Abstract:
A method of collecting data from a heterogeneous test and measurement device and an apparatus using same. A measurement device such as a VQT or a DNA measures a network and generates measurement data according to a protocol. The data is encoded into a protocol independent format such as XML. The encoded data is sent via an IP network, and decoded prior to receipt by a client.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a method of collecting measurement data from a measurement device, independent of a protocol of the measurement device, and an apparatus using same.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    [0004]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional communications network  100 . The communications network  100  receives a request from a client  12 . Based upon the nature of the request, a router  114  transports the request along one of two paths. If the client  12  requests a file, the request is sent to a FTP API  102 , which stands for File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Application Programming Interface (API)  102 . The request is then sent to a first FTP transporter  104 , which is a client-side transporter. An Internet Protocol (IP) network  30  provides a path to transfer the request to a second FTP transporter  106 , which is a server side transporter, and the requested file is transported back to the client  12  over the same route as the request, in the reverse direction. NTE FTP SERVER by MICROSOFT is an example of a commercially available product which may be used as the FTP transporters  104 ,  106 .  
           [0005]    If the client  12  requests measurement data relating to a measured network  70 , then the router  114  transports the request to a first Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) transporter  122 , which is a client side transporter. The request is then transported via the IP network  30  to a second SNMP transporter  124 , which is a server side transporter, which transports the request to a measurement device  60 . Examples of commercial products which may be used as the SNMP transporters  122 , 124  include NETAPHOR and WIND RIVER.  
           [0006]    The measurement device  60  then measures the measured network  70  based upon the request from the client  12  according to a particular protocol, to generate measurement data. The measurement device  60  may measure such items as protocol vitals, packet loss, packets per second, dropped packets, etc., as discussed above. The measurement data is sent to the client  12  over the same route as the request, in the reverse direction. The measurement device  60  may be a voice quality tester (VQT), or a DNA.  
           [0007]    The conventional network  100  is a homogeneous network which can only support a single protocol. Thus, if measurement devices are changed or added, the new measurement devices must operate according to the particular protocol of the original measurement device. Thus, the availability of replacement devices is limited, and the ability to “shop around” between different vendors is likewise limited. Furthermore, there is limited ability to integrate the conventional network into the software of different clients. Thus, the conventional network must be customized for each different client.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    Accordingly, the present invention overcomes the above disadvantages of the conventional network.  
           [0009]    The present invention also provides a heterogenous test method which can collect data from a measurement device independent of a protocol, and an apparatus using same.  
           [0010]    Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.  
           [0011]    The foregoing and other advantages of the present invention are achieved by providing a method of collecting measurement data in a system including a client side and a measurement device. The method includes (a) requesting the measurement data at the client side, (b) generating the measurement data from the measurement device according to a protocol, in accordance with the request, and (c) collecting the generated measurement data at the client side independent of the protocol.  
           [0012]    The foregoing and other advantages of the present invention are also achieved by providing a communications network to transmit measurement data having a protocol. The communications network includes a first side to generate a request for the measurement data and to collect the measurement data independent of the protocol, and a second side to generate the measurement data in response to the request.  
           [0013]    The foregoing and other advantages of the present invention are also achieved by providing a communications network to transmit measurement data according to a request from a client. The communications network includes a first side, including a first encoder to encode the request into an XML format, and a transporter to transport the encoded request. The communications network also includes a second side, including a container to receive the transported request, a second decoder to decode the received request, a measurement device to generate raw data in accordance with the received request, and a second encoder to encode the generated raw data into the XML format. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]    These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional communications network;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a communications network according to the present invention; and  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 3. is a flow diagram of the operation of the network of FIG. 2. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0018]    Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a communications network  1  according to the present invention. FIG. 2 illustrates the API architecture, high level view, of the network  1 , which includes a first side  10 , which is a client side, and a second side  40 , which is a server side. The IP network  30  connects the first side  10  and the second side  40 . The client  12  generates a request for measurement data, and the first side  10  includes a router  14  to route the request for measurement data (as discussed below). The first side  10  also includes a first side encoder  16  to encode the request into a protocol-independent format. For example, the first side encoder  16  may be an XML (Extensible Markup Language) document writer to encode the request into an XML format. The first side  10  also includes a transporter  20  to transport the encoded request to the second side  40  via the IP network  30 . The transporter  20  may operate according to Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), or other known protocols.  
         [0020]    The second side  40  includes a container  42 , which includes a transport server  44 , non-measurement servlets  46 , and measurement servlets  48 . Examples of commercial products which may be used as the container  42  include APACHE JAKARTA. The transport server transports the encoded request to the measurement servlet  48 . The non-measurement servlets  46  handle information unrelated to the requested measurement data, for example, a state of the container  42  itself, or other administrative-type interactions. The second side  40  further includes a CORBA pipe  50  to receive and relay the encoded request to a second side decoder  58 , which decodes the encoded request. In this example, the second side decoder  58  may be an XML document parser, which extracts the request which has been encoded into XML form. Examples of commercial products which may be used as the second side decoder  58  include APACHE XERCES (for parsing in Java or C++), and TAO ORB or JAC ORB may be used as the CORBA pipe  50 .  
         [0021]    The second side also includes the measurement device  60 , which measures the measured network  70  based upon the request from the client  12 , to generate raw measurement data. This measurement is performed according to a particular protocol, and may be intervalized (taken as samples) or non-intervalized. The measurement device  60  may measure such items as protocol vitals, packet loss, packets per second, dropped packets, etc., as discussed above. As an example, the measured network  70  may be a communications network, however, other types of networks may be measured. The measurement device  60  may be a hardware device, or a software device, and in either case, may correspond to a Uniform Resource Link (URL). Although not shown in FIG. 2, it is noted that the communications network  1  of FIG. 2 may include a plurality of the measurement devices  60 , each generating the raw data according to a different protocol.  
         [0022]    The raw measurement data is encoded by a second side encoder  56 . In this example, the second side encoder  56  is an XML document writer to encode the raw measurement data into an XML format. However, other protocol-independent formats may be used. The encoded raw data is then relayed to the CORBA pipe  50 , the container  42 , the IP network  30 , the transporter  20 , and to a first side decoder  18 . In this example, the first side decoder  18  is an XML document parser, which extracts the encoded raw data from the XML format. The decoded measurement data is then transported via the router  14  to the client  12 .  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 2 illustrates a communications network which includes the FTP API  102 , the FTP transporters  104 ,  106  and the SNMP transporters  122 , 124 . The communications network  1  according to the present invention may also be achieved without including these elements. However, when these elements are included, it is necessary to also include the router  14  to route the client requests along the appropriate path. For example, the client  12  may request a file instead of measurement data. In this case, the router  14  will route the request to the FTP API  102 . The router  14  chooses between the first side encoder  16  and the first SNMP transporter  122  based upon various parameters, including a specific request by the client  12 , or attributes of the measuring device  60 . For example, the measurement device  60  may not support SNMP, and therefore the request would be routed to the first side encoder  16 .  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 3. is a flow diagram of the operation of the network  1  of FIG. 2. The client  12  requests the measurement data (operation  200 ), which is generated by the measurement device  60  according to the protocol (operation  210 ). The client  12  then collects the measurement data independent of the protocol (operation  220 ).  
         [0025]    Thus, the network of FIG. 2 is a heterogeneous network which can operate independent of the protocol of the measurement device  60 . Thus, the measurement device  60  may be easily changed, and additional measurement devices may be added. The network  1  is easily integrated to measure different networks of different clients, without the need for customization.  
         [0026]    Although the above example describes encoding into XML form, the present invention is not limited to XML, and other forms may be used in order to allow for protocol independent data collection. Furthermore, VQTs or DNAs have been described as measuring devices, however, other devices which measure networks may be used to measure a variety of different networks. These networks may be wireless, wired, WAN, LAN, the Internet, or any combination thereof, without being limited to these examples.  
         [0027]    Although a few preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.