Abstract:
A communication network physical monitoring system and method employs a media converter device configured to transport communication/Ethernet data traffic and sense network physical layer conditions and/or events. An event controller device in communication with the media converter device receives transmissions indicating network physical layer conditions and/or events from the media converter device. The event controller is configured to transmit messages indicating the network physical layer conditions and/or events via a Social Media/Networking Service to devices that subscribe to receive messages from the event controller device on the Social Media/Networking Service.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The present invention is related to the technical field of computer networking. More particularly, the present invention is related to the technical field of Ethernet media conversion. 
     A media converter is a device employed in a network communication system to communicatively connect one type of media to another, for example, to connect copper Ethernet media to fiber optic media. The prior art in this field includes unmanaged media converters which provide no information to a user, and fully-managed devices which require network access via an IP address or equivalent and/or configuration by a user or management system. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present invention is a communication network physical monitoring system and method that employs a media converter device configured to transport communication/Ethernet data traffic and sense network physical layer conditions and/or events. An event controller device in communication with the media converter device receives transmissions indicating network physical layer conditions and/or events from the media converter device. The event controller is configured to transmit messages indicating the network physical layer conditions and/or events via a Social Media/Networking Service to devices that subscribe to receive messages from the event controller device on the Social Media/Networking Service. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a network communication system employing a Smart Media Converter capable of communicating via a Social Media/Networking Service according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the Smart Media Converter component of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Disclosed herein is an Ethernet physical and media access control (MAC) layer monitoring system embedded in a Smart Media Converter&#39;s hardware and software, which transmits status or predefined alerts directly to a social networking site for distribution of status or event messages in a cost effective manner and also eliminates the need for a user to manage or configure physical layer media converters or switches to obtain status or alert information. This system is superior to existing methods since it does not require configuration of the Ethernet device, also known as the Smart Media Converter, and can leverage the publicly available social networking communications infrastructure, as compared to current proprietary methods that are not commonly available and are not cost effective. 
     Social Media/Networking Services encompass many components that heretofore were required by the customer/operator to be owned and operated by the customer. The system disclosed herein, employing Social Media/Networking Services, provides an advantage to the customer over prior art systems using e-mail and/or paging systems. Social Media/Networking Systems can offer security and broadcast services, and can maintain file systems and servers that are not part of the customer&#39;s ownership space. This allows the customer to have a greater set of features at a vastly lower cost than what is currently available. 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating network communication system  100 , showing Internet  102  connected to an Ethernet local area network (LAN), via Event Collector  104 . Event Collector  104  is connected to Ethernet Switch  106 , which in turn is connected via copper Ethernet cable to Media Converter  108 . Media Converter  108  is connected via fiber optic cable to Media Converter  110 , which in turn is connected to Ethernet Switch  112  via copper Ethernet cable. Ethernet Switch  112  is connected to Media Converter  114  via copper Ethernet cable, and Media Converter  114  is connected via fiber optic cable to Smart Media Converter  116 , which is in turn connected via copper Ethernet cable to Ethernet Switch  118 . Thus, the Ethernet LAN is made up of Ethernet switches and media converters, including a Smart Media Converter  116 , that together with Event Collector  104  is capable of generating and transmitting, via the Internet  102  or an equivalent network, Ethernet physical layer status alerts. The configuration of the Ethernet LAN shown in  FIG. 1  is just an example of one possible configuration, and it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that many different configurations of Ethernet LANs are possible and are contemplated by the present invention. 
     Smart Media Converter (MC)  116  is an unmanaged device which avoids the need for an Internet Protocol (IP) stack and associated resources necessary to support an IP stack. Instead, Smart Media Converter  116  generates and transmits layer-2 (from the ISO 7-layer networking model) Ethernet frames from one or more ports in the direction of Ethernet Switch  118  and/or Media Converter  114 , distinguished from all other Ethernet frames within the LAN by a unique reserved EtherType field and 802.3 Destination MAC Address. 
     An Ethernet frame with a unique Ether Type field will be forwarded from the Smart Media Converter  116  to the Event Collector  104  by all interposing IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standard-compliant switches and media converters, regardless of vendor. The Event Collector  104  is programmed to recognize the unique Ether Type field inserted by the Smart Media Converter  116  and process this type of Ethernet frame. Thus, by using a unique Ether Type field, the Smart Media Converter  116  is able to communicate information in-band over the Ethernet LAN to the Event Collector  104 , without the use of an IP stack or TCP/IP or UDP/IP protocols, as all communications are done at layer-2, avoiding expensive managed Ethernet devices. 
     Event Collector  104  transmits alerts to Social Media/Networking Service  120  via the Internet  102 . Social Media/Networking Service  120  may be any of a number of individual peers, with relationships between the peers established to enable communications between them; popular, mature services of this type include Facebook, Twitter, and others. The connection from the Event Collector  104  to the Internet  102  may be a wired or wireless connection. In the case of a wireless connection (utilizing any of a number of standard communication protocols), these events may be communicated by the Event Collector  104  via an SMS message addressed to a fixed address associated with a Social Media/Networking Service such as Twitter (e.g. 40404 in North America) or Facebook. When the message is received by the Social Media/Networking Service  120  it will look up the Event Collector Account  122  associated with the Event Collector  104 , and store the message in the Event Collector Account  122 . This completes the publication of the Ethernet physical layer event to the Social Media/Networking Service  120 . 
     Optional Subscribers  124 ,  126  . . .  128  may be ‘following’ Event Collector Account  122 . If so, the Social Media/Networking Service  120  will update their accounts with the information published to the Event Collector Account  122 . Any of the Subscriber  124 ,  126  . . .  128  accounts which have configured mobile alert notifications for social networking updates from Event Collector Account  122  will be forwarded a mobile alert, typically an SMS (Short Message Service) text message  132  or  136 , via the Cellular Network  134 , to their mobile device  138 . Thus, Ethernet physical layer alerts detected by Smart Media Converter  116 , communicated in-band to an Event Collector  104 , transmitted via the Internet  102 , to a Social Media/Networking Service  120 , are propagated to a subscriber&#39;s mobile device  138 , or even optionally to a Device or Machine  130 . 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating Smart Media Converter  116  in more detail. Microcontroller  200  with embedded Firmware Program  202  is powered via Power Supply Converter  204 , connected to an external Power Input  206 . The Microcontroller  200  is connected to a 3-Port Ethernet Switch  208  via a digital interface such as SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface), I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) or an Ethernet interface, in which case RJ45 physical connector  210  may be included. The 3-Port Ethernet Switch  208  is connected via a first port to a Fiber Optic with DDMI (Direct Digital Monitoring Interface)  212 , and via a second port to an RJ45 physical connector  214 . The Fiber Optic with DDMI  212  component is connected to 100Base-FX single-mode or multi-mode fiber; and the RJ45 physical connector  214  is connected to 10/100Base-TX copper Ethernet. Although the present invention is embodied with 10/100 copper and 100Base-FX fiber Ethernet, higher speed 10/100/1000 copper and 1000Base-X fiber (or other communication media supporting other standards) can be accommodated with the appropriate component substitutions. 
     Microcontroller  200  executes the system&#39;s application from instructions within the embedded Firmware Program  202  and periodically samples the status of the Fiber Optic with DDMI  212  optic parameters including transmitted laser or LED power, received laser or LED power, optics transmitter bias current, supply voltage and temperature. The state (and the change of state) of these optic parameters can indicate a deterioration of the Ethernet physical layer. For example, bias current may increase with aging of the laser optic, high temperature could indicate the connection may be at risk of imminent failure, and a sudden decrease in the received optic signal strength could indicate a compromised fiber optic cable. Optional Sensor(s)  216  such as a contact closure, humidity sensor, or temperature sensor may also be sampled periodically. Predetermined changes in any of these measured parameters, or the elapse of a predefined time period, may cause Microcontroller  200  to compose and transmit an Ethernet frame with the event type or sampled data included in the data portion of the Ethernet frame, and the Ethernet frame distinguished by a unique EtherType field and IEEE 802.3 Destination MAC address. One example of a unique EtherType field is 0x889F, used to indicate equipment manufactured by Transition Networks. One example of an IEEE 802.3 Destination MAC address, may be in the multicast range of 01-80-C2-00-00-10 through 01-80-C2-00-00-2F. Microcontroller  200  transmits the Ethernet frame in-band via the 100Base-FX Fiber Ethernet link and/or the 10/100Base-TX Copper Ethernet link, by injecting the frame into the 3-Port Ethernet Switch  208  via an interface which may include an RJ45 PHY physical connector  210 . 
     In an exemplary embodiment, microcontroller  200  has an 8-bit word length and at least enough kilobytes of program ROM space and RAM memory onboard sufficient to store and execute the operating program and data structures for the monitoring application. In particular, Microcontroller  200  should have sufficient RAM memory buffer space to store an Ethernet frame of sufficient size to carry the largest data payload necessary to communicate a summary update of current measured environmental conditions or environmental events detected by Microcontroller  200  executing embedded Firmware Program  202 . Microcontroller  200  also has onboard resources such as timers, A/D converter, serial and I/O ports sufficient for interfacing to the rest of the system electronics and supporting the program application. Persons possessing ordinary skill in the art of developing embedded systems will be familiar with the many different choices of low-cost, off-the-shelf, readily available 8-bit microcontrollers that can be used to implement this design. They will also be able to accurately estimate the program size necessary to implement the functions of this invention as described herein. The embedded Firmware Program  202  would typically be written in C and assembly language. 
     The Power Supply Converter  204  converts the Power Input  206  into the necessary voltages, such as +5V, +3.3V, or +2.5V necessary to power all the electronics in Smart Media Converter  116 . 
     Smart Media Converter  116  also meets all required FCC and cellular carrier approvals and certifications. 
     The advantages of the present invention include, without limitation, the ability for a plurality of interested parties, including other devices, to simultaneously receive network physical layer wireless alerts on their mobile devices via a Social Media/Networking Service. Direct communication from the Event Collector  104  ( FIG. 1 ) to the fixed address associated with a Social Media/Networking Service via commonly supported SMS messages, in the case of wireless transmission, or public APIs, in the case of wired transmission, eliminates the need to configure alert notification addresses into the Event Collector  104 . Propagation of the alert message from the Social Media/Networking Service to subscribers such as Subscribers  124 ,  126  and  128  ( FIG. 1 ) allows low cost notification when Event Collector  104  uses wireless transmission, since Event Collector  104  only incurs the charge to transmit a single wireless alert to the Social Media/Networking Service; and all subscribers can then be forwarded the alarm message from the Social Media/Networking Service. In the case in which a subscriber is a Device or Machine  130 , this technique allows autonomous telemetry. For example, Smart Media Converter  116  could sense a network physical layer changing state and communicate that event to the Event Collector  104 , and the Event Collector  104  could then transmit this event to the Social Media/Networking Service  120 , and the Device or Machine  130  subscriber could then act upon that information. 
     A general aspect of the present invention is any type of unmanaged Ethernet device which senses network physical layer events or conditions, and transmits them in-band to an Event Collector device, which then alerts a plurality of interested parties, including other devices, of environmental conditions by leveraging the social network to which they subscribe, avoiding the need for configuration of subscriber address information. One key scenario of a physical layer media converter device is known as link pass-though (a.k.a LPT). In LPT, if one physical interface loses connectivity, the media converter drops the transmit signal on the opposite interface. This loss of transmission signals to another device that a link on the other side of the media converter is down. However, in the case of the Smart Media Converter, the opposite link transmits the Smart Media Converter status and/or events in the direction of the Event Collector. To allow the Event Collector to obtain the information from the Smart Media Converter, the Smart Media Converter waits to bring down the opposite link, until a period of time has elapsed that allows for the transmission of several event frames. After the Smart Media Converter sends these messages, it then brings down the opposite link. This allows interoperability with existing LPT deployments, and allows the Smart Media Converter to send information and status before the opposite link is brought down to indicate a fault. In one embodiment, an Auto-Negotiation feature could be used to keep the link down, but still convey some status information. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.