Patent Description:
Gigabit-capable passive optical networks (GPON) technology is a passive optical network access technology based on ITU-T G. 9xx standard. A GPON system includes an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) and an Optical Network Unit (ONU).

With the popularization and application of GPON systems in the fixed access network, the networking of GPON systems becomes more and more flexible, and the intercommunication of OLTs and ONUs from different manufacturers is becoming more and more common. Currently, the service activation of an ONU relies on an OLT, due to the indispensable ONU Management and Control Interface (OMCI) message interaction between the OLT and ONU.

Patent literature <CIT> discloses a system for registering an optical network unit (ONU) installed in a passive optical network (PON), including a mobile terminal, a registration server, and an optical line terminal (OLT). The mobile terminal is configured to collect an ONU identification from the ONU, collect a subscriber identification, and transmit the ONU identification and the subscriber identification to a registration server via a communication system.

While the above publication may achieve its intended purpose, there is still a need for a new and improved method for optical network unit (ONU) service activation.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for optical network unit (ONU) service activation, which is performed by a mobile terminal, the method includes, sending an inquiry request to an ONU, to request the ONU to send inquiry response information carrying device serial number and device capability set data of the ONU to the mobile terminal, in response to the inquiry request; receiving the inquiry response information from the ONU, and sending a data reporting request carrying the device serial number and the device capability set data of the ONU to a network management cloud platform, to request the network management cloud platform to determine an optical line terminal (OLT) corresponding to the ONU according to the device serial number of the ONU, from a plurality of OLTs, and to request the network management cloud platform to determine, according to the device capability set data, first service activation configuration information to be sent to the OLT, and second service activation configuration information to be sent to the mobile terminal; and receiving second service activation configuration information from the network management cloud platform, and sending an upload configuration request carrying the second service activation configuration information to the ONU, to request the ONU to perform service activation configuration in response to the upload configuration request; where the first service activation configuration information is for configuration of the OLT, and the configuration at least comprises registration configuration, and PON port configuration.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for optical network unit (ONU) service activation, which is performed by a network management cloud platform, the method includes, receiving a data reporting request carrying device serial number and device capability set data of an ONU from a mobile terminal; determining an optical line terminal (OLT) corresponding to the ONU, from a plurality of OLTs, according to the device serial number of the ONU; determining first service activation configuration information according to the device capability set data of the ONU and sending the first service activation configuration information to the OLT where the first service activation configuration information is for configuration of the OLT, and the configuration at least comprises registration configuration, and PON port configuration; and determining second service activation configuration information according to the device capability set data, and sending the second service activation configuration information to the mobile terminal, to cause the mobile terminal to send an upload configuration request carrying the second service activation configuration information to the ONU.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device, which includes, a memory configured to store a program; and a processor configured to execute the program which when executed by the processor, causes the processor to carry out any one of the methods as described above.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer-executable program, which when executed by a processor, causes the processor to carry out any one of the methods as described above.

The purpose, technical scheme and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent through the following description for various embodiments in conjunction with the drawings. It should be understood that the embodiments described herein are intended to illustrate the present disclosure merely, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure.

It should be understood that in the description of embodiments of the present disclosure, a plurality (or plurality) means more than two; greater than, less than, more than, etc. shall be understood to exclude the number being referred to; and above, below, within, etc. shall be understood to include the number being referred to. Term "first" and "second" if described, are intended for distinguishing technical features, which shall not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features or the order of the indicated technical features.

Service activation for ONU relies on OLT, which results from the indispensable OMCI message interaction between OLT and ONU. However, due to the differences in understanding of standards or human factors, different OLTs from different manufacturers would send different OMCI messages, which brings great obstacles to network operators' intercommunicable networking. Operators have to give up the flexible networking method and turn to the networking with binding of the OLTs and ONUs, which leads to higher cost.

<FIG> depicts a schematic diagram showing an architecture of a GPON system. The system can be applied to the method for ONU service activation according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in <FIG>, the system includes a network management cloud platform, a mobile terminal, several OLTs and an ONU.

