Patent Publication Number: US-2006015611-A1

Title: System and method for proactively recognizing an inadequate network connection

Description:
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE  
      The present disclosure relates to broadband network connections, and more particularly to a system and method for recognizing an inadequate network connection.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE  
      A network may be characterized by several factors like who can use the network, the type of traffic the network carries, the medium carrying the traffic, the typical nature of the network&#39;s connections, and the transmission technology the network uses. For example, one network may be public and carry circuit switched voice traffic while another may be private and carry packet switched data traffic. Whatever the make-up, most networks facilitate the communication of information between at least two nodes, and as such act as communication networks.  
      At a physical level, an individual device or network may connect to a broader network via a broadband communication link. This link may be provided, for example, by a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a cable modem, a Frame Relay service, a dedicated T1 line, and/or some other interconnection mechanism. However provided, a user of the communication link may not recognize when the link has become inadequate for the user&#39;s needs.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the Figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements are exaggerated relative to other elements.  
      Embodiments incorporating teachings of the present disclosure are shown and described with respect to the drawings presented herein, in which:  
       FIG. 1  presents a flow diagram for an embodiment of a proactive provisioning and utilization auditing technique that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure;  
       FIG. 2  presents an illustrative diagram of a user interface system to facilitate presentation of information relating to the utilization of a deployed broadband connection in accordance with teachings of the present disclosure; and  
       FIG. 3  illustrates of one embodiment of a graphical user interface that presents information relating to the adequacy of deployed frame relay services in accordance with teachings of the present disclosure.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      As mentioned above, many users of network data connections have limited visibility into the adequacy of their respective connections. A user may experience connection problems, faults, lost information, and downtime, and realize too late that these problems resulted from an undersized data connection. A network service provider may elect to provide customer network management (CNM) tools to their users in the hope that these users will use the CNM tools to avoid some of the problems associated with undersized data connections. Unfortunately, many small users, public sector users, and medium sized enterprises forego the expense of the CNM tools. And, those entities that do have the tools often fail to use them properly or lack the ability to properly consider historical and trending data.  
      The following discussion focuses on a system and a method for proactively recognizing the existence of an inadequate network connection. Much of the discussion involves frame relay services, but the teachings may also be applied to other types of backhaul services. Additionally, while the following discussion seems to center on how a service provider might use some of the teachings disclosed herein to better prioritize its sales efforts and/or to proactively approach customers that are relying on undersized backhaul connections, other entities and organizations could also make use of the teachings disclosed herein. For example, an Information Technology (IT) department may benefit from a system that incorporates some of the teachings disclosed herein. In addition, the techniques described below may also be incorporated into various network nodes and devices, like modems, gateways, softswitches, routers, and other network interface devices (NDs).  
      From a high level, a method incorporating teachings of the present disclosure may include identifying a plurality of network connections, which may be actual or virtual. In practice, each of the plurality of network connections may be providing network access to an associated user. A collection of provisioned parameters for each of the network connections may be maintained in an accessible memory. In some embodiments, the memory may be centralized and remote from the personnel that may need to access the information. In other embodiments, some or all of the information may be stored in a memory local to the personnel.  
      In practice, the collection of provisioned parameters could include, for example, an assigned throughput value for a connection, a logical endpoint of the connection, a physical capacity limit for the connection, and/or a burst rate throughput value. A service provider may effectively commit to providing some level of data throughput to a given customer, and parameters relating to, supporting, and/or defining this commitment may make up some portion of the provisioned parameters.  
      To facilitate determining if a given link is adequate, an actual utilization value for a given network connection may be calculated from actual usage information. In some embodiments, the actual utilization value may represent an average utilization for a user. The average may be calculated, for example, using an appropriate statistical analysis technique. A network operator and/or service provider may access, for example, network repositories that maintain actual data throughput values, indications of lost data, and fault alarms for the given network connection. The assigned throughput value and the actual utilization value for the given connection may then be considered to determine the adequacy of the connection.  
      As mentioned above,  FIG. 1  presents a flow diagram for an embodiment of a proactive provisioning and utilization auditing technique  110  that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure. At step  112 , a user account may be established for an entity requesting a backhaul service. The entity may be an individual, an enterprise, a governmental entity, and/or some other entity requesting the service, and the backhaul service may include frame relay services, DSL services, cable services, dedicated T1 services, other dedicated and/or shared services, and/or some other appropriate backhaul mechanism.  
