG. 3 is a diagram of a telecommunications terminal, a message produced by the terminal, and a Server. 
     FIG. 4 is a diagram of an Object Model representing a telecommunications terminal site. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to FIG. 1, a telecommunications terminal management system  10  includes a telecommunications terminal  22 , such as DSC™ Communication Corporation&#39;s Litespan-120, a Server  18 , and a Client  12 . A management system need not have these components as arranged in FIG. 1, for example, a single computer could contain both the Server  18  and Client  12 . 
     The telecommunications terminal  22  includes slots that hold telecommunications cards. Different classes of slots hold different classes of cards (U.S. Ser. No. 09/001,066, filed Nov. 14, 1997, entitled “Telecommunications Terminal” describes a telecommunications terminal that supports interchangeability of different types of cards within a card class and is incorporated by reference). For example, each channel unit card slot can accept different types of channel unit cards  24 . Each type of channel unit card serves a different type of subscriber line (e.g. POTS or ISDN). The telecommunications terminal  22  also provides Bandwidth Allocator, Processor, and Timing (BPT) slots that hold BPT cards  32 . Each BPT card  32  includes a processor that monitors the terminal for configuration changes (e.g. card insertion or removal) and alarms (e.g. power failure). A subscriber bus (not shown) carries signals from each inserted card to the BPT card  26 . 
     The Server  18  can process information from a number of different terminals, such as terminal  22 . Each terminal  12  connects to a Server  18  through a numbered COM (Communication) port (not shown). A RS-232 serial expansion board attached to a Server  18  can provide additional COM ports. 
     The Server  18  sends and receives terminal  22  messages. The Server  18  can send a message requesting terminal messages that describe which telecommunications cards the terminal holds  22 . The Server  18  can also be programmed to issue these requests at periodic intervals. 
     The terminal  22  can send messages to the Server  18  in response to Server  18  requests for terminal information. The Server  18  also may receive autonomous messages sent by the terminal  22 . Autonomous messages are messages the terminal sends on its own initiative without a corresponding Server  18  request. Autonomous messages can indicate a state change in the terminal  22 , such as the occurrence of a card insertion. The Server  18  uses messages sent by the terminal  22  to build an Object Model (discussed below) that includes objects representative of the terminal  22 . 
     The Client  12  can connect to a variety of Servers  18  either directly (not shown) or indirectly, for example, over a computer network  16 . The Client  12  receives information in the form of Operations (described below) from Servers  18  that describe the terminal&#39;s object information. The Client  12  builds its own Object Model from this information and presents the model to an administrator through a graphic user interface (GUI) displayed on the Client monitor  14 . 
     Referring to FIG. 2, a Client monitor  14  presents telecommunications terminal system information to an administrator using a GUI. Through the GUI, the administrator can view and alter aspects of different telecommunications terminals and equipment at various sites. 
     The display shown in FIG. 2 shows telecommunications equipment at a particular site in windows  34 ,  36 , and  38 . Each window shows a different view of the telecommunications equipment. The site window  34  shows racks residing at the site. A rack shows shelves that correspond to telecommunications terminals. A rack does not physically exist outside the telecommunications terminal management system, but rather is a logical entity created for convenience by the administrator who uses appropriate features of the GUI to create racks and to assign different telecommunications terminals to shelves within the rack. The administrator can learn more about a particular rack shelf  35  by interacting with the GUI (i.e. double clicking on the rack shelf  35 ). The GUI presents the rack shelf  35  in a rack shelf window  36 . The rack shelf window  36  shows a telecommunications terminal  37  and the cards  39  it holds. The rack shelf window  36  also can show other telecommunications equipment connected to a telecommunications terminal (not shown). For example, the rack shelf could show both the RT and CT terminals of a DLC loop. Further interaction with the GUI (i.e. double clicking on a particular card  39 ) can produce a card window  38 . A card window  38  shows the different properties of an inserted terminal card. By altering a property through the card window  38 , the administrator can generate a Client request for the Server to send a message to the terminal to alter operating properties of the terminal card (e.g. changing a card channel&#39;s initial pulse duration). The administrator can also pre-provision a telecommunications terminal (not shown). Pre-provisioning alters the Object Model in anticipation of a terminal equipment change and can generate an alarm if the anticipated event does not occur. For example, an administrator may pre-provision a telecommunications terminal slot to hold a POTS card. If, instead, an ISDN card is inserted, the telecommunications terminal might produce an alarm. The Client monitor  14  can be used to show additional or alternative views of terminal system data in addition to those shown in FIG.  2 . 
     Referring to FIG. 3, the terminal&#39;s BPT card  32  includes a processor that runs software  40  capable of monitoring the terminal  22  and sending autonomous messages, such as message  42 , to the Server  18 . For example, the BPT software  40  maintains a table correlating each slot in the terminal to the type of card, if any, the slot currently holds. The BPT software  40  routinely collects terminal  22  information to verify the table&#39;s contents. If the BPT software  40  detects a discrepancy between the table and the terminal information collected, perhaps due to card insertion or removal, the BPT software  40  creates an autonomous message  42  and sends it to the Server  18 . 