The network management cloud platform is deployed and maintained by a network operator, and the cloud platform substantially serves to activate and manage ONU services. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the network management cloud platform is configured to: acquire the data of the ONU whose service is to be activated, from the mobile terminal, including identification data such as the serial number of the ONU; broadcast the serial number of the ONU to the OLTs which the network management cloud platform manages, determine the OLT to which the ONU is connected according to the response, and send configuration information for service activation to the OLT and to the mobile terminal.

The mobile terminal is released and maintained by the network operator, and substantially serves to transfer the interactive information between the network management cloud platform and the ONU. In some implementations, an application program (APP) is installed on the mobile terminal, and the login user name and password of the APP are authorized by the network operator. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the mobile terminal APP is configured to initiate an access request to the network management cloud platform with the login username and password. After the access is completed, the APP can access the local network of ONU by a scan of a QR code or input of the username and password, so as to acquire the serial number, capability set and other data of the ONU. Then the APP reports the data acquired from the ONU to the network management cloud platform, and waits for the network management cloud platform to issue the service activation configuration information. Upon acquiring the service activation configuration information, the APP accesses the local network of the ONU again, and uploads the service activation configuration information to the ONU.

The OLT is deployed and maintained by the network operator. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the OLT is configured to accept the management of the network management cloud platform, and is responsible for the registration of the ONU and the service configuration of the OLT itself. It should be understood that several OLTs may be arranged in the system, and each OLT is connected with a respective ONU.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the ONU is configured to respond to the query from the APP of the mobile terminal and receive the service activation configuration uploaded by the APP.

It should be understood that the network management cloud platform and each network element device in the system shown in <FIG> should be powered on and initialized before the process of the method for ONU service activation according to various embodiments of the present disclosure is performed, and then access the network through the optical fiber, so as to transition to the operating state. The ONU whose service is to be activated initializes the capability set data, activates the Socket Server function by default, and waits for the connection by the mobile terminal.

<FIG> depicts a flowchart showing a method for ONU service activation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in <FIG>, the method includes but is not limited to the following operations S201- S209.

At S201, an inquiry request is sent to the ONU, by the mobile terminal.

In an implementation, the mobile terminal initiates a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection to the ONU as a Socket Client through the APP. After the connection is completed, the mobile terminal initiates an inquiry request to the ONU to request the ONU for the basic information (including serial number SN, etc.) and the device capability set of the ONU. The message definition of the inquiry can be found in Table <NUM> below.

At S202, inquiry response information carrying a device serial number and device capability set data are sent to the mobile terminal, by the ONU, in response to the inquiry request from the mobile terminal.

In an implementation, the ONU parses the inquiry request message sent by the mobile terminal, and encapsulates the device serial number and capability set data into the inquiry response message. The definition of the inquiry response message can be found in Table <NUM> below.

In an implementation, if the inquiry of the ONU fails, the ONU replies the mobile terminal with a message indicative of the failure in the inquiry. The mobile terminal, after receiving the message indicative of the failure in the inquiry from the ONU, re-initiates the inquiry request message to the ONU. In some examples, the maximum times of requests can be preset, such as <NUM> times.

At S203, the inquiry response information from the ONU is received, and a data reporting request carrying the device serial number and the device capability set data corresponding to the ONU is sent to the network management cloud platform, by the mobile terminal. The definition of the data reporting request can be found in Table <NUM> below.

The mobile terminal reports the device serial number, device capability set data and other information received from the ONU to the network management cloud platform. Then, the network management cloud platform sends configuration information to the ONU and the OLT connected with the ONU based on the information reported by the mobile terminal, which information corresponds to the device serial number and device capability set data of the ONU whose service is to be activated.

At S204, an OLT corresponding to the ONU is determined, according to the device serial number, by the network management cloud platform.

The network management cloud platform, after receiving the data reporting request from the mobile terminal carrying the device serial number and the device capability set data, parses the data reported by the mobile terminal. In an implementation, if the parse fails, the network management cloud platform sends a reply message indicating the failure of the reporting to the mobile terminal. If the parse is successful, the network management cloud platform sends a reply message indicating the success of the reporting to the mobile terminal. The definition of the reply message for data reporting request can be found in Table <NUM> below.

When the data reported by the mobile terminal is successfully parsed, the network management cloud platform determines the OLT corresponding to the ONU whose service is to be activated according to the received device serial number, so as to issue the corresponding service activation configuration information to the OLT.

As an implementation, the determination of the OLT corresponding to the ONU according to the device serial number at S204 can be achieved through a broadcast of the device serial number of the ONU to several OLTs in the system by the network management cloud platform. The definition of the broadcast message can be found in Table <NUM> below. An OLT, after receiving the device serial number broadcast by the network management cloud platform, matches the device serial number stored in the local device list. The device serial number broadcasted by the network management found in the local device list when matching, indicates that the matching is successful, and a correspondence between the matched OLT and the ONU whose service is to be activated presents. The matched OLT replies to the network management cloud platform with matching response information indicating the success of the matching. The definition of the matching response information can be found in Table <NUM> below. The network management cloud platform, after receiving the matching response information, determines the OLT that sent the matching response information as the OLT corresponding to the ONU whose service is to be activated.

In an implementation, the matching response information carries the IP address corresponding to the OLT that sent the matching response information. And the network management cloud platform sends a first service activation configuration information, based on the IP address, to the OLT corresponding to the IP address.

At S205, the first service activation configuration information is determined according to the device capability set data, and is sent to the OLT, by the network management cloud platform.

The cloud platform determines the first service activation configuration information to be sent to the OLT, according to the received ONU capability set data. The first service activation configuration information may include information such as registration template, ONU serial number, Alloc ID and Gemport ID, etc. The definition of the first service activation configuration information can be found in Table <NUM> below.

At S206, the first service activation configuration information is received from the network management cloud platform, and a service activation configuration is performed according to the first service activation configuration information, by the OLT.

The OLT receives the first service activation configuration information sent by the network management cloud platform, and parses the received first service activation configuration information. After the parse is completed, a related configuration such as registration configuration, PON port configuration, or the like, is performed by the OLT according to the registration template, ONU serial number, Alloc ID, Gemport ID and other information contained in the first service activation configuration information.

In an implementation, the OLT sends response information indicating the result of the configuration by the OLT to the network management cloud platform after the configuration is completed. The definition of the response information indicating the result of the configuration by the OLT can be found in Table <NUM> below.

At S207, a second service activation configuration information is determined according to the device capability set data, and is sent to the mobile terminal, by the network management cloud platform.

The cloud platform determines the second service activation configuration information to be transferred to the ONU according to the received ONU capability set data. The second service activation configuration information may include information such as port information, Alloc ID, Gemport ID, VLAN, etc. The definition of the second service activation configuration information can be found in Table <NUM> below.

At S208, the second service activation configuration information is received from the network management cloud platform, and an upload configuration request carrying the second service activation configuration information is sent to the ONU, by the mobile terminal.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the network management cloud platform sends the second service activation configuration information to the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal, after receiving the second service activation configuration information, sends a reply message indicating the success/failure of the receiving of the second service activation configuration information to the network management cloud platform. The definition of the reply message indicating the success or failure of the receiving of the second service activation configuration information can be found in Table <NUM> below.

The mobile terminal, after successfully receiving the second service activation configuration information, encapsulates the second service activation configuration information into the upload configuration request information and sends the upload configuration request information to the ONU. The definition of the upload configuration request information can be found in Table <NUM> below.

At S209, the upload configuration request information carrying the second service activation configuration information is received from the mobile terminal, and service activation configuration is performed according to the second service activation configuration information, by the ONU.

The ONU, after receiving the upload configuration request sent by the mobile terminal, replies to the mobile terminal with a message indicating the success/failure of receiving the upload configuration request information. See Table <NUM> below for the definition for the message.

The ONU, after successfully receiving the upload configuration request sent by the mobile terminal, parses the second service activation configuration information encapsulated in the upload configuration request information in response to the upload configuration request, and performs the corresponding service activation configuration after the parse is performed, to complete the ONU service activation.

In an implementation, the ONU after completing the service activation configuration, sends response information indicating the result of configuration by the ONU to the mobile terminal. The definition of the response information can be found in Table <NUM> below. If the result of configuration by the ONU shows a failure in the configuration, the S208 and S209 can be repeatedly performed, and the maximum times of the performance is preset (for example, to <NUM> times).

As shown in <FIG>, in an implementation, the method further includes S101 and S102 before S201 is performed.

At S101, login request information is sent to the network management cloud platform by the mobile terminal.

At S102, login result information is replied to the mobile terminal, by the network management cloud platform.

In some implementations, a user enters the login interface of the network management cloud platform through the APP of the mobile terminal, input the login user name and password (this user name and password are authorized by the network operator) in the login interface, and click the login button to send the login request information to the network management cloud platform. The definition of the login request information can be found in Table <NUM> below.

The network management cloud platform, after receiving the login request information from the APP of the mobile terminal, acquires the login username and password, determines whether the login username and password are authorized, and replies to the mobile terminal with the login result information.

In an implementation, the login result information includes a result of the login and a communication token randomly generated when the login is completed. The data reporting request at S203 and the response information indicating the result of configuration by the ONU at S209 respectively carry a communication token that is to be matched with the communication token in the network management cloud platform, to identify the authority of the mobile terminal. The definition of the login result information can be found in Table <NUM> below.

The mobile terminal, after receiving the login result information indicating the success of login, performs S201 and sends an inquiry request to the ONU.

In an implementation, the method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure further includes, establishing a local connection between the mobile terminal and the ONU, for sending the inquiry request to the ONU and receiving the inquiry response information from the ONU.

In some implementations, the local connection established between the mobile terminal and ONU is a Wi-Fi connection. The local connection between the mobile terminal and the ONU is established as follows.

In a possible implementation, when the login result information received from the network management cloud platform by the mobile terminal indicates the success of the login, the mobile terminal acquires the QR code information of ONU through the QR code scanning function in the APP, and establishes a local connection with ONU according to the QR code information.

In another possible implementation, the network connection identifier and login password information corresponding to the ONU whose service is to be activated can be manually input into the mobile terminal, and the local connection with the ONU can be established according to the acquired network connection identifier and login password information.

In an implementation, when the mobile terminal successfully accesses the network of ONU, the network access information of ONU is stored in the mobile terminal.

In some implementations, if the network service subscribed by the customer changes, or the network operator wishes to adjust the GPON system configuration, the network operator can adjust the service configuration at any time through the network management cloud platform and apply the configuration to the GPON system under the management of the platform. Based on the above scenario, there is further provided another method for ONU service activation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in <FIG>, the method for ONU service activation includes the following operations S301 to S305.

At S301, first service update configuration information is sent to the OLT by the network management cloud platform.

In an embodiment, the network management cloud platform sends the first service update configuration information to the OLT after the service is changed, and the first service update configuration information includes the registration template, serial number, Alloc ID, Gemport ID after the service is changed, or the like.

At S302, a configuration update is performed by the OLT, according to the first service update configuration information.

In an implementation, the OLT parses the message, determines whether the configuration to be updated is a duplicate configuration, and if so, the OLT replies to the network management cloud platform that the configuration is successful. And if the configuration to be updated is not a duplicate configuration, the difference between the new configuration and the configuration currently in effect is figured out, and an incremental configuration is performed. Then the OLT replies to the network management cloud platform with a message indicating the result of the incremental configuration after the configuration is completed.

At S303, a second service update configuration information is sent to the mobile terminal, by the network management cloud platform.

In an implementation, the network management cloud platform sends the second service update configuration information to the mobile terminal after the service is changed, and the second service update configuration information includes the port, Alloc ID, Gemport ID, VLAN after the service is changed, or the like.

At S304, an update configuration request carrying the second service update configuration information is sent to the ONU, by the mobile terminal.

In an implementation, the mobile terminal can access the local network of the ONU again according to the previously saved network access information of the ONU side. The mobile terminal sends an update configuration request carrying the second service update configuration information to the ONU through the local network.

At S305, the second service update configuration information from the network management cloud platform, is received by the ONU. The update configuration request carrying the second service update configuration information is sent to the ONU, to instruct the ONU to update the service configuration in response to the update configuration request.

In an implementation, the ONU parses the configuration message, completes the internal configuration, and replies to the mobile terminal with a message indicating the result of the configuration. The mobile terminal replies to the network management cloud platform with a message indicating the result of the configuration update, according to the result of the configuration fed back by the ONU.

By means of the operations of the methods in the embodiments as described above, the service configuration can be adjusted at any time through the mobile terminal and the network management cloud platform, and the operation is convenient.

According to the technical scheme as set forth in various embodiments of the present disclosure, the service activation and maintenance of ONU is no longer relied on the OLT manufacturers, and is no longer limited by the differences of OMCI messages of various manufacturers. The service activation and maintenance can be achieved simply by the network management cloud platform and the APP of the mobile terminal of operators, which eliminates the "necessary" OMCI message interaction between traditional OLTs and ONUs, which completely gets rid of the constraint of OLT manufacturers on operators' intercommunicable networking, and solves the problem of device intercommunication of different manufacturers in the existing technology.

There is further provided an electronic device <NUM> according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in <FIG>, the electronic device <NUM> includes but is not limited to a processor <NUM> and a memory <NUM>.

The memory <NUM> is configured to store programs.

The processor <NUM> is configured to execute the program stored in the memory <NUM>, and when the program stored in the memory <NUM> is executed by the processor <NUM>, causes the processor <NUM> to carry out the method according to any one of the embodiments described above.

The processor <NUM> and the memory <NUM> may be connected by a bus or other means.

The memory <NUM>, as a non-transient computer-readable storage medium, can be configured to store non-transitory software programs and non-transitory computer-executable programs, such as the method for ONU service activation described in various embodiments of the present disclosure. The processor <NUM> executes the non-transitory software programs and instructions stored in the memory <NUM>, and the processor <NUM> is caused to carry out the method for ONU service activation as described above.

The memory <NUM> includes a program storage section and a data storage section, in which the program storage section stores an operating system and application programs for performing at least one operation, and data storage section may store program of the method for ONU service activation as described above. In addition, the memory <NUM> includes a high-speed random-access memory and a non-transitory memory, such as at least one disk memory device, a flash memory device, or other non-transitory solid-state memory devices. In some implementations, the memory <NUM> includes memories remotely located relative to the processor <NUM>, and these remote memories are connected to the processor <NUM> through a network. Examples of the above networks include, but are not limited to, the Internet, intranet, local area network, mobile communication network, and combinations thereof.

The non-transitory software programs and instructions for carrying out the above method for ONU service activation are stored in the memory <NUM>, which when executed by one or more processors <NUM>, causes the processor to carry out the above method for ONU service activation, for example, to carry out S201 to S209 described in conjunction with <FIG>, S101 to S209 described in conjunction with <FIG>, or S301 to S305 described in conjunction with <FIG>.

There is further provided a computer-readable storage medium according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, which stores a computer program, which when executed by a processor, causes the processor to carry out at least one operation of the method for ONU service activation as described above.

In an embodiment, the computer-readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, which when executed by one or more control processors, for example, by a processor <NUM> in the above-described electronic device <NUM>, causes the processor(s) <NUM> to carry out the method for ONU service activation as described above, for example, to carry out S201 to S209 described in conjunction with <FIG>, S101 to S209 described in conjunction with <FIG>, or S301 to S305 described in conjunction with <FIG>.

The above-described embodiments are only schematic, in which the units illustrated as separate components may or may not be physically separated, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed over several network units. Some or all of the modules can be selected according to the practical needs to achieve the purpose of an embodiment.

Claim 1:
A method for optical network unit, ONU, service activation, which is performed by a mobile terminal, the method comprising,
sending an inquiry request to an ONU (S201), to request the ONU to send inquiry response information carrying a device serial number and device capability set data of the ONU to the mobile terminal, in response to the inquiry request (S202);
receiving the inquiry response information from the ONU, and sending a data reporting request carrying the device serial number and the device capability set data of the ONU to a network management cloud platform (S203), to request the network management cloud platform to determine an optical line terminal ,OLT, corresponding to the ONU according to the device serial number of the ONU, from a plurality of OLTs (S204), and to request the network management cloud platform to determine, according to the device capability set data, first service activation configuration information to be sent to the OLT (S205), and second service activation configuration information to be sent to the mobile terminal (S207); and
receiving second service activation configuration information from the network management cloud platform, and sending an upload configuration request carrying the second service activation configuration information to the ONU (S208), to request the ONU to perform service activation configuration in response to the upload configuration request (S209);
wherein, the first service activation configuration information is for configuration of the OLT, and the configuration at least comprises registration configuration, and PON port configuration.