      Other backhaul link options may be selectable by the user. For example, the user may choose to make use of Optical Ethernet connections, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) connections, Internet Protocol (IP) network connections, Synchronous Optical NETwork (SONET) connections, local area wireless connections like 802.11 and fixed wireless offerings, and/or wide area wireless connections. Depending upon implementation detail, a given connection may be logical, physical, virtual, dedicated, and/or shared.  
      At step  114 , the requesting entity may be provided with the backhaul service using an appropriate connection, and at step  116  a series of provisioned parameters may be input into a computing system. The provisioned parameters may represent, for example, a service level and/or throughput levels committed to by the service provider. If, for example, the technique is being applied in connection with the provisioning of frame relay services, provisioned parameters may include a number of committed permanent virtual circuits.  
      A permanent virtual circuit (PVC) may be viewed as a software-defined logical connection in a network. A feature of frame relay that makes it a highly flexible network technology is that the logical connections and required bandwidth between end points may be selected, and the frame relay network itself may be tasked with worrying about how the physical network is used to achieve the defined connections. In frame relay, the committed bandwidth or committed information rate (CIR) and the two endpoints may be viewed as a PVC, which is defined to the frame relay network devices. In some networks, a user may be allowed to occasionally exceed the committed bandwidth during peak conditions.  
      In practice, multiple PVCs may share the same physical paths at the same time. To manage the variation in bandwidth requirements expressed in the CIRs, frame relay devices may rely on statistical multiplexing. However, if a user consistently exceeds the committed bandwidth, network performance and data throughput may suffer.  
      As such, at step  118 , actual usage metrics for the backhaul may be gathered. In some embodiments, these metrics may be gathered periodically and the period of metric collection may be in the order of minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, etc. In practice, the period chosen may depend in part on the implementation details of a system tasked with performing step  118 .  
      At step  120 , a particular link may be selected for link adequacy analysis. In practice, the analysis may be performed on a per link basis and/or in bulk. At step  122 , an actual average utilization value may be calculated from the metrics gathered in step  118 . The methodology of calculating the utilization value may vary within and/or across implementations of technique  110 . For example, when calculating the utilization value, more weight may be given to one or more of the available metrics. In one embodiment, an average actual throughput may be weighted more heavily than an actual peak throughput. In another embodiment, peak throughput may be weighted more heavily than a metric representing the number of actual fault alarms.  
      However calculated, the actual utilization value may be compared against a provisioned value at step  124 . At step  126 , this comparison may yield an adequacy value for the link being analyzed. At step  128 , a range within which the adequacy value fits may be determined. In the embodiment described in technique  110 , the range may be correlated to a color-coded schema. At step  130 , a graphical user interface element may be launched. The launched element may include, for example, an identifier for the selected link and a colored icon indicating the range within which the adequacy value fit.  
      At step  132 , a person viewing the GUI element may have requested more information about the link and/or its adequacy value. For example, a salesperson may be viewing the element and may recognize that the selected link is undersized for the user. The salesperson may now want contact information for a user of the selected link so that the salesperson can make the user aware of the potential problems associated with an undersized backhaul and offer the user additional bandwidth. In preferred embodiments, the salesperson may have access to a software utility capable of near real time and seamless enhancement of the user&#39;s available bandwidth. If, for example, the user requests additional bandwidth, the salesperson may be able to “automatically” increase the bandwidth via the software utility—avoiding the need for a truck roll and/or some other physical network manipulation.  
      At step  134 , the information requested may be returned in the same or in a different GUI element. If, as suggested above, a user&#39;s backhaul is undersized, a contact user signal may be output at step  136 . If the backhaul is grossly undersized, the contact user signal may indicate that the user should be contacted as soon as possible. If the backhaul is slightly undersized and/or trending data indicates that the user will soon outgrow the available bandwidth of the backhaul, technique  110  may progress to step  138 . At step  138 , a time to contact the user may be scheduled in the future, and at step  140 , a report may be output that includes a proposed scheduling of sales calls.  
      At step  142 , technique  110  may determine whether to perform another link adequacy analysis. If additional links are to be analyzed, technique  110  may loop back to step  120 . If no additional analysis needs to be performed, technique  110  may progress to stop at step  144 . Though technique  110  has been described in terms of sequential steps, steps may be added, removed, re-ordered, and/or looped without departing from the teachings disclosed herein. Moreover, one or more parties, devices, modules, engines, etc. may be utilized to perform technique  110 .  
      As mentioned above,  FIG. 2  presents an illustrative diagram of a user interface system that facilitates presentation of information relating to the utilization of a deployed broadband connection. In the embodiment of  FIG. 2 , a computer  210  may be accessed by a user  212 . User  212  may desire to search information relating to a particular customer&#39;s backhaul or a collection of backhauls. In one embodiment, the desired information may be maintained at and/or by another computer  214 . In practice, computer  214  may be accessible via network  216 .  
      Examples of computer  210  include, but are not limited to, a desktop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a smart telephone, and a personal digital assistant. Examples of computer  214  include, but are not limited to, a peer computer, a server computer, and a remote information storage facility. In one embodiment, computer  214  may provide a Web interface via a Web site that provides search functionality and/or other information access and retrieval functionality.  
      Examples of computer network  216  include, but are not limited to, the Public Internet, an intranet, an extranet, a local area network, and a wide area network. Network  216  may be made up of or include wireless networking elements like 802.11 (x) networks, cellular networks, and satellite networks. Network  216  may be made up of or include wired networking elements like the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and cable networks.  
      A method incorporating teachings of the present disclosure may include providing a graphical user interface (GUI) using computer  210 . The GUI may be presented on display  218  and may allow user  212  to view information relating to a series of customers and their respective backhaul connections. The GUI may also allow user  212  to select a given customer identifier, a link identifier, a link adequacy indicator and/or some other displayed item by activating a selectable GUI icon.  
      In response to recognizing activation of user-selectable icon, an act of initiating a GUI element may be performed. In one embodiment, display of a given GUI and/or GUI element may be initiated by a display engine  220 . Display engine  220  may represent, for example, a processor, hardware, firmware, and/or an executable software application.  
      In operation, computers  210  and  214  may perform several functions. For example, one or both of computers  210  and  214  may facilitate receiving a selection of one or more icons, activating a selectable icon, and initiating presentation of a given element. Moreover, one or both of computers  210  and  214  may assist in maintaining a collection of provisioned parameters for each of a plurality of network connections, gathering metric data for one of the network connections, calculating an actual utilization value for that network connection, and utilizing the assigned throughput value and the actual utilization value for that connection to generate an adequacy value.  
      Depending upon implementation detail, computer  210  may perform at least some of these functions and may include a computer readable medium  222  that has instructions for directing a processor like processor  224  to perform those functions. As shown, medium  222  may be a removable medium embodied by a disk, a compact disk, a DVD, a flash with a Universal Serial Bus interface, and/or some other appropriate medium. Similarly, medium  222  may also be an onboard memory made up of RAM, ROM, flash, some other memory component, and/or a combination thereof. In operation, instructions may be executed by a processor like processor  224  that cause display  218  to present user  212  with information about one or more backhaul connections. One example of a link adequacy display that may be presented to user  212  is shown in  FIG. 3 .  
       FIG. 3  illustrates one embodiment of a graphical user interface that presents information relating to the adequacy of deployed frame relay services in accordance with teachings of the present disclosure. As shown, a display  310  may include a navigation bar portion  312  and a display pane  314 . In operation, a computer like computer  210  of  FIG. 2  may have a display device capable of presenting a user with a browser or browser-like screen shot of display  310 .  
      As shown, display  310  may include a GUI  316  that represents a link adequacy display screen. The embodiment depicted in  FIG. 3  shows a multiple window structure for GUI  316 . This structure may be presented in several other ways. For example, a link adequacy display may be presented in a row-based format—where, for example, a contact name appears at the head of a row and related information appears in subsequent positions of the same row.  
      In the depicted embodiment, GUI  316  includes a map element in window  318 , a selected regional break out in window  320 , and a more detailed break out in window  322 . In practice, a user may select region “ 3 ” in the Oklahoma map presented in window  318 . As a result of this selection, window  320  may be launched, which includes more detailed information about the deployed frame relay offerings in the selected region. The more detailed information may include, for example, a customer identifier, a link identifier, and a status indicator. The status indicator may represent a visual indication of the adequacy of the deployed backhaul. As shown, customers “ 3001 ” and “ 3002 ” appear to have sufficient backhaul capacity. Customer “ 3003 ” may be approaching an inadequate condition and may need to be contacted in the near future. Customer “ 3004 ” may be in a grossly inadequate state, and this state may be indicated by the “RED” icon.  
      As shown, a user may have selected customer “ 3004 ”, and window  322  may have been launched in response. Window  322  may present additional information about the customer and the link in question. The additional information may include, for example, an actual number of PVCs, the provisioned bandwidth, the actual bandwidth, the customer contact information, as well as the link name and descriptor.  
      It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the disclosure herein may be modified in numerous ways and may assume many embodiments other than the preferred forms specifically set out and described herein.  
      Accordingly, the above disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, and not restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications, enhancements, and other embodiments which fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the scope of the present invention is to be determined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the following claims and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoing detailed description.