     The autonomous message  42  includes message-type data  44 , message content text  48 , and AID (Access ID) data  46 . The message-type data  44  indicates whether the message  42  was an autonomous message or in response to a Server request. The Server  18  must distinguish between autonomous messages since it otherwise assumes a message received after a request is in response to the request. The message content text  48  includes information about the state of the terminal. For example, an inserted POTS card could be described by TL1 ASCII text of “REPT DBCHG: PLUGIN: CT-1-7: CPOTSI1, CPOTSI1: HVR=1.1, BVR=3.1, SVR=2.1, SN=1910144:IS-NR ADA” which indicates the terminal slot receiving the card (slot  7 ), the type of card plugged into that slot (a variety of POTS card), and its serial number (191044). The AID data  46  indicates which terminal card(s) or component(s) the message content  48  describes. 
     The Server  18  includes a TL 1 -Parser  50  and an Object Model  52 . The TL 1 -Parser is a software module that acts as a conduit between a message  42  sent by the terminal  22  and the Object Model  52 . The TL 1 -Parser  50  creates an Operation  51  from the incoming message  42  by analyzing the message  42  and encoding its contents. An Operation  51  is a software object that stores the encoded message  43  and an Operation ID  45 . The system creates an Operation ID  45  from the AID data  46 . An Operation ID  45  identifies which rack, which shelf, which Fru (Field Replaceable Unit), and which card the message concerns. For example, an Operation ID of  1 ,  0 ,  10 ,  0  would indicate that the message concerns Rack  1 , Shelf  0 , Fru  10 , and Card slot  0 . The TL 1 -Parser  50  sends the Operation  51  to the Object Model  52 . 
     Upon connection to a terminal  22 , a Server  18  automatically sends TL 1  retrieve commands (not shown) to the terminal  22  for descriptions of the cards the terminal  22  holds. The terminal  22  responds by sending TL 1  messages  42  which the Server  18  converts to Operations to quickly build the Object Model  52  from scratch. 
     Referring to FIG. 4, the Object Model  52  is a hierarchy of software objects representing a terminal site. For example, CModelSite  54  represents an entire site of telecommunications terminal equipment, while CModelLS120Rack  56  represents a particular rack at the site. Many software objects can have child objects. For example, a site (CModelSite  54 ) could include a number of terminal racks instead of the single terminal rack (CModelLS120Rack) shown. Descending the hierarchy describes a site  54  in increasing detail from the site  54 , to a rack  56  at the site  54 , to a shelf  58  on the rack  56 , to Fru  60  in the shelf  58 , to a particular card  62 ,  64 , and  66  in the Fru  60 . Operations, described in regard to FIG. 3, are used to modify or update objects in the Object Model. An Operation uses its Operation ID data to traverse the hierarchy and deliver its encoded message to the software object that represents the telecommunications site object (e.g. representing a particular card) described by the message. For example, an Operation encoding a message describing an alarm for a terminal OLU (Optical Line Unit) transmission card might have an Operation ID of  0 ,  1 ,  0 ,  10 ,  3  indicating the message targets software object  66  positioned in Site  0 , Rack  1 , Shelf  0 , and which is Fru  10 &#39;s third child. The Operation is forwarded by each software object until the Operation finds its target software object and delivers the message. 
     Operations also can be used to dynamically allocate new software objects and thus further build the Object Model  52  (or build it from scratch) as different Operations signal insertion or removal of telecommunications equipment. For example, in one embodiment, the Object Model does not model empty terminal slots, thus, when an administrator inserts a card into a terminal, the resulting Operation describing the inserted card specifies an Operation ID that does not correspond to any software object present in the Object Model  52 . The Object Model  52  handles this situation by creating a new software object of the appropriate type at the target Operation ID. For example, an Operation with an Operation ID of  0 ,  1 ,  0 ,  10 ,  4  would create a new child for Fru  10  since Fru  10  currently has only three children. Similarly, an Operation can remove an object from the Object Model  52  (e.g. when a card is removed) by specifying its AID and encoding a delete object message. 
     The Server continually checks the connection to a terminal. If the connection is severed then restored, the Server can issue requests for messages that describe the telecommunications cards the terminal holds and update the Object Model  52  to reflect changes made between severance and restoration. 
     In this manner, an administrator can view terminal information provided by the terminal management system in a timely manner, thus, enabling administrators to quickly see and respond to changes in different terminals. Additionally, since the Object Model builds itself as terminals produce autonomous messages or respond to automatically issued requests for messages, the administrator need do little configuring when starting the management system. 
     Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims: